1- Establish a rework-management process

Issues

• Quality is paramount in watchmaking, it is the very essence of the sector; consequently, any defect is absolutely prohibited

• In order to minimize defects, manufacturers multiply quality controls and send a very large number of parts to rework, parts that then add to and compete with the other parts in the production flow.

• This consequently generates a multitude of small lots to manage and a high complexity in shipping (delays if the last parts are awaited; otherwise, partial shipments)

Best practices

• It is recommended to carry out quality controls upstream of the production bottlenecks in order to minimize the number of defective parts at these workstations.

• It is also advisable to reduce the number of quality-control points before the over-capacity workstations and to observe the impact on the quality level at the final control. 

2/ Control your work-in-progress level

Issue 

• The raw materials used and worked in watchmaking are often precious and expensive metals (e.g. gold, platinum).

• Reducing the number of parts in production at a given moment in the workshop is therefore critical for the financial health of said workshop.

Best practices

• Set up work-in-progress control processes (Kanban, CONWIP type) 

• Allow rapid transport of the product between the end of a step N and its availability at the foot of step N+1. In other words, do what is necessary so as to never have, within a workshop, operations completed several hours earlier.
  
  
  

3/ Carefully monitor subcontracting

Issue

• Most manufacturers subcontract part of their production process or resort to subcontracting during peak-load periods

• Poor communication or a lack of anticipation with subcontractors and/or logistics teams can quickly lead to several days or even weeks of delay

Best practices

• Set up contracts that make it possible to reserve the capacity and availability of your suppliers on critical steps / products. This often comes with a commitment on volume, duration, or price.

4/ Develop in-house the specialized skills that are bottlenecks

Issue

• Certain skills are today in short supply and highly sought after. It is not uncommon in Switzerland for the recruitment of a beveling specialist (angleur), for example, to take several months.

Best practices

• Get closer to a school and offer to train their students through work-study programs

• Create an in-house pool of learners

• Upskill people in-house

• Develop your employer brand

• Retain and unite your teams

5/ Reduce the variability of operations and reduce cycle times

Issue

• In watchmaking, many trades are manual or require a considerable amount of setup time.

• Thus, for the same operation, the completion time can vary by a factor of two depending on the person who carries it out.

Best practices

• Track the performance of each person according to the production step, the reference worked, or the setup put in place. This information can then be synthesized in a two-way table (people / part or setup) that displays in green the most efficient operators on certain parts / setups and in orange those who need support. 

• Set up training sessions between operators in order to homogenize performance as much as possible and to allow the most experienced people to transmit their knowledge and best practices.

  
  
  

6/ Display clear production priorities to the teams

Issue

• Too often, the volume of operations carried out daily contains few priority operations due to a lack of communication.

• Priorities always exist but are not displayed for all to see or easily accessible.

• Or else, the progress information is not communicated quickly enough.

Best practices

• Set up a dynamic scheduling system that makes it possible to:

  • Clearly display, everywhere in the workshop, the priorities (more effective than a printed support placed at the workstation).

  • Quickly update the progress of production, the available operations, the unforeseen events, and the priorities (more effective than a printed support or a solution that does not make it possible to interconnect the different workstations with one another).