When parts get lost – So do profits. Here’s why !

It’s human nature to lose things: who hasn’t hunted for a cell phone, eyeglasses, or car keys?

So it is not surprising when someone on your production team will drop everything to hunt for a lost cabinet part.
But you ever stopped to calculate how much that missing part costs you? And of course, there is the time spent looking, the number of employees helping their colleague searching, the delay in production flow – no wonder, that cost is so high. It can literally cost hundreds of wasted when a $2 part goes missing.

But why do we end up searching for parts in the first place? Here are some typical reasons:
• Parts are not sorted, or stored in a methodical way (see Top 4 Errors in Cabinetry Plants https://archive.web-cab.com/en/top-4-errors-in-cabinetry-plants/)
• Damaged parts get remade, but there is no system for tracking
• Missing or special parts requests are put aside, and people forget to make them

Like socks and car keys, some parts can be mysteriously lost, then mysteriously turn up a couple days later, perhaps leaning against the side of a machine.

Very often factory owners say that at least 3 employees will be involved in the ‘’missing part.’’ For example:

Mike in Assembly finds a drawer facing has a loose gray edge band, and brings it back to Joe to rerun on the edgebander. Joe puts the part on his work table while he finishes banding a run of white panels. Later he brings up the gray banded panel and drops it with Rob, who is busy clamping another cabinet, filling in for Mike who left early today. He leaves it leaning against a cart.

The next morning Mike comes over to Joe to ask for the panel, which has gone missing, and they both walk around the workstations to find it. They go to Rob’s station but Rob isn’t there yet and they cannot find the part at his workstation…. They spend 10-15 minutes searching, but it mysteriously disappeared… They need to finish this job asap, so they have no choice but to remake the part from scratch….

When considering all costs including : wages, material, machining time (twice), production slow down, assembly delay and potential shipping delays, the cost of a lost part is between 100$ and 500$

While Joe and Mike were talking to Al, production halted at three workstations. This suspends or at least slows down work, affecting everything down the line, all the way to shipping. And it’s not hard to imagine that scenario playing out several times a week.

How can we eliminate searching for parts?
The best-run cabinet shots use an organized, methodical sorting scheme, labeling parts, and sorting them carefully. (Learn more archive.web-cab.com/en/sorting-cabinet-parts-why-firms-are-adopting-fixed-rack-2/).

Such a system keeps parts from going missing in the first place. And when parts get damaged and need to be remade, it can keep them from going astray.

The good news for you is that by implementing an optimal part sorting system, you can eliminate the root cause of lost parts. And now that you can see how much it has been costing you, you will not want to delay.