Placeholder. This article is placeholder copy written to test layout and tone. It is not published research and makes no factual claims.
Changeovers are often treated as a shop-floor topic. This piece argues that they belong in the capital conversation, because every recovered minute is capacity that needs no new equipment.
Measure from last good part to first good part
A changeover ends when the line makes saleable product at standard speed, not when the new tooling is in place. Measured that way, the time usually includes adjustments and slow running that never appear in the changeover log.
Exhibit 1
In this illustrative plant, the same changeover runs longest on the night shift
Illustrative data
Average changeover duration by shift, one product family, minutes
Show data table
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Day | 42 min |
| Swing | 48 min |
| Night | 66 min |
| Standard | 40 min |
Note: Values are placeholders chosen to demonstrate the exhibit format. Standard is the documented changeover time.
Source: Illustrative data; placeholder pending research
Variation is the first finding
When the same changeover takes different times on different shifts, the gap is a standard and routine question before it is an engineering one. The exhibit uses illustrative values to show how that comparison will be presented.
Price the recovered hours against the new line
A plant short of hours on its constraint can recover losses, schedule more time, or build. On the flagship report’s illustrative line, recovery is cheapest for a few hundred hours, recovery plus weekend scheduling for up to about 2,200, and only a new line covers more (Illustrative).
Exhibit 2 · The capacity you already own
In the illustrative case, the cheapest hour depends on how many the plant needs
Illustrative data
Annual cost per productive constraint hour actually needed, by option and by hours needed a year, illustrative line, dollars per hour
Show data table
| Item | Value | Unit | Cite |
|---|---|---|---|
| need 300 h: recover | 1000 | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 300 h: schedule | 1024 | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 300 h: build | 10510 | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 300 h: stack | 1000 | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 1000 h: recover | cannot cover | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 1000 h: schedule | 1024 | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 1000 h: build | 3153 | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 1000 h: stack | 988 | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 2500 h: recover | cannot cover | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 2500 h: schedule | cannot cover | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 2500 h: build | 1261 | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 2500 h: stack | cannot cover | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 4688 h: recover | cannot cover | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 4688 h: schedule | cannot cover | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 4688 h: build | 673 | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
| need 4688 h: stack | cannot cover | USD per needed hour | Illustrative |
Note: Recover: $300k a year program, up to 328 h (25% of losses). Schedule: weekend hours at $800 per scheduled hour, $1,024 per productive hour, up to 1,875 h. Build: $12M line, 10 years, 10% cost of capital, $1.2M a year to run; adds 4,688 h.
Source: Illustrative data. Trapped Capacity illustrative model; assumptions in Chapter 5 and formulas in the method notes.
Flagship report
The capacity you already own
Why the next line should be found before it is funded, and how to price the one already standing.