Friction 01
MES dependency
Nothing starts until the MES releases data. MES down, month stalls.
Friction 02
Manual transcription
Four exports retyped by hand. Error enters at every transfer.
Friction 03
Calculation opacity
Years of custom formulas nobody else could read or verify.
Friction 04
No early warning
The month is only visible after it has already closed.
Friction 05
Single-user bottleneck
One person, zero redundancy, five years without vacation.
Day 1 to 2
collect
Day 3 to 6
transcribe
Day 6 to 9
cross-reference
Day 9 to 11
capture
Day 11 to 13
assemble
Day 13 to 15
client reports
MES
Source system, outside the team's control
MES releases production data
Four separate exports, availability not guaranteed
1
›
If the MES is unavailable, every downstream step waits. The report cannot start, and the deadline does not move.
Quality manager
The only person able to run the process
Download 4 spreadsheets
One per data domain
›
Retype into the master workbook
Manual entry, no validation
2
›
Cross-reference volume, defect rate and yield
Per product line, per process, per client
3
›
Screenshot each spreadsheet output
No export path from the workbook
›
Annotate slides by hand
Commentary written per chart
›
Rebuild the report per client
Dell and others require their own format
5
Files
Everything lives on one machine
Production
Defects
Yield
Lots
Master workbook, fifth spreadsheet
Built over a decade, custom formulas, no documentation, no version history
PowerPoint deck of screenshots
Images of numbers, not data
Client-specific decks
Manual variants per account
Output
What the company finally sees
Nothing is visible to anyone else for the first fourteen days
No partial view, no interim signal, no way for a second person to pick the process up
4
Monthly compliance report
Directors, clients, audit trail