Shift handovers are unreliable
Define what must pass between shifts so work continues.
01 · What is usually happening?
The day shift leaves, the night shift arrives, and what was happening on each machine is passed by word of mouth in five minutes. Half of it is forgotten by the middle of the shift.
A setting left unchanged, a part on hold or a tool that wore out becomes the next shift's surprise.
The question people usually ask“What did the last shift leave for us?”
The more useful question“What must the next supervisor know, and where is it written?”
02 · Common causes
- 01Handover is verbal and rushed
- 02No standard sheet for what to pass on
- 03The outgoing supervisor leaves before the incoming arrives
- 04Open problems are not written against a machine
- 05Nobody signs, so nobody owns it
- 06The sheet is filled but not read
03 · What to check now0 of 6 checked
04 · What good looks like
- 01One sheet, the same every shift.
- 02Open issues are named by machine and job.
- 03Both supervisors sign.
- 04The incoming supervisor reads it before starting.
- 05Past sheets can be found when something goes wrong.
05 · Where this connects
This rarely stays in one department
What it can lead to: Each shift starts blind to what the last one learned.
Start from a problem
Work flows left to right, top to bottomKEYMost important for manufacturing
These support every part of the business
Problem
Shift handovers are unreliable
Usually connected to
How it spreads
- Production
What it can lead to: Each shift starts blind to what the last one learned.
lamplamp could turn a voice note into the handover sheet.
06 · Related processesProduction plan to output
Related guidesWhat a production supervisor needs at shift handover
08 · lamp
lamp could keep this moving
lamp is not available yet. These are things it is being built to do.
- lamp could turn a voice note into the handover sheet.
- lamp could carry open issues forward to the next shift.
- lamp could remind the incoming supervisor of what is on hold.
- lamp could keep the sheets so a problem can be traced.
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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