Actual output is always below plan
Compare the plan against real constraints, not only last month.
01 · What is usually happening?
The plan assumes every machine runs all shift. Real shifts lose time to changeovers, waiting for material, small repairs and breaks, so the plan is missed by the same margin every week.
Everyone knows the plan is optimistic, and so nobody trusts it.
The question people usually ask“Why do we never hit the plan?”
The more useful question“Where does the lost time go, and what does a realistic plan look like?”
02 · Common causes
- 01Plans use ideal rates, not the rates actually achieved
- 02Lost time is not recorded, only output
- 03Changeovers and waiting for material are not counted
- 04Planned breakdown or maintenance time is left out
- 05Targets are set by sales, not by the floor
- 06Nobody reviews the gap between plan and actual
03 · What to check now0 of 6 checked
04 · What good looks like
- 01Plans use the rate actually achieved.
- 02Lost time is recorded by reason.
- 03The top three losses are reviewed weekly.
- 04Targets are agreed with the floor.
- 05The gap between plan and actual shrinks over time.
05 · Where this connects
This rarely stays in one department
What it can lead to: Promised dates are built on output the plant has never achieved.
Start from a problem
Work flows left to right, top to bottomKEYMost important for manufacturing
These support every part of the business
Problem
Actual output is always below plan
Usually connected to
How it spreads
- Production
What it can lead to: Promised dates are built on output the plant has never achieved.
lamplamp could work out the true rate of each machine from past output.
06 · Related processesProduction plan to output
Related guidesHow to identify production bottlenecks
08 · lamp
lamp could keep this moving
lamp is not available yet. These are things it is being built to do.
- lamp could work out the true rate of each machine from past output.
- lamp could record lost time by reason from a voice note.
- lamp could show the biggest losses each week.
- lamp could suggest a plan that fits what the floor really does.
Does your business handle this differently?Tell us what we have missed: a cause, a check, or a better way of handling it.
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