A senior manager at a 500-machine factory started each day answering buyer emails. By 11 a.m. she discovered that fabric for Line B had not arrived and the PP sample was still at the lab. Because she had not checked the critical path at 8 a.m., the team spent the morning chasing minor trim colour approvals instead of escalating the fabric delay. The order shipped three days late by air, eroding margin.
A second manager ran a 15-minute morning huddle: fabric status, trim status, PP approval status, and line plan. He flagged the fabric risk by 8:20 a.m., moved a backup fabric from another order, and protected the ship date. The difference was not effort; it was where effort was aimed.