Picture a machine that makes one product all morning. Before it can make the next one, someone has to stop it, swap parts, adjust settings and test a first piece. That gap is called a changeover. The machine isn’t making anything, and in many factories it happens several times a day.
The problem
Most people running a factory know changeovers take too long. Fewer can say where the time goes. It’s rarely one big thing. It’s dozens of small steps, and some of them don’t need the machine to be stopped at all.
What we built
At Swip Tools, we built a free SMED calculator that helps you find that time. SMED is a lean method for shortening changeovers. The tool walks you through it:
- Time it. Watch a real changeover and tap as each step finishes.
- Sort it. Mark each step as one of three things:
- Stopped: the machine has to be off for this.
- Prep: it can be done beforehand, while the machine is still running.
- Waste: it doesn’t need to happen at all.
- See the saving. The tool shows how much shorter the changeover could be if the prep moved out of the way and the waste went away.
It’s free and needs no login.
Why it matters
Time the machine spends stopped is output you never get back. Seeing the number move on screen gives a team something concrete to talk about and try.
Try it
Run it on your next changeover: swiptools.com/tools/smed-calculator. If you want to learn the method first, our post SMED in Four Stages is a good place to start.