- \n
- The longest changeover is not always the one that costs the most hours per month.<\/li>\n
- Measuring every changeover for weeks reveals frequency, critical transitions and gaps between shifts.<\/li>\n
- Time to first good part is part of the changeover.<\/li>\n
- Freeze the baseline before the first SMED workshop, with written rules.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Induscor Partners’ point: apply SMED where it really limits you<\/h2>\n
The editorial team at Induscor Partners, a Barcelona based industrial operations consultancy specialising in lean and SMED, has published SMED: Qu\u00e9 es, C\u00f3mo Implementarlo y Resultados Reales en Planta Industrial<\/a> (in Spanish). The article covers the four steps of the method, the most common mistakes and a 90 day implementation plan. One of those mistakes is picking the wrong machine, and the conclusion is clear: “Hay que aplicar SMED donde el cambio limita realmente la flexibilidad o la capacidad.” (“SMED should be applied where the changeover really limits flexibility or capacity.”)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Induscor Partners article provides the method to run SMED: observe the changeover, separate internal and external activities, convert, streamline. This article sits just before that: how to get, machine by machine, the data that lets you choose the pilot machine on facts and set a reliable starting point. The consultant runs the project; measurement gives it an objective basis.<\/p>\n
Why a one off stopwatch study is not enough to choose<\/h2>\n
The usual approach is to ask the team which changeover is the longest, then time or film a few changeovers. That is essential for task analysis, but it answers a different question poorly: which changeover costs the most production hours per month? Three biases come up again and again:<\/p>\n
- \n
- People remember the longest changeover, not the most expensive one.<\/strong> A long, rare changeover makes more of an impression than a short one repeated every shift. For example, a line that changes over twice per shift with 40 minute changeovers can lose more hours per month than a press with a single two hour changeover per week.<\/li>\n
- The observed changeover is not the everyday changeover.<\/strong> When someone holds a stopwatch, the team gets organised. Night shift changeovers, a different crew or the absence of the lead setter rarely make it into the sample.<\/li>\n
- The changeover does not end when the machine restarts.<\/strong> Measuring only the stop ignores adjustment parts and the time to the first good part, which often weigh as much as the teardown.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
We have already covered how to measure a changeover properly, ramp-up included: Changeover time: how to really measure it, ramp-up included<\/a>. The question here is different: how to use the measurement of every changeover to decide where to start.<\/p>\n
![\"Four](\"https:\/\/teeptrak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/teeptrak-cambio-formato-smed-en.png\")
<\/figure>\nWhat to measure on every changeover for a month<\/h2>\n
Ideally, record every machine changeover for four representative weeks, across all shifts, with the outgoing and incoming product. Each measurement supports a decision:<\/p>\n
- The observed changeover is not the everyday changeover.<\/strong> When someone holds a stopwatch, the team gets organised. Night shift changeovers, a different crew or the absence of the lead setter rarely make it into the sample.<\/li>\n
- People remember the longest changeover, not the most expensive one.<\/strong> A long, rare changeover makes more of an impression than a short one repeated every shift. For example, a line that changes over twice per shift with 40 minute changeovers can lose more hours per month than a press with a single two hour changeover per week.<\/li>\n