“The $250k Machine That Didn’t Fix the Problem”

The packaging line had been running at full tilt for months. Orders were piling up, overtime was becoming the norm, and leadership felt pressure to “do something.”

The obvious solution seemed clear:
Buy a new $250k packaging machine.

Before pulling the trigger, the team ran a quick capacity study — just one week of observation.

What they found was surprising:

• The line only ran at peak speed about 68% of the shift

• Changeovers were longer than anyone realized

• Minor jams upstream were starving the packer

• Operators were waiting more than they were working

Instead of buying the machine, they:

• Standardized changeovers

• Fixed a chronic upstream bottleneck

• Added visual controls for material flow

Throughput increased by 22%.

The machine purchase was postponed — and ultimately never needed.

One small fix beat a big investment.