In more than one Taichung plant the stopwatch appears when a buyer or a consultant walks the aisle. Operators know the choreography. The cell looks brisk. The number goes on a slide. On Saturday, when a rush colour lands, that number is a rumour.
AppAnchor Grid does not ban watches. We ban theatre. In the Value Stream Clinic the first timings happen after the silent walk, when nobody is performing. We time waits more fiercely than machine motion. A press that cycles in 22 seconds while a tray waits 11 hours is not a 22-second process.
A useful cycle time is one a supervisor will still quote when we are not in the building. That usually means counting completed, signed pieces in a window the plant already uses — a shipping cut-off, a plating bath slot — rather than inventing a new metric for the wall.
If you only time when guests arrive, you are measuring hospitality. Measure the wait that still exists after hospitality has gone home.