What a GM Actually Looks at at 6 AM
Three plant manager daily metrics decide whether today needs you: yesterday's safety, the biggest delivery gap and its owner, and the first hour. Five minutes.
Machine, fab and assembly shops
A daily management board for every cell on your floor
Stop finding out at 3 PM that you lost the day at 9 AM. Each cell gets SQDC, hour-by-hour and 3Cs. One plant view shows every cell's SQDC status and open issues.
Free forever: 1 department, 2 cells, 1 user · No card · Sample board on first login
- 1Every open issue, plant-wide
- 2Department row: worst S, Q, D, C and open issues
- 3Red means behind target
- 1Department row: worst S, Q, D, C and open issues
- 2Red means behind target
Runs every morning at a $50M machining and assembly plant17 cells2 shifts150 people
How it started →The problem
A whiteboard tells you how the shift went. After it's over.
The numbers arrive after the shift.
Somebody copies the whiteboard into Excel at 4 PM. By then the lost hour can't be won back.
The same problem keeps coming back.
It gets mentioned at the huddle and written on a sticky note. Nobody can say how many times it's happened.
The huddle turns into data entry.
Half the meeting goes to reading numbers off the board, not deciding who fixes what by when.
- Not a blank canvas. The SQDC board, hour-by-hour and 3C → A3 come built in. Nothing to design.
- Not a project. No consultants, no six-month rollout, no training department.
- Not a sales call. Start free, or click around the live demo first.
Read: 5 signs your daily management board has become theater →
Core modules
The board, screen by screen.
Real screens from the live demo, not mockups.
The board doesn't run the meeting. The red boxes do.
Each cell gets Safety, Quality, Delivery and Cost on one board, with the gap to target on every card. The month view colors each day, so a red streak stands out.
- A check or ! mark on every card, not just a color
- Red day? Log an issue right from that day's card
- Quality and Delivery targets are set per cell
See the shift slip in the hour it slips.
Plan and actual for every hour. Under 90% of plan turns the hour red. The Cumulative Δ row keeps the running gap, so you know at 10 AM how far behind the shift is.
- Save a default plan once. Apply Schedule fills in the day.
- Two shifts on one cell? Each gets its own plan and actuals.
- Cumulative Δ only counts the hours that have passed
Who owns it, and by when?
Log the problem from the board. A supervisor turns it into a 3C: concern, cause, countermeasure, due date. When the 3C doesn't hold, escalate it to an A3 with a fishbone and 5-Why.
- Countermeasures land on the Actions list with their due date
- Same problem again? Link it and the repeat count goes up
- Export an A3 to PDF or PowerPoint for the review
Which parts and which reasons cost you the most.
Log each scrapped part with quantity, reason and disposition. Pick the part from your list and the cost fills in. The Pareto ranks reasons and part numbers by dollars.
- Click a reason to see the part numbers behind it
- Seven reason codes, from Machine and Tooling to Incoming
- Start an A3 straight from a scrap row
One click puts the cell's board on the TV.
Switch any cell board to Wall and it fills the screen: big numbers, the hour-by-hour, open issues. The cards and issues refresh every minute and the mouse hides, so it can run all shift.
- Reads from across the cell, not just at a desk
- The header says how many metrics are off target
- Operators tap an hour on the screen to log the actual
Professional and up
It asks the next question. It won't write the 3C for you.
Open it on a 3C or A3 field. It reads the cell's recent numbers and how past issues in that category were fixed, then asks questions instead of handing you an answer.
- Pushes back when a cause names a person, not a process
- Checks a finished 5-Why chain for gaps in the logic
- Points out the pattern when a problem keeps coming back
Who it's for
Everyone in the morning meeting reads the same board.
Each role looks for something different. Here's what each one sees.
- Every hour, at the cell
Shift supervisor
Enters the hour's actual and watches the running gap. A miss at 9 gets an issue logged before 10, not a note at the end of the shift.
Read: The 10-Minute Morning Huddle: What Actually Gets Covered → - Tier 2, mid-morning
Area manager
Goes through the department from one screen: which cells have a red letter, which hours slipped, and what's open at 3C.
Read: 5 Signs Your Daily Management Board Has Become Theater → - The 6 AM look
Plant manager
Opens the facility board before walking the floor: open issues plant-wide, what's at 3C and A3, and which department has a red letter.
