Field notes
Notes from floors and Friday meetings
Articles rooted in manufacturing operations analytics and downtime tracking — written for supervisors and plant managers, not for generic productivity lists.
Why “other” stoppages hide your real downtime
How vague stoppage categories blur manufacturing operations analytics and what to do before you trust a monthly OEE chart.
Separating planned work from true losses on night shift
Night crews often look worse on OEE slides because planned sanitation and changeovers were never marked as planned in the log.
How long should a downtime capture window run?
Guidance on choosing five days versus two weeks when you measure stoppages for a plant assessment in Hong Kong.
Making a cell board that crews will actually update
Physical visibility boards fail when categories are too clever. Keep downtime tracking labels short enough to write with a glove on.