Executive summary
24 h → 1 h
unboxing time for the same volume of stock on the Raymang Eggs line: by hand, and on the robotic line
3
things a result needs before anyone can check it: a baseline, a unit and a measurement window
Key conclusions
- A percentage gain with no stated baseline can describe almost anything, so it does not persuade careful readers.
- The measured quantity (hours for the same work, units per shift, labour hours per batch) looks smaller on the page but carries more weight, because readers can check it.
- Record the baseline before go-live. A result measured against a remembered baseline is only an estimate, however precise it looks.
For some time, our site described the outcome of a robotic carton-handling line as an efficiency gain of over 1,000 percent. We did not invent the figure, but it was not useful. A reviewer pointed out that it had no baseline, no unit and no measurement window, on a page that argues against promotional claims. The reviewer was right.
Here is the restated version. Unboxing the weekly import shipments by hand took the line 24 hours. On the robotic line, the same volume of stock is unboxed in one hour. This is the same fact the percentage tried to express, and it gives a larger ratio than the one we had been quoting. It is also a statement a buyer can hold us to.
A percentage hides what was measured
'Efficiency up 1,000 percent' could refer to throughput, labour, cost, cycle time or floor space. It could be measured over a week or a year, and against the line's worst day or its average. Each choice gives a different number, and the ratio uses one without saying which.
A ratio is a division. If a reader is not shown the denominator, they cannot tell what was divided by what. In a plant, that is the difference between a result and a claim.
Stated as a measurement, the same result can be checked
| As it was stated | As a measurement |
|---|---|
| Efficiency gain of over 1,000 percent | 24 hours of unboxing, done in one, for the same volume of stock |
| Baseline: unstated | Baseline: the manual process, on the weekly import shipment |
| Unit: unstated | Unit: elapsed hours for a fixed quantity of work |
| A reader can be impressed | A reader can go and time it |
The second change matters most to the operations team
The hours figure is the headline, but the line also changed a second quantity that the percentage never captured. Imported eggs used to be brought from cold storage to room temperature with industrial fans, which took four to five hours per batch before anyone could handle them. The process risked condensation and delayed every delivery. Chilled stock now stays at roughly 4°C. It moves into a climate-controlled, low-humidity room to normalise only when it is scheduled to go out.
This is a change to food safety and shelf life. For a product with a short expiry, it is the change the operations manager would have reported first. A ratio cannot express it, but a measurement can.
Four steps produce a result that a reviewer can verify
- Fix the baseline before go-live: the quantity, the unit and the period it was measured over. The people who ran the old process should sign it off. We have made this point before about OEE (overall equipment effectiveness), and it applies to every metric.
- Measure the new process on the same quantity and in the same unit. If the unit has to change, explain why.
- State the window: the period the new measurement covers, and whether it includes commissioning. If no window was recorded, say so.
- Report both measurements. Readers who want the ratio can calculate it, and it will be correct.
Twenty-four hours to one is a smaller number on the page than 1,000 percent. It is a much stronger claim, because we can be asked to prove it.
