🐢 You are reading The Long Start — Module 5 of 10
This is the nerdy math module. Don't worry — we use very small words. Missed Module 4?
The Single Most Expensive Question in Manufacturing
"Where should I put my people?"
Every shift, every day, every supervisor answers this question. And most of them answer it the same way: "Put people where I put them yesterday." Or: "Put 3 on receiving, 5 on assembly, 2 on shipping — that's what we always do."
The problem? "What we always do" was probably a guess the first time. And that guess gets copied forever. Meanwhile, cycle times change, demand changes, headcount changes, and nobody recalculates.
The Cost of Guessing
Research shows that unbalanced staffing wastes 15-30% of labor capacity. Let's do the math on that. Say you have 50 people at $20/hour, working 2,000 hours/year. That's $2,000,000 in labor costs. 15-30% waste = $300,000-$600,000/year lost because people are standing in the wrong spots. This module explains how to stop that.
Theory of Constraints (TOC) — The Big Idea
Where to learn more: Full Theory of Constraints Guide
The ELI5 Version
Imagine a highway with 3 lanes that merges into 1 lane. No matter how fast cars go in the 3-lane section, everyone slows down at the merge point. That merge point is the bottleneck. It controls the speed of the entire highway.
Your factory works the same way. You might have 10 process steps, but ONE of them is slower than the rest. That one step limits your entire output. It doesn't matter if every other step is blazing fast — you can only produce as fast as your slowest step.
Theory of Constraints says: find the bottleneck, and focus all your effort there. Put more people on it. Speed it up. Remove obstacles from it. Because every minute you save at the bottleneck is a minute saved for your entire operation. Every minute you save at a non-bottleneck... is worthless. The other steps are already fast enough.
The Lemonade Stand Analogy
You run a lemonade stand with 3 steps:
- Step 1: Squeeze lemons — you can do 60 cups/hour
- Step 2: Mix sugar and water — you can do 100 cups/hour
- Step 3: Pour into cups — you can do 80 cups/hour
How many cups of lemonade can you sell per hour? 60. Not 100. Not 80. Sixty. Because Step 1 (squeezing lemons) is the bottleneck. It doesn't matter that Step 2 can do 100/hour — it's sitting idle 40% of the time waiting for Step 1.
If you get a second lemon squeezer, Step 1 can now do 120/hour. Your new bottleneck becomes Step 3 at 80/hour. Output jumps from 60 to 80 — a 33% increase — by focusing on one step.
Auto-Assign Staff — One Button, Big Impact
Where to find it: The "Auto-Assign Staff" button in My Day or the Process Planner
What It Does (Step by Step)
When you tap "Auto-Assign Staff," here's what happens behind the scenes in about 2 seconds:
What You Can Do After Auto-Assign
| Action | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Accept the recommendation | Use the suggested staffing. Print it or display it for your team. |
| Override manually | Move people around yourself. The system recalculates throughput in real time as you adjust. |
| Change headcount | 3 people called out? Adjust the number. Tap auto-assign again. New plan in 2 seconds. |
| Switch shifts | Different shifts have different step activations. Switch to see the optimal plan for each shift. |
Manpower Analysis — "What If?" for Staffing
Where to find it: Manpower Analysis
What it is: A sandbox where you can test different staffing scenarios without actually changing anything. "What if we had 25 people instead of 20? What if we added 3 people to Assembly? What if we removed 2 from Shipping?"
Why This Matters
Before you ask your boss for more headcount, you need to prove the ROI. "I need 3 more people" is a request. "Adding 3 people to Assembly increases throughput by 18%, which translates to $450K in additional output per year at a cost of $150K in labor" is a business case. Manpower Analysis gives you the data for that business case.
What You Can Do
- Run scenarios — test different headcount numbers and see throughput changes
- Compare side-by-side — "Scenario A (20 people) vs Scenario B (23 people)" with throughput impact
- Find diminishing returns — at some point, adding more people doesn't help because a different step becomes the bottleneck. The tool shows you that inflection point
- Export results — download the analysis to present to leadership
Capacity Planning — How Much Can We Actually Do?
Where to find it: Capacity Planning
What it is: A tool that answers: "Given our current equipment, people, and process, what's the maximum we can produce? And when will we hit that limit?"
Why This Matters
If your capacity is 1,000 units/day and demand is 800 units/day, you're fine. But demand is 950? You're one bad day away from missing targets. Demand is 1,100? You need more capacity — which means more people, more shifts, or more equipment. Capacity Planning tells you when that cliff is coming so you can prepare instead of panic.
What You See
- Current capacity — your maximum theoretical output based on your process model
- Bottleneck analysis — which step limits capacity and what it would take to increase it
- Capacity projections — if demand grows at X% per month, when do you run out of capacity?
- What-if scenarios — "What if we add a second shift? What if we buy another machine?"
Push vs Pull Simulator
Where to find it: Push vs Pull
What it is: An interactive demo that shows the difference between push and pull production systems.
Push vs Pull in ELI5 Terms
Push: You make stuff and push it forward whether the next step is ready or not. Like cooking a huge batch of food before anyone shows up. Result: stuff piles up between steps (WIP), lead times balloon, and if demand changes, you're stuck with extra inventory.
Pull: You only make stuff when the next step (or the customer) asks for it. Like cooking food to order at a restaurant. Result: less WIP, shorter lead times, less waste from overproduction.
The simulator lets you see both systems side by side and watch how WIP, lead time, and throughput differ. It's one of those things that's easier to understand when you watch it happen than when someone explains it with words. (We know. We just used a lot of words.)
Theory of Constraints Tool
Where to find it: Theory of Constraints
What it is: A dedicated learning and calculation tool for TOC. It walks you through the Five Focusing Steps of TOC with your actual data:
Summary: The Staffing Tools
| Tool | What It Does | When to Use It |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-Assign Staff | Distributes headcount optimally using TOC math | Every shift — after entering today's headcount |
| Manpower Analysis | What-if scenarios for staffing changes | When building a case for more (or fewer) people |
| Capacity Planning | Maximum output analysis and projections | Planning for demand growth or new products |
| Push vs Pull | Interactive demo of production system types | Learning and training |
| Theory of Constraints | Guided TOC analysis with your data | Deep-dive improvement projects focused on the constraint |
What's Next?
The math is done. Your brain can relax. Module 6 is more hands-on: audits and safety. Walking around with a checklist, scoring areas, finding hazards, and keeping your workplace clean and safe. No math required. Just eyes and a checklist.
Continue to Module 6: Audits & Safety →
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