Why firefighting becomes normal.
Nobody decides to run the plant on expedites. It creeps in. Then the people who could fix it are too busy ranking which customer screamed loudest.
A buffer that used to absorb a late truck is gone. A lead time stretches and nobody updates the plan. Then a job that used to be a nuisance needs someone to drop everything. That someone is usually your best planner, because they are the one who can still find the stock.
The first expedite works. That is the trap. You get a late order out the door, so you do it again on Thursday. Purchasing starts chasing. Production starts jumping the sequence. By the time anyone notices, the people who could rebuild the plan are already in a room ranking which customer screamed loudest.
What that room actually costs
One manufacturer ran a weekly expedite meeting. Twelve people. It had grown into a multi-hour crisis session. When we added up the hours, that one meeting was 156 hours a month. That is a full-time planner, spent not planning.
The meeting existed because systematic planning had collapsed. It also made sure nobody had time to put it back. Suggestions to fix the cause were met with "we don't have time for that." They were right, in a way. They had spent the time already.
How it becomes "how we work here"
Heroic effort starts getting rewarded. The person who stayed late to find the missing carton is the story at the toolbox talk. The person who wanted a freeze on the schedule looks theoretical. Documentation slips. Training stops. New starters learn the workaround, not the process.
After a while the organisation cannot remember what stable looked like. Firefighting is not a personality. It is what is left when the plan stopped being something you could believe.
You don't need a programme. You need the hours back.
Put a number on the meetings that exist because the plan failed. Protect a slice of the week for putting the plan back together, even when something is on fire. If you wait for a quiet week, you will wait forever.
The window is usually smaller than you think. Once the floor has learned that the schedule is optional, getting it to mean something again is slower than letting it slip in the first place.
Questions this usually raises
Why does firefighting become normal in manufacturing?
Nobody decides to run the plant on expedites. Buffers shrink, people get pulled onto today's crisis, planning time disappears, and heroic effort starts getting rewarded. After a while the team cannot remember what stable looked like.
How much can a weekly expedite meeting cost?
One manufacturer ran a weekly expedite meeting with 12 people. It was 156 hours a month: a full-time planner, spent not planning. The meeting existed because the plan had collapsed, and it made sure nobody had time to put it back.
If this sounds like your plant, get in touch. A consultation is ninety minutes: we'll put a number on the meetings that exist because the plan failed, and what it would take to get the hours back.