This article is for plant managers, production managers and continuous improvement leads in small and mid-sized manufacturers who are about to bring in a lean consultant. You may already have compared profiles and quotes. One question is rarely asked before signing: which measurements should you have in hand so the engagement starts fast and its result can be seen, rather than argued about?
- Choosing the right lean consultant is not enough: the engagement needs preparing too.
- Three measurements matter: OEE baseline, downtime Pareto, gaps between shifts.
- Micro-stops must appear in the Pareto, or the performance loss stays unexplained.
- With these in hand, the consultant analyzes from day one and the gain is visible.
Choose the right support, then prepare the ground
Roozbeh Malmiry, of RNA Solutions, an operational excellence and digitalization consultancy based in the Grand Est region of France, published Consultant Lean indépendant ou grand cabinet de conseil : que choisir pour votre PME industrielle ? (in French). He compares the solo freelancer, the small expert firm and the large consultancy on four criteria: proximity to the shop floor, total cost, flexibility and technical capability. In his FAQ, one piece of advice captures the spirit of the article: “Demandez des exemples chiffrés de missions réalisées dans des secteurs similaires au vôtre”, in other words, ask for quantified examples from engagements in sectors similar to yours. Among the examples he lists: OEE gains, lower scrap rates and shorter delivery times.
That advice works in both directions. Asking a consultant for quantified results assumes you know where you are starting from. The same article states that engagements usually last 3 to 6 months, with measurable results in 4 to 8 weeks. If the first weeks are spent rebuilding the current state (manual logs, spreadsheet extracts, debates about the “real” OEE), much of that window is gone before the first improvement project begins.
The RNA Solutions article helps you choose the right support. This one helps you prepare for it, with three measurements to gather before day one of the engagement.
Measurement 1: a reliable OEE baseline
The OEE baseline is the reference every gain will be compared with. If it is shaky, everything built on it is too. A reliable baseline meets four conditions:
- It is measured, not declared. Stops are time-stamped automatically, without relying on an operator’s memory at the end of the shift.
- It is calculated per machine or per line, not only as a plant average where good and bad results cancel each other out.
- It is broken down into availability, performance and quality, so you know which loss dominates.
- It covers a representative period: all shifts, the usual product mix, ideally several weeks.
The gap between declared and measured OEE often comes as a surprise. For example, a line shown at 75% in the monthly report may drop below 60% once every stop is counted: this is an illustration, not a rule. It is better to discover that kind of gap before the engagement than during it.
Measurement 2: a downtime Pareto that includes micro-stops
Sooner or later the consultant will ask where the time goes. The expected answer is a Pareto: stop causes ranked by cumulative duration and by number of occurrences. Two rankings, because they tell different stories. A two-hour breakdown once a month and a thirty-second jam repeated a hundred times a day do not call for the same project.
The classic trap is missing micro-stops. Too short to be written on a production sheet, they vanish into the performance loss and make the machine look as if it simply “runs slow”. On automated or paced lines, they often weigh heavily in lost capacity.
To make the Pareto usable:
- Define a short list of stop causes that operators understand (for example, around fifteen codes to start with).
- Capture every stop automatically, including the shortest ones, then have the teams qualify the causes.
- Separate planned stops (changeovers, preventive maintenance, breaks) from unplanned ones.
- Read the Pareto per machine and per week to tell structural causes from one-off incidents.
With this Pareto, the consultant picks the first projects on facts: SMED if changeovers dominate, autonomous maintenance if minor breakdowns pile up, flow and supply if material waits come out on top.
Measurement 3: gaps between shifts and workstations
Same machine, same product, different results depending on the shift or the workstation: this is one of the richest signals for a lean program, and one of the least often measured. A persistent gap between the morning and night shifts can come from a standard that is not shared, a setting done differently, thinner maintenance support at night or supply that does not keep up.
The goal is not to rank teams. It is to spot good practices worth spreading and the conditions that penalize certain stations. Framed this way, gaps become a shared work topic, and the consultant has a concrete basis to build or revise standard work.
How these three measurements speed up the engagement
Gathered before kickoff, these measurements change the nature of the first weeks: the consultant analyzes instead of collecting, and the engagement target can be expressed in OEE points from the proposal stage.
| Measurement | What it shows | What the consultant does with it | How the gain is judged |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reliable OEE baseline | The real level and the dominant loss (availability, performance, quality) | Sets a realistic, quantified target | OEE measured the same way, before and after |
| Downtime Pareto with micro-stops | Where time goes, by duration and frequency | Prioritizes the first projects | Treated causes shrink in the Pareto |
| Gaps between shifts and stations | The practices and conditions that make the difference | Builds or revises standards | Narrower gaps between shifts |
There is another, often underestimated benefit: sharing these measurements with the firms you are considering before you sign makes their proposals comparable. Each one prices its approach on the same basis, and you can apply the RNA Solutions advice with your own data.
To get these measurements without tying up your teams for weeks, TEEPTRAK installs a module wired into the electrical cabinet and a sensor at the line, in about an hour per machine, with no PLC connection. OEE is available within 48 hours, every stop and micro-stop is time-stamped automatically, and operators qualify the causes. TEEPTRAK is used in more than 700 plants across more than 30 countries. The method remains the consultant’s: measurement simply gives them an indisputable starting point and a way to track the gain week after week.
Further reading
- RNA Solutions (in French): Consultant Lean indépendant ou grand cabinet de conseil : que choisir pour votre PME industrielle ?
- How Consultants Integrate a 48-Hour OEE POC Into a LEAN Engagement
- Eliminating Micro-Stops: Pareto, Top 3 Root Causes, and Targeted SMED Project
FAQ
How long should you measure before the engagement starts? With automatic measurement, OEE is available within 48 hours, but a representative baseline must cover all shifts and the usual product mix. Two to four weeks of data give a solid basis in most plants.
Should you share these measurements with consultants before signing? Yes, as a summary. Proposals become more precise, targets can be expressed in OEE points, and you compare firms on a common basis.
Is a low OEE baseline a problem for the engagement? No. A low OEE measured honestly shows improvement potential and guides priorities. The real problem would be an overestimated OEE: it lowers the ambition of the engagement and makes the gain hard to prove.
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