A company can have good machines, good materials and good employees and still lose hours every day without knowing why. The time that disappears between shifts, tasks and orders is invisible until you start measuring it.

The problem nobody wants to admit: unaccounted time

In a typical factory of 20 employees, between 45 minutes and 1 hour per person per day can be lost in unaccounted time. Multiplied by 20 people and 220 working days, that is about 3,300 hours per year.

Methods that have the most impact

1. Rigorous attendance tracking

Before any production methodology, there is a basic question: who is present, when did they arrive and when did they leave? An automated RFID time tracking system eliminates this uncertainty immediately.

2. Lean Manufacturing

Eliminate everything that does not add value to the final product: overproduction, waiting, unnecessary transport, excessive processing, excess stocks, pointless movements and defects.

3. Visual management

A Kanban board with tasks in columns (to do, in progress, done) gives the whole team immediate visibility of production status without meetings.

4. Process standardisation

Defining the best way to execute each operation and ensuring everyone follows it reduces errors and makes production time predictable.

5. Continuous improvement (Kaizen)

A 10-15 minute meeting at the start of each shift where the team identifies a small problem and proposes a simple solution. Cumulative impact over a year exceeds any large transformation initiative.

Picco is an RFID time tracking system developed for Portuguese industrial SMEs, from 9.90 euros per month. Find out more at damastor.com/picco.