Production tracking cockpit
A tool to track stock between your processes: what comes in, work-in-progress before and after each department, and how it evolves in the short and long term. Alerts flag drifts, upwards and downwards, because a department must stay stable.
The problem
This cockpit was born from an industrial director's need: there was no tracking of processes between departments. There were gut feelings, but never real figures, curves or identifiable trends. Inputs and work-in-progress had to be visible before and after each department, to spot short- and long-term changes.
The tool
A freely editable canvas where each department is shown as stations linked by arrows. Entry is simple and history is kept.
How it works
- Free canvas: as many stations and arrows as needed, adapted to each department. A canvas can be duplicated for other departments, not only for management.
- Inputs and work-in-progress: see what comes in and the work-in-progress before and after each department.
- Flexible entry: daily, weekly or monthly as needed. History is kept.
- Targets and trends: set targets for each department or work-in-progress area, not just enter data, then follow short- and long-term curves against those targets.
- Drift alerts: flagged upwards as well as downwards, because a department must keep running steadily.
- Simple and shared: several users possible, editable legends and units, an interface much lighter than a spreadsheet.
What it changes
- Processes finally measured: work-in-progress becomes visible and gut feelings give way to figures, curves and trends, compared with the targets set.
- Problem departments spotted earlier: a drift shows up over time, in either direction.
- History kept: with no re-entry and no heavy spreadsheet.
- An adaptable tool: each department can have its own canvas, without starting from scratch.
A tool that connects to the others
The cockpit measures flows between departments: these figures mean even more when linked to data from the other tools.
- With theline balancing : measured work-in-progress can be compared with the stations' theoretical capacity and the takt time. A lasting drift becomes a signal to revisit a balancing.
- With skills management : a rise in work-in-progress can be compared with the headcount and qualifications available over the period, to tell a workload problem from a resource problem.
- With thetooling : an unavailable jig or instrument can explain a drop in flow: the information is visible in the same place as the curves.
Our demos are shown separately, but nothing prevents linking them. With a shared database, the tools can form a real intranet built around your business: each department uses its own screens, and information entered once is available everywhere.