The 72% Capacity Lie: Forensic Breakdown of Hidden Capacity STAGNATION ASSASSIN / CHAPTER 6 / THE CAPACITY LIE THE 72% CAPACITY LIE Utilization is a vanity metric. Value-adding time is the reality. Stop the $3M expansion lie. THE DASHBOARD LIE 72% REPORTED UTILIZATION “We are maxed out. We need more floor space.” THE STOPWATCH TRUTH […] Read More

I analyzed a technology company where product leaders spent 65% of their time in meetings — and only 40% of that meeting time produced any decisions. Restructuring their calendar unlocked management capacity equivalent to hiring additional leaders at zero cost. That’s the hidden capacity mistake nobody talks about: organizations hunt for operational efficiency while ignoring […] Read More

Availability is the OEE factor everyone claims to understand and almost nobody measures honestly. The formula is simple — Run Time divided by Planned Production Time. The manipulation is simpler. Changeovers quietly become “scheduled.” Material shortages get reclassified as “planned inventory reduction.” Training stops transform into “scheduled development.” Each reclassification inflates your Availability number while […] Read More

The 85% OEE benchmark became “world-class” through repetition, not rigorous analysis. Industry consultants observed that top-performing discrete manufacturers clustered around that number, and it calcified into dogma — without a single examination of whether it actually predicts profitability, customer responsiveness, or competitive advantage in any specific context. Theory of Constraints research is unambiguous: improving anything […] Read More

OEE = Availability × Performance × Quality. The formula takes thirty seconds to learn. The manipulation takes decades to unwind. I’ve seen plants using “standard” cycle times set 40% slower than actual equipment capability — manufacturing perfect Performance numbers while leaving massive speed improvement untouched. I’ve watched changeovers quietly reclassified as scheduled downtime to inflate […] Read More