WIP looks virtuous. Full trays mean the plant is busy. In clinics we often find those trays are last Tuesday’s rejects waiting for a quiet hour that never comes. Here are five signals we still use on Diagnostic Walks.
Mixed dates on one tray. If travellers from two weeks sit together, someone is hiding a decision. Split the tray or admit it is a rework pile.
No named steward. A queue without a person who can stop feeding it will grow until a sailing is missed. “The team” is not a steward.
Night notes that say almost. “Almost done” is how rework avoids the board. Handover Discipline Studio bans the word unless a remaining step is listed.
QC that only happens when the line is idle. Idle-time inspection is a second process. Draw it. If it only happens in idle time, you do not have inspection; you have a hobby.
Owner exceptions that skip the unsigned pile. Leap jobs look like care for a customer. They often push genuine rework further into the dark. Price the leap in hours on the family you skipped.
None of these need software. They need a walk and a willingness to call a tray what it is.