Startup Overhead Invisible
Management understood that shift startup took time but didn't quantify the loss or track variance. Startup duration ranged from 30-50 minutes depending on prior shift condition, current operator team, and undocumented procedures.
What Became Visible
Detailed startup process tracking revealed that average startup consumed 45 minutes—equivalent to 187 hours annually, or about 7.5 days of line capacity. More importantly, variance showed that best-performing startups (well-documented pre-shift procedures) took 15 minutes; poorest took 50+ minutes.
Startup Process Standardization
The facility documented optimal startup procedures (pre-shift material staging, cleaning protocol, equipment checks, first-piece verification), trained all teams to this standard, and created a digital startup checklist. Target: complete startup in 15 minutes.
How it worked: Visual management—digital checklists, standardized procedures, accountability tracking—ensured consistent startup execution across all shifts.
Results
per shift
from startup optimization
vs 30-50 min variance
Startup duration variance indicates procedure variance. Standardized optimal procedures eliminate variance and recover significant capacity.
Operational Reality
Startup time is often invisible in daily OEE targets because it happens at shift boundary. Making it visible and standardizing procedures recovered nearly 8 days of annual capacity.