Leak zone
Labour: where it leaks and how to measure it
Quick answer
Labour leak is the gap between hours paid and hours of value-adding work delivered. The biggest single cause in most plants is low wrench time: skilled trades waiting for parts, permits, access, and decisions instead of turning spanners.
What it looks like on site
Trades wait for parts, permits, and decisions.
What we measure
Wrench time lost to waiting and overtime driven by weak front-end planning.
Key metrics
- wrench time.
- overtime percentage.
- schedule compliance.
- planned work percentage.
What drives it
- Jobs released to the floor without parts, permits, or access ready.
- Reactive work that fragments the day and triggers overtime.
- Supervisors pulled into expediting instead of running their area.
- No job planning step, so trades plan on the tools.
How to fix it
- Plan and kit jobs before they hit the schedule.
- Protect a planned-work backlog of ready-to-execute jobs.
- Measure wrench time and remove the top three causes of waiting.
Frequently asked questions
How do you measure the labour leak zone?
By measuring wrench time lost to waiting and overtime driven by weak front-end planning. The Diagnostic quantifies it against your own CMMS and downtime data and translates it into annual dollars.
What does labour leak look like on a plant floor?
Trades wait for parts, permits, and decisions.
See where your plant is leaking profit.
Score your operation across five leak zones in 3 minutes, or book a free 30-minute Fit Call to confirm whether a Diagnostic is the right next step.
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