When late orders are really a handover problem
Missed dispatch dates often get blamed on packing speed. More often, the work arrived incomplete — and nobody had permission to stop it.
Walk a late order backwards and you rarely find a lazy packer. You find a kit released with one accessory “to follow,” a drawing revision that never reached the weld bay, or a special instruction trapped in someone’s inbox.
Start with the folder, not the clock
Ask what must be physically or digitally present before work may leave one department for the next. Write that list on one page. If the list only lives in a senior person’s head, every holiday becomes a delay.
Give someone a stop authority
Incomplete releases continue because stopping them feels rude. Name who may hold a job at the boundary — and praise them when they do. A held job is cheaper than a van that returns with half a delivery.
Test with twelve live orders
Theory maps lie. Follow twelve recent jobs and mark where information dropped. Patterns appear faster than another meeting about “communication.”
If this sounds familiar, our Operations Diagnostic is built around that walk-the-work habit.