Capacity and Staffing

We Are on Overtime Every Week

Overtime is a fine tool for a short spike. When it runs every week, it is covering for something: lost hours, a staffing gap, or a plan the floor cannot hit. People wear out before the cause does.

What Is Usually Going On

  • The plan uses standards the floor does not hit, so the gap lands as overtime.
  • The constraint loses hours to stops, setups or starving, and overtime makes them up.
  • Overtime is spread across every station instead of at the constraint.
  • Absence and open positions are covered with overtime instead of cross-training.
  • Rework adds hours that are not in the plan.

How to Fix It

  1. Split the overtimeFor the last several weeks, sort overtime hours by station and by reason: behind schedule, absence, rework, downtime.
  2. Check it against the constraintOvertime off the constraint usually adds WIP, not output. Stop that first.
  3. Plan with expected hoursRe-plan with recent actuals and a challenge, not T1 standards. If the plan still needs overtime, it is a capacity gap.
  4. Work the top lossTake the biggest reason from step 1 and run it as a problem: OEE losses, SMED, first pass yield or cross-training.
  5. Make the callIf the gap is structural, ask for the heads or the shift. Show it as FTE against demand, not as overtime hours.
Make shop (asset-bound)
Chronic overtime often means one machine is overloaded. Weekend hours on that machine can be the right answer while its setups come down.
Assembly shop (labor-bound)
Chronic overtime often means the plan needs more heads than the roster has. Convert weekly overtime to FTE and compare it with open positions and absence.

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Common Questions

How much overtime is too much?

When it is planned every week, it is capacity, not overtime. Convert it to FTE and decide whether to staff it or fix the losses behind it.

Should overtime only go to the constraint?

For output, yes. Elsewhere it is useful only to clear a specific backlog or to build the buffer in front of the constraint.

Overtime or hire?

Hire, or move people, when the gap has held for months and the losses behind it will not close soon. Keep overtime for spikes and recovery.

Why do our standards never match the floor?

Standards are often T1 work content with no losses. Plan with expected hours and treat the gap to T1 as the improvement target.