One part-time operator was the production line.
A steel post manufacturer in rural Leicestershire, two manual punches, ~500 posts per 8-hour shift, and a job so dull the full-time staff kept leaving.
One part-time operator was the production line.
A steel post manufacturer in rural Leicestershire, two manual punches, ~500 posts per 8-hour shift, and a job so dull the full-time staff kept leaving.
Output was capped at whatever one person could punch by hand, and holding onto that person was the hardest part. Every leaver meant retraining; every profile change meant half an hour of setting stops by hand, mistakes, and wasted material. Customers weren't getting orders on time, and overtime wasn't closing the gap.
The build itself was unusual, and honestly so: at the client's request, the line was developed live on their floor, reusing their existing equipment to keep the cost down. There was tweaking, but that was the agreed plan, not a surprise. The hard problems were still solved in design, where fixes cost hours, not weeks.
Output was capped at whatever one person could punch by hand, and holding onto that person was the hardest part. Every leaver meant retraining; every profile change meant half an hour of setting stops by hand, mistakes, and wasted material. Customers weren't getting orders on time, and overtime wasn't closing the gap.
The build itself was unusual, and honestly so: at the client's request, the line was developed live on their floor, reusing their existing equipment to keep the cost down. There was tweaking, but that was the agreed plan, not a surprise. The hard problems were still solved in design, where fixes cost hours, not weeks.
| Parameter | Before | After | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Punch utilisation | 16 HOURS/WK | 80 HOURS/WK | CONFIRMED |
| Profile changeover | 30 MIN, BY HAND | <2 MIN, ONE BUTTON | CONFIRMED |
| Stop positioning | ±2 MM, MANUAL | ±0.05 MM, PROGRAMMED | CONFIRMED |
| Who can run it | 1 PART-TIMER | ANY EMPLOYEE | CONFIRMED |
| Parameter | Before | After | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Punch utilisation | 16 HOURS/WK | 80 HOURS/WK | CONFIRMED |
| Profile changeover | 30 MIN, BY HAND | <2 MIN, ONE BUTTON | CONFIRMED |
| Stop positioning | ±2 MM, MANUAL | ±0.05 MM, PROGRAMMED | CONFIRMED |
| Who can run it | 1 PART-TIMER | ANY EMPLOYEE | CONFIRMED |
- 6 m posts with no stiffness rule out vibration and gravity sorting. Handling keeps the material centred through the punch, whatever the thickness, because a misfeed live means crashed tooling and scrap.
- Stops became programmable, so uptime no longer depends on a careful pair of hands.
- The line assumes no skill or stamina from whoever runs it. This is the staffing bottleneck, designed out.
- 6 m posts with no stiffness rule out vibration and gravity sorting. Handling keeps the material centred through the punch, whatever the thickness, because a misfeed live means crashed tooling and scrap.
- Stops became programmable, so uptime no longer depends on a careful pair of hands.
- The line assumes no skill or stamina from whoever runs it. This is the staffing bottleneck, designed out.