10 Operations Facts That Will Make Your Team Say "Huh"
More huddle quiz questions, this time about lines, changeovers, forklifts and the numbers behind how plants run.
Our last round of food safety facts got people talking, so here's another set. This time it's about how plants and warehouses actually run: lines, changeovers, forklifts, boxes and the numbers behind them.
How to use these: read the question, let people guess out loud, then tap "Show the answer." The last line of each answer is what it means for your floor.
The assembly line was copied from a meatpacking plant.
Ask your teamWhere did Henry Ford get the idea for the moving assembly line?
Show the answer
From Chicago's meatpackers. Ford wrote that the idea "came in a general way from the overhead trolley that the Chicago packers use in dressing beef."
Their carcasses moved past workers on a line, each person making one cut. Ford reversed it: instead of taking an animal apart, he put a car together. His first moving line ran in 1914.
On your floorThe food industry was doing flow production before the auto industry. Your line is part of that history.
"Stop the line" started with a loom.
Ask your teamToyota's idea that anyone can stop the line for a problem started with which machine?
Show the answer
A weaving loom. In the early 1900s, Sakichi Toyoda, founder of the Toyota Group, built a loom that stopped itself the moment a thread broke. Before that, a loom with a broken thread kept weaving bad fabric until someone noticed.
This idea, called jidoka, became a pillar of the Toyota Production System.
On your floorStopping to fix a problem costs minutes. Running defects for an hour costs a lot more.
"Single-minute" changeover doesn't mean one minute.
Ask your teamIn SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die), what does "single-minute" mean?
Show the answer
Single digits: under 10 minutes. In the 1950s, a press changeover at Toyota could take up to four hours. Shigeo Shingo set out to bring it under 10 minutes by moving every task he could to before the line stopped.
On your floorTime your next changeover. Ask which steps could be done before the line goes down, like staging tools, film, labels and sanitizer.
A "world-class" line still loses 15% of its time.
Ask your teamWhat OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) score counts as world class?
Show the answer
About 85%. A typical discrete manufacturer runs around 60%, and 40% is common for companies just starting to track it. OEE multiplies three things together: availability, performance and quality.
On your floorThe fastest way up from 60% is usually tracking why the line stops, then fixing the biggest reason first.
The first barcode ever scanned was a pack of gum.
Ask your teamWhat was the first product scanned with a UPC barcode at a checkout?
Show the answer
A pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum, at 8:01 a.m. on June 26, 1974, in a supermarket in Troy, Ohio. Today barcodes are how lots get traced through receiving, production and shipping.
On your floorA label that won't scan is a traceability gap. Treat it like one.
Forklifts injure tens of thousands of workers a year.
Ask your teamHow many serious forklift injuries does OSHA estimate happen in the US each year?
Show the answer
About 36,340, plus around 100 deaths. OSHA estimates 20% to 25% of those accidents are at least partly caused by inadequate training.
On your floorPedestrian walkways, horns at intersections and refresher training aren't paperwork. They're the difference.
Five decibels cuts your safe exposure time in half.
Ask your teamIf 90 decibels is allowed for 8 hours, how long is 95 decibels allowed?
Show the answer
Four hours. Under OSHA's rule, every 5 dB increase halves the allowed time. And once exposure reaches 85 dB over a shift, employers need a hearing conservation program.
On your floorA machine that sounds only "a little louder" can mean half the safe time. Wear the plugs.
The "safe" lifting weight is 51 pounds, and only under perfect conditions.
Ask your teamWhat's the most weight NIOSH considers safe to lift under ideal conditions?
Show the answer
51 pounds (23 kg). That's set so it's safe for about 75% of women and 90% of men, and only with ideal posture, two hands and the load close to the body.
Every twist, reach or awkward height lowers the safe limit from there.
On your floorA 50-pound bag lifted from the bottom of a pallet with a twist is well past the limit. Look at how it's lifted, not just what it weighs.
Boxes get weaker in your cooler.
Ask your teamDo cardboard boxes stay as strong in a humid cooler as in a dry warehouse?
Show the answer
No. Corrugated loses roughly 1% of its strength for every point of relative humidity. Going from 50% to 80% humidity can cut stacking strength by around a quarter.
On your floorA pallet stacked fine in dry storage can crush in a damp cooler. Watch stack heights and keep boxes off wet floors.
A cheese curd's squeak has an expiration date.
Ask your teamWhy do fresh cheese curds squeak, and why do older ones stop?
Show the answer
Fresh curds have a tightly woven protein network that rebounds against your teeth. The squeak fades soon after the curd is made, and curds stored too warm or too cold lose it faster.
On your floorTemperature and time change product quality, not just safety. Your storage temps protect both.
Pick one per huddle. The best ones start an argument.