MES & Shop FloorFree worksheetPDF, Excel, Word exportDiscrete Manufacturing

Changeover Sequence Planning Worksheet

Changeovers are paid time with no output. This worksheet lets a scheduler lay out a running order, enter the changeover and run minutes for each job and compare sequences by the share of time lost.

Download:

Run order	Job	Part family	Changeover min	Run min	Units	Total min	Min per unit incl. setup
						220	0.7333
						130	0.65
						205	2.5625
						285	4.75
						135	0.9

Total changeover minutes

225

Total run minutes

750

Total minutes

975

Changeover share of time

23.1%

Minutes saved if setups fall 20 percent

Make a copy of the sheet for each candidate sequence. In the example, running the third small shaft job straight after the first two would cut its changeover.

Changeover data from your ERP

Optional: help extracting real changeover history from your ERP or MES.

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How to use it

Enter jobs in the order you plan to run them. For each, record the changeover minutes from the previous job, not a generic routing setup, because a change within the same part family is far shorter than a change across families. Compare two or three sequences and keep the one with the lowest changeover share that still meets due dates. Export to Excel to keep the winning sequence with the schedule.

Sequence logic

Sequence-dependent setups mean the best order is rarely first-in first-out. Group by family, tooling or material, and run from light to heavy or small to large when that avoids cleaning or re-fixturing. Then check the due dates. A grouped sequence that makes the most urgent job late is not an improvement. Use the summary to quantify the gain so the trade-off is explicit.

Group by fixture, tooling or material first.
Move urgent jobs forward only as far as needed.
Review changeover actuals each week.

Reading the results

The share of changeover time shows where improvement effort pays. If the share is high, a SMED effort on the worst family pair usually beats trying to run faster. Minutes per unit including setup shows why very small lots are expensive: the same 40 minute setup spread over 40 pieces adds a full minute to each.

Common mistakes

Do not use the routing setup time for every job. Do not forget teardown or first piece approval, which many shops leave out of the number. Also avoid optimizing the sequence on a non-bottleneck machine; the saved minutes there may not become output.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this a SMED worksheet?

No. It plans the order of jobs and totals changeover time. SMED reduces the length of each changeover. Use both: sequence first for quick gains, then reduce the worst changeovers.

What counts as changeover time?

From the last good piece of the previous job to the first good piece of the next, including teardown, setup, adjustment and first piece approval.

How do I record sequence-dependent setups?

Enter the changeover minutes for the actual pair of jobs in the sequence. Keep a separate matrix of family to family times if you plan often.

Can it sequence automatically?

No, it is a manual comparison sheet. Automatic sequencing needs an optimizer or an APS that holds the setup matrix.

If sequence-dependent setups are central to your scheduling, we can help extract changeover history from your ERP or MES and model better sequences.

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