The Hour-by-Hour Board: Production Tracking in Real Time

An hour-by-hour board tracks actual production output against the hourly target through the shift. It converts takt time from a daily average into an hourly checkpoint — making recovery gaps visible before they compound into overtime.

The core insight: A deficit at hour 2 is recoverable. The same deficit at hour 7 requires overtime. The hour board makes this compounding visible in real time.

Live Hour Board — Assembly Line 1

Hour Board — 5 Mar 2026 Day Shift

Hour	Target	Actual	Variance	Cumulative	Status
06:00–07:00	8	9	+1	+1	Ahead
07:00–08:00	8	7	−1	0	Even
08:00–09:00	8	6	−2	−2	Behind
09:00–10:00	8	7	−1	−3	Behind
10:00–11:00	8	9	+1	−2	Behind
11:00–12:00	8	—	—	—	In progress

⚠ Currently 2 units behind cumulative target. Intervention required before hour 8 to avoid overtime.

Physical Board vs. Digital Dashboard

Aspect	Physical Whiteboard	TaktClock Hour Board
Data entry	Manual at end of each hour	Automatic from session completions
Delay	Up to 60 min after the fact	Real time — updates every 30 sec
Visibility	Must walk to the board	Any screen on the network
History	Erased at shift end	Stored in database permanently
Accuracy	Dependent on supervisor recording	Calculated from actual sessions

❓ Knowledge Check

An hour board shows a cumulative deficit of 3 units by hour 4 of an 8-hour shift. The remaining 4 hours have a target of 8 units per hour. What production rate is needed to finish on target?

✓ Correct! 4 hours × 8 target = 32 units remaining target. Plus 3-unit deficit = 35 units needed in 4 hours = 8.75 units per hour. The hour board makes this recovery calculation visible and actionable while there's still time to respond.

See It Live

These Principles, Running on Your Floor

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