Make it once.

What it looks like

• Gummies that "came back hot" from the lab, because the dose wasn't even across the batch.
• "Leakers" and clogged carts.
• Loose pre-rolls, or "canoeing" ones that burn down one side.
• A batch of concentrate that fails residual solvents.

Measure it

Batch pass rate on first submission to the lab. For carts, the defect and return rate. For edibles, dosing accuracy: measured potency per serving against the label.

Where to look

Lab results, the cart defect log, the weight check at the end of the pre-roll line.

First thing to try: a check at the source. When a defect comes back, walk to the step that made it: the kitchen for hot gummies, the filler and capper for leakers, the cone filler for loose pre-rolls. Write down how that step should run, and check the first units against it at every start and changeover. When the same error keeps coming back, the free mistake-proofing skill helps you design it out.

What it looks like

• A full batch of a slow flavor, sitting in the vault.
• Filling carts before the labels or hardware to finish them are in.
• Starting the next batch because the crew is free, not because an order needs it.

Measure it

Finished goods with no open order behind them, in units and in days.

Where to look

The finished goods shelf in the vault, next to open orders.

First thing to try: pull from orders. Schedule from open orders and what's selling, not from what the room or the machine can make. The next batch is the SKU with the next order, and nothing gets filled until everything to finish it is on hand.

What it looks like

• Oil waiting on potency results before it can be dosed.
• The kitchen ready to cook, waiting on oil.
• The cone machine down, waiting on cones.

Measure it

Throughput time: input pulled from the vault to finished goods released, split by step. On the line, minutes stopped for lack of material. That's lost availability in OEE, and the free OEE skill works it out from your downtime log.

Where to look

The lab queue, the kitchen schedule, the cone machine at the start of a shift.

First thing to try: a kit for every run. The day before, stage everything the next run needs (released oil with its potency, cones, hardware, labels) and check it off on one card. A missing item shows up the day before, not at the line.

What it looks like

• Chemists hand-labeling, when they could be running and improving extraction.
• Line workers who know how to clear a jam, and the fix never gets written down.
• Your most experienced operator stuck on one machine, never asked to write the standard work.

Measure it

Ideas raised by the crew, and how many were acted on, each month.

Where to look

The line, the kitchen and the extraction lab at the end of a shift, in the crew's own words.

First thing to try: an end-of-shift question at each line: what jammed today, and how did you fix it? Write the fixes on the board, turn the good ones into standard work, and tell the crew which one you used.

What it looks like

• Oil walked back to the vault between every step.
• Pre-rolls carted to a separate weigh station.
• Hardware and packaging carried in from storage a case at a time.

Measure it

Vault trips per batch, and the distance one batch travels from input pulled to finished goods. Pace it once.

Where to look

The vault log, transfers in seed-to-sale, and a floor plan.

First thing to try: draw one batch's path on a floor plan, a spaghetti diagram. Keep every vault move the security rules require, and question the rest. For pre-rolls, try bringing the scale to the line instead of the pre-rolls to the scale.

What it looks like

• Crude parked, waiting for post-processing.
• Distillate parked, waiting for the kitchen or the vape line.
• Hardware and boxes for SKUs that changed.

Measure it

Crude, distillate and finished goods on hand, in grams and in days of use, and the age of the oldest lot.

Where to look

The vault shelves and the components cage.

First thing to try: a limit on oil between steps, marked on the shelf. When the shelf is full, nothing new is extracted until a container moves on. Date every container and use the oldest first.

What it looks like

• Reaching across the bench to the knockbox.
• A vault trip for every sign-out.
• Walking to storage for cones, hardware or labels in the middle of a run.

Measure it

Trips away from the station per run (count them once), and units per labor-hour by line.

Where to look

The pre-roll bench, the cart filling line and the kitchen during a run.

First thing to try: point of use. Knockbox, cones, scale and tools within arm's reach, set the same way at every station. For sign-outs, ask your compliance lead whether the record can be made where the work happens, so it's done once, right there.

What it looks like

• Regrinding because the grind was inconsistent.
• Re-purging oil that wasn't purged right the first time.
• Weighing every pre-roll on a line that is already stable. Weights-and-measures practice (NIST Handbook 133) judges a lot on its average and on how many packages fall short by more than an allowed amount, so stable lines often check by sample. 935 CMR 500 sets no tolerance of its own, so confirm with your compliance lead and your local sealer of weights and measures before cutting a weigh step.

Measure it

Rework hours per week, with regrinds and re-purges counted separately, and the scrap rate.

Where to look

The grinder and sifter, the vacuum ovens, the weigh station.

First thing to try: standard work at the grinder. One page: the setting, the sift, and a quick check of the grind before it goes to the cone filler. A consistent grind means no regrind, and fill weights steady enough to show.