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Hour-by-hour production board

An hour-by-hour production board shows the plan for each hour of the shift next to what was actually made, with running totals, and the reason whenever an hour falls short. It sits at the line so the team and the team leader see a problem within the hour, not at the end of the shift, and the reasons feed the daily meeting. The hourly plan comes from the takt time: the seconds available in that hour divided by the takt time. Page 1 of this template is the board for up to 10 hours: plan and plan total, actual and actual total, the difference, a reason code (machine, material, quality, people, changeover, other), what happened and the lost minutes, the action and who, and the team leader's initials. Page 2 adds up the shift by reason and has a week of results. The Excel version works out the hourly plan from the available minutes and the takt time, the running totals and the gaps, flags short hours with no reason, and adds up lost minutes by reason with a chart.

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Page 1 of the hour-by-hour production boardFields for line, product, date, shift, team leader, takt time and shift plan, a key of reason codes, and a table of hours with plan, plan total, actual, actual total, difference, reason, what happened, action and the team leader's initials.
Hourly plan from taktActual and running totalsGap per hourReason codesLost minutesShift summary by reasonWeek of results

When to use it

When to use an hour-by-hour production board

  • On a line or cell with a takt time, where output per hour can be counted.
  • When shift output misses plan and nobody is sure why.
  • To feed the tier 1 meeting with the reasons behind the numbers.
  • When starting daily management on a line for the first time.

How to fill it in

  1. 1

    Set the plan before the shift

    Write the takt time and, for each hour, the minutes available after breaks. Plan = available seconds ÷ takt, rounded down.
  2. 2

    Write the actual every hour

    At the end of each hour, the parts made and the running totals. The Excel version works out the totals and gaps.
  3. 3

    Write the reason in that hour

    For any hour short of plan, the reason code, what happened and the lost minutes, while people still remember.
  4. 4

    Act during the shift

    Agree what the team needs to recover the next hour, and who will fix the cause. Escalate what the team cannot fix.
  5. 5

    Add up the reasons

    At the end of the shift, count the hours short and the lost minutes by reason.
  6. 6

    Take it to the daily meeting

    The biggest reason goes to the tier meeting with an owner. Keep a week on one sheet to see the pattern.

A filled-in example

Illustrative, not a benchmark

An example: one shift on an assembly cell with a 45-second takt (illustrative numbers).

The example shift, hour by hour

  • Hour 1: actual 60, plan 66
  • Hour 2: actual 81, plan 80
  • Hour 3: actual 79, plan 80
  • Hour 4: actual 80, plan 80
  • Hour 5: actual 80, plan 80
  • Hour 6: actual 64, plan 80
  • Hour 7: actual 80, plan 80

Plan and actual by hour: hour 1 plan 66, actual 60; hours 2 to 5 plan 80, actual 81, 79, 80, 80; hour 6 plan 80, actual 64; hour 7 plan 80, actual 80. 524 of 546, 96 percent.

The two short hours stand out at once: hour 1 (late first kit, 6 minutes) and hour 6 (torque tool fault, 12 minutes). Shift total 524 of 546, 96% of plan.
  • Hour 1: 50 minutes after a 10-minute start-up meeting, plan 66, actual 60. Reason: material, the first kit arrived late, 6 minutes lost.
  • Hours 2 to 5 and hour 7: plan 80 each, actual 81, 79, 80, 80 and 80.
  • Hour 6: plan 80, actual 64. Reason: machine, a torque tool faulted, 12 minutes lost.
  • Shift of 7 hours: plan 546, actual 524, 96% of plan. Lost minutes: 6 material, 12 machine.

The torque tool fault went to maintenance at the daily meeting, and kitting agreed to deliver the first kit 15 minutes before the shift.

Want the sums done for you? Enter shift time, downtime, ideal cycle time and counts in the free OEE calculator to get availability, performance, quality and OEE.

Common mistakes

  • Filling it in at the end of the shift

    Numbers written up at the end are a report, not a board. Write them every hour.

  • No reason for a short hour

    A red number without a reason cannot be acted on. Write the reason in the hour.

  • A plan that ignores breaks

    A plan of 80 in an hour with a 10-minute break sets the team up to miss. Plan from the minutes really available.

  • Using it to blame

    The board is for finding problems. If a short hour brings blame, the numbers stop being honest.

Download the template

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Run this template in LeanSuite

In LeanSuite the team types the day's numbers straight into a Lean Studio board during the huddle, and an issue Tier 1 can't solve is escalated to the Tier 2 board with its owner, due date and reminders.

See it in a 45-minute demo

FAQ

Hour-by-hour production board: common questions

  1. A board at the line showing the plan for each hour next to what was made, with running totals and the reason for any hour short of plan, so problems are seen and acted on during the shift.

  2. The seconds available to produce in that hour divided by the takt time, rounded down. 50 minutes after a break is 3,000 seconds; with a 45-second takt the plan is 66 parts.

  3. A short list the team can pick quickly: machine, material, quality, people, changeover and other is a common start. Add your own if one reason keeps being written as other.

  4. The biggest reasons from the shift go to the tier 1 meeting with an owner, and anything the team cannot fix is escalated to the next tier.

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