Reporting and shop performance
Where cars actually get stuck.
Every shop owner has a theory about where the week goes. The board already holds the answer, because every card carries the time it spent in every column.
Measured from work, not from a form somebody filled in.
The numbers come from card movements that happened anyway. Nobody clocks in against a job, nobody fills in a stage log at the end of the day, and there is no second system to keep honest — which is the only version of shop reporting that survives a busy month.
Cycle time, end to end
How long a job takes from the day it arrives to the day it leaves, per job and averaged. The number the whole shop is actually judged on.
Dwell per stage
How long cars sit in each column. This is the one that ends arguments: the column with the largest dwell is the constraint, whatever anyone believed it was.
Throughput over time
How many jobs finished this week against last. Enough to tell a genuinely bad week from a week that only felt bad because it was loud.
Questions shops ask about reports.
No. If cards move as work moves, the reports are already correct. They are a read of the board, not a second thing to maintain — the only discipline they need is the one the board needs anyway.
Cycle time end to end, dwell per stage, and throughput week over week. Three numbers, each read straight off card movements, each answering a question owners already argue about.
No. Nobody clocks in against a job and nobody fills in a stage log. If the board moves when the work moves, the numbers are already right, and there is no timesheet to police.
Which column is the constraint. Every owner has a theory about where the week goes; dwell per stage is the number that ends the argument, whatever anyone believed it was.
Yes. Throughput over time sets this week's finished jobs against last week's, which is enough to tell a genuinely bad week from one that only felt bad.
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