The wall
Which stage is the constraint this week, and what do we refuse to start because of it?
Hands-on · Drag a card into another stage, or use its Move menu. Hours, limits and the constraint are all recomputed from where the cards are — nothing on this screen is a stored figure. Your board is kept for this browser tab.
The constraint
Finishing is holding 1.70 weeks.
Against 1.06 at Bench, the next deepest. Derived from hours and capacity rather than nominated, which is why it is allowed to move when you move a card. 51 of the 293 hours on the wall are queued at Finishing, which has 30 of the shop’s 330 hours in a week. 1 card is past its promised install.
Five stages, left to right, in the order the work goes through them
Detailing
3/4
Two, one of them half on site visits
36 h standing · 54 h a week · 0.67 weeks deep
Leaves when · Shop drawings signed by the client, not merely sent.
24-118
due 9 Sep
Lititz Public Library
Circulation desk and returns wall
4 d here · median 611 h left
24-121
due 28 Aug
Hemlock Dental
Six operatory cabinets
12 d here · median 66 h left
AgeingBlockedWaiting on the client to sign the drawing set, sent 22 Jul.
24-124
due 2 Oct
Ward & Bell
Reception and two meeting credenzas
2 d here · median 619 h left
Cutting
2/3
One on the nest saw and the CNC
36 h standing · 72 h a week · 0.50 weeks deep
Leaves when · Every part cut, labelled, and on a cart with the job number.
24-109
due 21 Aug
Strasburg Brewing
Back bar and bottle shelving
3 d here · median 314 h left
24-113
due 4 Sep
Millersville University
Studio storage, twelve bays
1 d here · median 322 h left
Bench
5/5
Four benches
157 h standing · 148 h a week · 1.06 weeks deep
Leaves when · Carcases assembled, doors hung, hardware in and adjusted.
24-096
due 14 Aug
Hershey Medical Group
Nurse station, phase two
9 d here · median 838 h left
24-101
due 18 Aug
Kirkwood Tasting Room
Bar front and back counter
6 d here · median 826 h left
24-104
due 11 Aug
Ephrata Family Practice
Reception desk and file wall
14 d here · median 831 h left
AgeingBlockedHinges on back order until 12 Aug. Everything else on it is done.
24-107
due 26 Aug
Blue Ball Fire Company
Gear lockers, twenty-four
4 d here · median 844 h left
24-111
due 1 Sep
Quarryville Feed
Retail counter and till surround
2 d here · median 818 h left
Finishing
2/2
One booth, one sprayer
51 h standing · 30 h a week · 1.70 weeks deep
Leaves when · Topcoat cured and inspected under the lamp, not merely dry.
24-088
due 7 Aug
Rohrerstown Optical
Frame display wall
11 d here · median 517 h left
24-092
due 12 Aug
Manheim Township Schools
Science bench tops, four rooms
7 d here · median 534 h left
Load out
2/3
Whoever is free, plus the driver
13 h standing · 26 h a week · 0.50 weeks deep
Leaves when · Wrapped, listed against the packing sheet, and on the truck.
24-079
due 5 Aug
Willow Street Veterinary
Exam room casework
2 d here · median 24 h left
24-083
3 d late
Conestoga House
Library shelving, three walls
6 d here · median 29 h left
AgeingBlockedLateSite not ready. Their electrician has not closed the wall.
Sold, scheduled, and deliberately not started
24-127
48 h
Gap Borough Hall
Council chamber desk
Finishing is already holding more than a week of booth time against a two-card limit. Detailing this now buys a card that stands in front of the booth in September.
24-129
62 h
Denver Animal Hospital
Reception and kennel run doors
Bench is at five of five. Held until 24-096 ships, which is the only thing that opens a slot.
24-131
36 h
Terre Hill Concrete
Two site-office fitouts
Client has not confirmed the second unit. Detailing one of a pair twice costs more than waiting.
Every one of these is work we have been paid a deposit for and could start this morning. Starting it would not make it finish sooner — it would put another card in front of the booth and make everything already on the wall later. The list is here so that refusing is a decision with a name on it rather than a queue nobody admits to.
How the constraint is picked
- 1Every card carries the hours still owed to it in the stage it is sitting in, not the hours left on the job.
- 2A stage's queue is the sum of those hours. Its capacity is the hours it actually has in a week, after site visits, holidays and cure time.
- 3Weeks deep is queue divided by capacity. The deepest stage is the constraint, whatever the card count says.
- 4Card counts and limits are still printed, because five small cards and five large ones are the same count and not the same week.
- 5Nothing upstream of the constraint may start work that would add to it. That refusal is the held list above, and its Start buttons are real.
Finishing is holding nearly two weeks of booth time behind a two-card limit, and half of what looks like a sprayer's week is a room standing full of something curing that nobody may touch.
Why the count alone was not enough
The old wall was cards and limits, and it said Bench was the problem because Bench always has the most cards. Bench has four benches. It is holding a week and a bit of work and it clears it.
Finishing holds two cards and nearly two weeks, because one of them is four rooms of science bench tops. That was invisible on a board that counted cards, and it is the reason the last three jobs shipped late from a stage nobody was watching.
Drag 24-092, the science bench tops, out of Finishing and watch which stage the constraint lands on. That is the argument, and it is faster to make by moving one card than by reading three paragraphs about it.