A buffer is protection measured in time. Buffer management is the daily habit of checking how much of that protection each order has used, and acting on the ones in trouble before they become late.
What a time buffer is
When an order is released, it gets a window of time to reach the bottleneck, or to reach shipping, before it is needed. Problems along the way eat into that window. The buffer isn’t extra stock sitting on the floor; it’s time on the calendar.
Green, amber and red
Divide each buffer into thirds and colour every open order by how much of its buffer has been used:
- Green: less than a third used. On track; leave it alone.
- Amber: between a third and two thirds used. Check where it is and plan a recovery if needed.
- Red: more than two thirds used. Act today, with a named owner and a date.
- Late: past its due point. Expedite, and record why.
The colours replace a long list of due dates with one question: which orders need help today?
The daily buffer meeting
Fifteen minutes at the start of the shift, standing at the board. Reds and lates only. For each one: where is it, what is it waiting for, who fixes it, by when. Greens and ambers are not discussed. The point is to spend attention where it changes the outcome.
Learning from the reds
Record why each order went red: waiting for material, a machine down, a quality hold, an engineering question. After a few weeks the same causes keep coming up. Fixing the most frequent cause is usually the biggest improvement available, and it tells you where to focus next.
Tuning the buffer size
- Too many reds, week after week, even when the floor works the list: the buffer may be too short, or the bottleneck overloaded.
- Almost everything green: the buffer is probably longer than it needs to be. Shortening it cuts work in process and lead time.
- Change it in small steps and give each change a few weeks before judging.
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