System Profiles
Every manufacturing operation has a dominant behaviour pattern. Understanding your profile is the first step to systematic improvement. These aren't labels — they're diagnostic tools.
Firefighting Factory
Your operation is in constant reactive mode. Every day brings new crises, and your best people spend their time solving problems that keep recurring. There's no time for improvement because survival takes all your energy.
Typical Symptoms
- •Daily crisis management
- •Problems recur after being 'fixed'
- •Best people always solving problems
- •No time for improvement work
- •High stress levels across team
What Limits Performance
Chronic instability prevents any systematic improvement. Energy is consumed by reaction, leaving nothing for prevention or optimisation.
Flowstate Approach
- 1.Establish basic stability through visual management
- 2.Create simple escalation and response protocols
- 3.Build breathing room for root cause analysis
- 4.Implement basic preventive measures
People-Dependent Factory
Your operation works because of key individuals who carry critical knowledge. When they're present, things run smoothly. When they're not, performance suffers. Your expertise isn't captured in systems.
Typical Symptoms
- •Key person dependency for decisions
- •Knowledge exists in heads, not systems
- •Training takes too long
- •Inconsistent results across shifts
- •Fear of losing critical staff
What Limits Performance
Growth and scaling are constrained by human capacity. You can't transfer what you can't document. Improvement depends on individuals, not systems.
Flowstate Approach
- 1.Document critical processes and decisions
- 2.Create standard work that captures expertise
- 3.Build training systems that transfer knowledge
- 4.Design systems that support, not replace, people
Data-Blind Factory
You're managing without real-time information. Data arrives too late to influence decisions, lives in spreadsheets, or doesn't exist at all. You manage by gut feel and experience rather than facts.
Typical Symptoms
- •Decisions based on gut feel
- •Data arrives after the fact
- •Spreadsheets as primary tools
- •Can't answer basic performance questions
- •Problems discovered too late
What Limits Performance
Without visibility, you can't distinguish signal from noise. Improvement is guesswork. You can't manage what you can't measure.
Flowstate Approach
- 1.Establish basic measurement systems
- 2.Create real-time visibility at point of action
- 3.Build feedback loops that enable response
- 4.Connect data to decisions
Unstable but Automation-Eager Factory
You've invested in automation or are eager to do so, but the foundation isn't ready. Technology is running faster than your process stability, creating expensive problems.
Typical Symptoms
- •Automation investments underperforming
- •Technology blame for process problems
- •High maintenance on automated systems
- •Complexity increased, not reduced
- •Returns not matching investment
What Limits Performance
Automating an unstable process just creates faster chaos. Technology amplifies whatever it's applied to — including problems.
Flowstate Approach
- 1.Stabilise underlying processes first
- 2.Simplify before automating
- 3.Right-size automation to process maturity
- 4.Build capability to maintain what you automate
Planning-Driven but Flow-Constrained Factory
You have planning systems but reality doesn't match the plan. Work piles up, schedules slip, and you're constantly re-planning. The plan is good; execution is the problem.
Typical Symptoms
- •Plans don't match reality
- •Constant re-scheduling
- •Work-in-progress piling up
- •Long lead times despite effort
- •Good planning, poor execution
What Limits Performance
Planning systems can't compensate for flow problems. Better planning won't fix execution constraints. The system design itself is the issue.
Flowstate Approach
- 1.Map actual flow vs planned flow
- 2.Identify and address flow constraints
- 3.Reduce batch sizes and WIP
- 4.Synchronise planning with physical reality
Quality-Interrupted Factory
Quality issues regularly interrupt your flow. Rework is a constant, inspection catches problems too late, and you're spending significant effort on non-value-adding activities.
Typical Symptoms
- •High rework rates
- •Late-stage quality detection
- •Inspection-dependent quality
- •Quality inconsistency
- •Customer complaints despite inspection
What Limits Performance
Quality problems consume capacity and destroy flow. Inspection is waste — it adds cost without adding value. You're paying twice for every defect.
Flowstate Approach
- 1.Move quality upstream in the process
- 2.Build in-process controls and verification
- 3.Address root causes, not symptoms
- 4.Create mistake-proof processes
Constraint-Driven Factory
Your output is limited by a specific bottleneck — a machine, process, or resource that constrains everything else. Everything else waits for the constraint.
Typical Symptoms
- •Clear bottleneck limiting output
- •Other resources underutilised
- •Long queues at constraint
- •Output limited despite capacity elsewhere
- •Constraint drives all scheduling
What Limits Performance
System output is determined by the constraint. Improving anything else doesn't help. Focus must be singular until the constraint is addressed.
Flowstate Approach
- 1.Exploit the constraint fully
- 2.Subordinate everything else to the constraint
- 3.Elevate constraint capacity if needed
- 4.Prepare for the next constraint
Stable but Analog Factory
Your operation is stable and controlled, but relies heavily on manual methods. You've achieved consistency through discipline, but there's significant manual effort that could be reduced.
Typical Symptoms
- •Stable but labour-intensive
- •Paper-based systems that work
- •Manual data collection
- •Improvement through discipline
- •Ready for selective automation
What Limits Performance
Manual methods limit scale and speed. There's hidden cost in administration. You're ready for automation but need to choose carefully.
Flowstate Approach
- 1.Identify highest-value automation opportunities
- 2.Digitise data capture first
- 3.Automate repetitive, rule-based tasks
- 4.Preserve what works while reducing effort
Automation-Ready Factory
Your processes are stable, visible, and controlled. You have the foundation for advanced automation and can confidently invest in technology that will deliver returns.
Typical Symptoms
- •Stable, predictable processes
- •Good data and visibility
- •Documented standard work
- •Continuous improvement culture
- •Technology investments pay off
What Limits Performance
The challenge shifts from stabilisation to optimisation. Marginal gains require more sophistication. Competition may be catching up.
Flowstate Approach
- 1.Scale automation across operations
- 2.Integrate systems for end-to-end visibility
- 3.Apply advanced analytics and prediction
- 4.Build competitive advantage through systems
Not sure which profile fits?
Take the Manufacturing Systems Diagnostic to get your personalised profile match.