Insights
Notes from the shop floor
Practical writing on shop-floor systems, maintenance and purchasing for small and mid-sized manufacturers, by Rich Winsor.
- Your PM Program Lives or Dies Before Go-Live
A small plant outgrows the maintenance whiteboard almost immediately. What breaks first, how one skipped PM became six weeks of downtime, how to judge whether a CMMS pays for itself, and the setup work that has to happen before the team ever logs in.
- An MES Only Works if the Floor Uses It
The benefits of an effective MES are real, but every one depends on operators entering good data. Why ease of use decides whether a shop-floor system pays off, and how to test for it before you buy.
- What a Plant Display Should (and Shouldn't) Show
Big screens on the shop floor are easy to install and hard to get right. Most end up showing too much, to the wrong people, too late. Who each display is for, what it should show, and the test of whether it's working.
- Planning Without an APS: What a Small Plant Actually Needs
Advanced planning and scheduling systems promise optimized schedules, but most small plants need something simpler: a realistic view of load against capacity, material that's actually there, and a schedule people trust. Here's what that takes.
- ABC-XYZ: A Simple Way to Decide What to Stock
Not every purchased part deserves the same attention. Combining value (ABC) with demand predictability (XYZ) gives a small plant a clear, defensible rule for what to keep on the shelf, what to order to demand, and where to spend buyer time.
- MRO: The Spend Nobody Manages
Maintenance, repair and operating supplies are thousands of small purchases that rarely get the attention production materials do. Why MRO leaks money and downtime in small plants, and the handful of controls that fix most of it.
- Build, Buy or Configure: Software Decisions for a Small Plant
Small manufacturers usually see two options for shop-floor software: an expensive package that fits badly, or a homegrown tool that depends on one person. There's a better third option, and a simple way to tell which processes need it.
- Why Small Plants Still Run on Spreadsheets
Most small and mid-sized manufacturers run their floor on spreadsheets, whiteboards and memory. That isn't laziness. It's a rational response to software built for someone else's plant, and it points to what better systems have to do.