Why Repetition Leads to Reliable Production Results

You may feel like repeating the same operation is boring, but it is the most direct path to gaining command of your production work. If you perform a task just once, it’s hard to know what a mistake looks like because it could have been caused by anything at all. But when you repeat the same operation a few times, you begin to see what is going on. The material reacts to you more predictably, and your hand can start to feel for things that go wrong, such as uneven resistance, uneven vibrations, etc. That is what improvement is all about, and you are much more likely to find it through repetition.

Pick one operation, such as a clean and straight centering or perfectly identical cuts through each piece. Have several pieces of the same material cut up and aim to replicate each result. Keep your setup consistent, so the only variable that is changing is your performance. After every try, check your results side-by-side with others. It is easier to notice differences between your results when you have a few results that you can put next to each other, and that will help you determine where your control is slipping.

However, do not mistake repetition for action. You could easily just do that repetition over and over without looking at your results, assuming that you are getting better because you are doing more, when all you are actually doing is repeating the same mistake. Check in with yourself every few minutes to make sure that you can actually see why things are happening in a certain way. For example, why is one part of the operation being too tight? Does this mean you are applying too much pressure on the tool in the first part? Are these slight changes actually affecting the results and how can you change it to improve it? You can build this habit in by making a few practice attempts.

Make a few attempts of a few minutes at a time, maybe with a set interval in between. Get your materials prepped and marked with guides in the first few minutes. Then start working on the action of repetition while focusing on one aspect, such as pressure or alignment, etc. Do several at a time, and then check your results. You may not notice any difference, but this check-in will help you keep focused and not lose track of what the whole point is even when you are just practicing your own repetition.

Sometimes, you may feel stuck. When you have practiced for a few minutes, maybe try something different, like changing the thickness of your material or the speed you go in, which may help you see things differently. Try to find what is wrong about the repetition, and then try to work around it by trying different settings to see if any of it helps. Once you get a few repetitions done, go back to the original settings, to see whether any of that actually helped with the improvement you were seeking.

This will eventually get to the point where the repetition becomes more predictable to you. You are moving in more predictable ways and can better control the results you have. The difference between where your results are going to go and where they do go decreases over time, and your focus is freed up to pay attention to other things because you don’t have to focus as hard on those first things as you used to. This is where you find your true production improvement.