Stories from the Factory Floor #02

“Why are we producing this?”

Nobody answered.

The Production Manager looked at the planning sheet.

The order was approved.

The material was available.

The machine was ready.

So production continued.

Two days later, the finished products were sitting in the warehouse.

Nobody was asking for them.

The Planning Manager checked the customer order.

The customer had changed the requirement three weeks earlier.

But the old plan was never updated.

The factory had spent:

• Machine time
• Operator time
• Material
• Electricity
• Storage space

And produced something the customer no longer needed.

Nothing had gone wrong on the shop floor.

The machines worked.

The operators worked.

Quality was good.

The wrong thing was produced perfectly.

This is one of the hidden costs of poor communication between sales, planning, production and customers.

Good production is not just about making products efficiently.

It is about making what is actually needed.

A perfectly made product is still waste if nobody needs it.