Manufacturing a log cabin

Recently, as part of a project, I visited a metal parts supplier for larger integrators. On the factory floor, the head of the planning department explained to us how orders were planned and tracked in production. He also showed us the progress of certain orders and how many of them were being processed. The numbers surprised us. There were much more orders in progress than we expected, and the lead times (up to 2 months) struck us as well – given the size of the orders and the kind of product.

What surprised us most, however, was a traceability issue. The planning department knows exactly which orders are in progress and when they’re due. They also know how much of an order has passed each production step. What they don’t know is when the order is going to be finished. Note the difference: they know the due date but not the completion date. The two are closely related and quite crucial to meeting customer agreements.