Manufacturing operations improvement.

The eleven steps of a Sprint, in full.

1. 01 — A day spent on your plant floor (Gemba, Grounding). What we do: Gemba means the “actual place”. Day one is spent on your floor and not in the conference room. We walk the plant like it actually runs on a normal day and talk to your team running it. What you get: A grounded picture of the plant as it operates, with different perspectives captured. We review the numbers but challenge at the root. Grounded in: Genchi genbutsu — Toyota Production System.
2. 02 — Capture the customer perspective (Customer view, Start). What we do: We begin at the shipping dock and walk against the flow. Whatever your customer is unhappy about is visible there first — controlled shipping, a sort, a containment nobody has managed to exit. What you get: The escalation state written down the way your customer sees it, before anyone internal reframes it. Then we derive together a target state for de-escalation criteria. Grounded in: Rother & Shook — Learning to See.
3. 03 — Follow the process backwards (Material flow, Trace). What we do: One continuous pass upstream, station by station, recording cycle time as we go. Departments own stations; nobody owns what happens between them, and that gap is where most of the loss lives. What you get: Cycle time at every station, measured against takt. We identify and document bottlenecks and an initial direction for the highest-value fixes. Grounded in: Value stream mapping.
4. 04 — Every number gets a provenance (Data review, Qualify). What we do: We review your plant’s data integrity and grade it on coverage, quality and freshness. The world-class benchmark is real-time data from source systems. What you get: A comprehensive data maturity assessment benchmarked against world class and grounded in best-in-class manufacturing practices and standards. Grounded in: Measurement system discipline.
5. 05 — Identify the constraint (Constraint, Bottleneck). What we do: One station caps the throughput of the whole plant. We confirm which one with cycle time against takt. Then we express the cap the way operations sees it: in units per hour, not percentages. What you get: The constraint named with its cycle time, and the improvement list re-ordered around it — what to exploit, what to subordinate, and which projects move nothing until the constraint does. Grounded in: Goldratt — Theory of Constraints.
6. 06 — Plan working capital improvement (Cash in WIP, Quantify). What we do: Everything the plant produces faster than the constraint can absorb becomes inventory instead of shipments. We count what is standing in front of each station and convert it: bays into days of flow time, days into working capital. What you get: A priced queue: where the cash is parked, how much of it, and what it releases once the constraint moves. Grounded in: Little’s Law — Hopp & Spearman, Factory Physics.
7. 07 — Rank by value at stake (Actions, Prioritise). What we do: Every abnormality observed on the walk goes into one list, ordered by what it is costing — not by department, not by who raised it. Items we cannot honestly price stay marked unpriced. What you get: A ranked backlog translated into a Kanban board: what to fix first, and what it is worth. Each action gets a named owner and a due date. This is where improvement discipline starts. Grounded in: Cost of delay — one-way sensitivity.
8. 08 — Establish governance for traction (Cadences, Rhythm). What we do: Review of daily meetings at the station, weekly management meetings, and monthly plant meetings. We focus on reducing coordination friction and establish aligned views on the constraint. What you get: A best-in-class tiered management rhythm with clear accountability, effective coordination and a standing agenda per meeting. Grounded in: Leader standard work.
9. 09 — Escalate for effective support (Resolution, Support). What we do: What the team at the station cannot close in a shift escalates for support, not for blame. Kanban actions needing capital, headcount, or another department’s input get elevated. We moderate the process to help your team build confidence. What you get: An effective escalation procedure the floor can apply without asking permission. We shift from blame to joint resolution — the core of effective problem solving and coordination. Grounded in: Tiered daily management.
10. 10 — Prove it on the floor (Prove it, Verify). What we do: We re-walk the same route. Every outcome we claim corresponds to a physical object in a changed state — a placard down, an inspection booth deleted, a buffer flattened, a standard-work board filled in. What you get: Critical issues addressed at the root, each with a before and after number attached. A team that confidently owns the process, and standards and systems re-established. Grounded in: Solve the problem. Then automate..
11. 11 — Exit on exit criteria attainment (Exit gate, Approved). What we do: The Sprint closes against the de-escalation criteria agreed with your customer at the start: the fix proven at the line, the standard re-established, your team running the cadence. Your customer confirms the exit, we don’t declare it. What you get: Handover on evidence: exit criteria met, cadence running, customer on board. Our fee tied to the success. Grounded in: TWI job instruction — sustainment practice.