Read: What a GM Actually Looks at at 6 AM → - Weekly problem review
CI lead
Sees which problems keep coming back, how many times, and which 3Cs need to become an A3.
Read: A3 Problem Solving for Small Manufacturers: A Guide Without the Consultant-Speak →
How it works
Your first cell in about 10 minutes.
Set up a cell, track it hour by hour, and escalate what keeps coming back.
01
Set up your departments and cells
Name a cell, set its shift times and takt. Add departments and more cells as you grow.
02
Track hour-by-hour against targets
Every shift, every hour. Production vs. plan with the running gap worked out for you, on status boards anyone can read.
03
Escalate what keeps coming back
Log a problem as an issue. Give it a 3C when it needs a cause and a countermeasure, and an A3 when it keeps coming back.
Live demo
Click around a real board. No signup, no sales call.
Six cells across three departments, on sample data. Nothing you change saves, so try anything.
- Walk the facility board, then open any cell
- Open any cell: its SQDC cards, hour-by-hour and open issues
- Follow a problem from the issue log to its 3C
- Take the 60-second tour, or skip it
Open the live demoBest on a laptop or desktop screen
Pricing
Start free on two cells. Flat price after that.
One monthly price per plan, not per user.
Free
$0/mo
1 dept · 2 cells · 1 user · Every core module
Starter
$199/mo
3 depts · 10 cells · 5 users · Every core module
Best for a whole plant
Professional
$499/mo
Unlimited cells & users · AI Lean Coach
Enterprise
From $999/mo
Guided setup · Custom import work · Talk to us
Who built this
From someone who runs the floor.
Field guides
Written on the floor, not in a conference room.
Plain-English guides to SQDC boards, hour-by-hour, 3C and A3, from a GM who runs them every morning.
Your First 30 Days of Daily Management: A Week-by-Week Plan
A week-by-week plan for how to start daily management in one cell, what to add each week, what good looks like at day 30, and where week two usually breaks.
Scrap Reason Codes That Actually Get Used
Most scrap reason code lists are too long to use at the machine. Here's how to build a short one with operators, an example 8-code list, and keep it honest.
Putting Your SQDC Board on a TV: What Changes and What Doesn't
A TV fixes what people can see, not who owns the red. Here's what an SQDC board on a wall display gets you, what it won't, and the mounting details that matter.
Free templates
Printable hour-by-hour, 3C, A3 and SQDC sheets
Free PDFs laid out the way the guides explain them. Print one, tape it up, start tomorrow. No email asked.
Questions
What plant managers ask first.
Do we need IT or new hardware?
No install and no server. ShopBoard runs in a web browser. Wall view puts a department board on a floor TV from any computer with a browser, and refreshes every minute. If your network only allows approved sites, IT adds two web addresses.
Can we bring our spreadsheet history?
Yes, as CSV files. In Settings you can import cells and targets, daily SQDC, hour-by-hour, issues, your team and a parts list. Match our column headers and load the file. Plan limits on cells and users still apply. Scrap history doesn't import.
How do operators enter numbers at the cell?
Anyone signed in clicks an hour that has started and types the actual, on a desk or on the cell's TV in Wall view. On Free, keep the cell's screen signed in to your account. Starter gives up to 5 people their own login; Professional gives everyone one.
Where does our data live, and who can see it?
On Supabase servers in the US, on a paid plan with daily backups. Only people you add to your account can see your boards. We don't sell your data or use it for ads. Email us any time for a copy, or to have it deleted.
Does the AI train on our numbers?
No. ShopBoard trains no models. The AI Lean Coach (Professional and up) sends nothing until someone clicks it. Then that 3C or A3, the cell and department, a summary of recent results, and how a few past issues of the same kind were fixed go to Anthropic, whose API terms bar training on it.
What happens when we outgrow Free?
Free doesn't expire. Starter is $199 a month for 3 departments, 10 cells and 5 users. Professional is $499 a month for unlimited departments, cells and users, plus the AI Lean Coach. Upgrade from the billing page. Your boards and history carry over.
Can we cancel? What about refunds?
Yes. An admin cancels from the billing page. If ShopBoard isn't working for you, email us within 30 days of your first payment and we refund that payment in full. No partial refunds after that.
Who answers support?
Email hello@shopboard.live and the founder answers, usually within one business day. Professional gets a same-day reply. The founder's own 150-person machining and assembly plant runs ShopBoard every morning.