Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas 

Inefficient set-up affects all of us adversely in our professional, academic and personal lives. Another way to say this would be lack of organization adversely affects all of us. For those of you who are very well organized, your projects at work, school and home go well and today’s message won’t be applicable. I’m not sure if there has been a survey, I’m guessing the vast majority of the population would say they are not as well organized as they would like to be and this certainly includes me. 

Inefficient Set-Up in Manufacturing 

Those working in manufacturing know the importance of efficient set-up times, especially in “job shop” environment, making a series of short orders for customers. In the late 1980’s-early 90’s, I worked in a job shop in Wichita, John Weitzel, Inc. (JWI) supplying parts primarily to Boeing (before it became Spirit AeroSystems.) The customer might order only 15 of a certain part per year. After set-up, it would typically take 30 – 60 minutes of machine time to make the order. Both accountants and casual observers would realize that a 1-hour set-up time is much preferable to 4-5 hours. Sadly, our set-up times were more toward the 4-5-hour range. To better distribute the high cost of set-up we, and most companies like us, would make a two- or three-year supply of the parts. The cost of this inventory is high. There is money tied up in the extra parts until they sell. There has to be space to store them in an organized fashion, so they are readily found when ordered. They have to be counted from 1 to 3 times per year in a physical inventory process. There is also the risk of the customer changing the form, fit or function of the part rendering the extra parts obsolete. Multiplying these cost factors by hundreds of different part numbers makes the cost of inventory very high. 

Reducing Set-Up Time 

Even back then, we talked about the importance of reducing set-up times. Today, we speak of lean manufacturing where we strive to make only what is needed for the current orders. The only way to do that and still be price-competitive in a global marketplace is to reduce set-up time. One time at JWI, we decided we would analyze set-up to figure out why it was taking so long. In a day when video cameras were just becoming affordable, we put a camera on a tripod so we could analyze what the operator was doing. For the vast majority of the 4-5-hour video recorded set-up time, there was nothing happening in the shot. Only toward the end would we finally see the operator actually setting up the machine. The rest of the time was spent gathering and finding everything needed for that particular set-up. This included getting the right computer program for the computer-controlled machine, the raw materials required and both specialized and standard tools needed. Sometimes the operator would have to wait for the cutting tools to be sharpened by the tool crib employees. The inefficiency had little to do with actually setting up the machine. 

Reducing Set-Up for Home Projects 

Lots of time is spent gathering, and finding, the right tools and materials needed for a project. How many times have you heard someone say, or said it yourself, “For home-improvement projects, it’s getting set up that gets you, not doing the actual work of the project?” For any project, whether at work, home or school, it’s usually getting all the ingredients together; information, tools and materials, that “gets you,” not the work itself. 

The answer to reducing set-up time is organization, figuring out the best way to find and gather everything you need to tackle the task at hand. It’s the businesses, organizations and households that do this that will get things done efficiently. Generally, organizing all things so they can be found easily is the first step. Then, as projects are completed, thinking about, and systematically eliminating everything that caused delays and frustrations during the project will go a long way toward making future projects go smoother. 

Easier Said Than Done 

All this is much easier to think and write about than it is to actually make happen. At the Fab Lab, we’ve struggled with making things better organized for the entire five and one-half years of our existence. We do keep working at it, however, and hopefully our members and other participants will see gradual but continuous improvement. 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks. Archive columns and podcast at jimcorrell.com.