Handling bottlenecks in a small shop

The Memorial Day weekend had me thinking about my freedom and being thankful for everything all the men and women of the armed forces have done for this country. It also had me thinking about enjoying the weekend and a few bottlenecks. Yes, the cold kind. But what I really am referring to are bottlenecks in a small shop, such as Barnes MetalCrafters. They can play a huge role in how work is done—or isn’t done.

Whether they admit it or not, every shop has bottlenecks, and sometimes they can’t be helped.

I see bottlenecks at our shop quite often in employees, machines, equipment, supplies, and space. I’m sure there are other types, but these affect us most, and they change every day.

Employees are key to making any small business work. We are a team, and the team makes parts hit the door. If a teammate is down or on vacation, it can really hinder the amount of work that gets done.

Our shop is small enough that the whole atmosphere changes when one person doesn’t show up for work. Parts can pile up at their worktable or machine, and customers may start barking if we don’t manage the time correctly.

With experience, you can pinpoint who needs to be working on a particular job when it comes into the shop. If that person isn’t there, the work doesn’t get done. Pretty simple.

Work piles up on my desk all the time because a lot of it has to filter through me before it hits the floor. I often discuss with my dad which job is a priority and what will keep someone busy the longest. A big problem for me is working on a job for several hours or days to complete my part and then have our guys take only 10 percent of the time I did to finish it. A fast pace is great, but it doesn’t keep food on their plates. I have to manage my time so I can sit at the computer and work on time-consuming parts while everyone else stays busy.

I often pull several jobs ahead to make this happen. If see a repeat laser job in my inbox, it gets my immediate attention. From my end, it doesn’t matter if the job is for 10 parts or 10,000 parts; I can knock a nest out in five to 10 minutes and keep the laser cutting for hours.

Another big bottleneck for us is our press brake. Our only press brake is an awesome workhorse, but it can produce parts only so fast. We definitely could use another one in the long run. Parts on carts often hound the press brake like mail bags at the post office. They need to get out the door. When press brake jobs get in the way of the everyday grind, large production runs have dedicated times that often fall on Saturday mornings.

We like to maximize the efficiency of our laser throughout the day. Parts that can be cut quickly and create more work often are run in the morning so they have time to flow through the shop. Small and medium-sized production runs are scheduled next until more work is generated. If we are lucky, with the right nest of parts, we can run lights-out. It’s always a high-fiver when we can knock out a solid five to eight hours of laser time with only a video camera watching.

Light pole base covers being assembled.

Occasionally our laser operator Jason Barnes returns after the first sheet is done and loads another. This really frees up time for the next day and allows us to keep the bottleneck down at the laser.

A machine could always go down and parts might have to be ordered. In the worst case, a service technician has to come fix it. I don’t really want to jinx myself by talking about this. You know it happens, and it is never at a convenient time. These bottlenecks are self-explanatory.

At times we put two or three welders on a job just to get it out of the shop. It’s not necessarily deadlines that we are worried about, it is space. A good example is when we make material handling carts. You can fit enough parts for a dozen or more carts on a single pallet, but when you start forming the “cube,” you take up ridiculous amounts of space, at least we do. We don’t have the lay-down area to keep these around. The space issue creates a bottleneck we need to resolve.

And then there is always the material truck that is late, or we’re waiting on a random-sized weld nut or stud to show up from the delivery truck in the sky. Small-shop materials often are ordered by the job, but consumables are kept in stock. We may be low on a particular item, but nobody mentions it until we really need it. This can bring work to a halt and often ticks off the boss man.

We try not to procrastinate on any work so we can keep a constant flow throughout the shop. Most jobs are moved through as soon as possible. The phone can ring or an e-mail come through with a decent order. We might become swamped, so some of the smaller jobs are moved to the backburner.

Enjoy the work while you have it. It’s always better than sweeping the floors. Every shop handles bottlenecks differently, and it’s all about who can juggle the most balls in the air and manage them best.

I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend and had a chance to kick back with your family and a couple of ice-cold bottlenecks.

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