Laura called. She was upset. "KC," she said, "my OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is way down and I don't know what to do. Help!""Sure," I said and was on my way as we hung up the call."What's going on, Laura?" I asked when I got there."Glad...

The milkman called–and not about deliveries, either. He had a problem and needed me there yesterday. I grabbed my hat and was out the door.“KC,” Billy told me at the dairy, “we have a random problem with the capper. Everything seems fine, but we...

I had met Rafael when I did an effective troubleshooting workshop in his plant. He took me up on my invitation to pick my brain if he ever needed to.“Hi KC!” he exclaimed. “Remember when you said that it was important to standardize conveyor...

Gerry’s message was garbled. All I could make out was “legs … cut … off. Get here fast.”From the message, I was not sure whether I was going to a packaging line or a crime scene.When I got to the plant Gerry took me to the aseptic clean room ...

.I was at the donut shop when Francisco sat down with his sinkers and joe. After the howdies, he told me his problem.“KC, I can’t keep my packaging line balanced,” he confided. “We documented the optimum speed settings in the setup SOP. They...

I was writing a report when Jack called me.“KC,” he said, “we just did two changeovers.”“OK…” I replied.“We even did them fairly quickly thanks to your help in the past,” he continued.“”Uh-huh…” I said, wondering where this was headed.“The problem...

I was in my comfy chair resting my eyes when my wife came into the office and startled me alert.“KC, whatever are you doing?” she inquired. “If you don’t have anything to do in the office, I can find some chores at home.”“Practicing, Nellie my...

Three-dimensional (3D) technologies and services for rapid prototyping have become more affordable over the last decade.Now is the time to take advantage of them during the packaging design process. Whether it's with in-house equipment or through...