Iron Vale Milling

Shift Handover Workflow Report

Engagement deliverable · Improve Shift Handover Consistency
Client
Iron Vale Milling
Prepared by
Fjell & Co.
Report date
23 Jul 2026
Version
1.2 — Draft for review

Executive Summary

This report documents the current shift handover workflow across Iron Vale's milling floor, identified from the session Trace a Handover Breakdown and supporting incident analysis. Three handoff points account for 78% of communication gaps between day and night shifts.

The visual workflow below maps the as-is process, highlights failure points, and aligns with agreed working agreements from Phase 2 of the engagement.

As-Is Handover Workflow

1
End-of-shift log
Operator completes paper log at line station
2
Supervisor review
Verbal summary only — log often incomplete
3
Handover huddle
5 min overlap; machine status rarely covered
4
Incoming briefing
Incoming shift reads log independently
5
First-hour ops
Issues rediscovered on the floor
Standard step
Partial / inconsistent
Primary breakdown point
Target state (Phase 3)

Key Findings

Handover huddle too short

Average overlap is 4.2 minutes. Machine exceptions and quality holds are deferred to floor discovery.

Inconsistent log completion

Night shift logs completed 62% of the time vs 89% day shift. Missing fields: downtime cause, QC holds.

No shared priority signal

Incoming shift cannot distinguish urgent line changes from routine maintenance without asking.

Strong supervisor relationships

Verbal culture works when both supervisors are present — opportunity to codify, not replace.

Reference Incident

Artefact ref IV-8847

Conveyor stoppage — missed handover · 14 Jul 2026

Night shift conveyor belt tension adjustment was not passed to day shift. Line ran 40 minutes before fault recurred, causing a 2.5-hour production delay. Root cause traced to Step 3 — handover huddle did not include mechanical adjustments.

Recommended To-Be Workflow

1
Structured log
Required fields: machine status, holds, priorities
2
10-min huddle
Standard agenda: exceptions first, then priorities
3
Sign-off
Both supervisors initial handover sheet
4
Priority board
Visible line priorities for first hour

Agreed Actions

  1. Extend handover overlap to 10 minutes with a fixed agenda card at each line station.
  2. Standardise log fields — add machine status, QC holds, and mechanical adjustments as mandatory.
  3. Introduce priority board — red/amber/green signals visible at shift change for top 3 line priorities.
  4. 30-day review — reconvene session to assess IV-8847 class incidents and log completion rates.
Facilitator
Helena Strand
Fjell & Co. · Lead Consultant
Client sponsor
Marcus Thorne
Iron Vale Milling · Operations Manager