Shop efficiency

[Ben West]

As I just posted in the projects forum (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?178763-Kitchen-sideboard&p=1840436#post1840436), I have just completed a small kitchen sideboard. I'm happy with the results, but what I am not happy with is how long it took me to complete. :mad:

My goal in 2012 is to be more efficient and thus productive in the shop. I completed 2 big projects in 2011 -- a Roubo bench and this sideboard -- and I'd love to get 4 or 5 done in 2012.

So, my question is this: what tips, techniques, or processes do you use to increase your efficiency in the shop? I know I need to do a better job of planning enough so that all my milling, joinery, and finishing are done in bigger batches, but I'm sure you all have lots of ideas too.

Happy New Year!

[Neil Brooks]

First, I think you have to lay out your shop in a logical order, by operation:


The materials come in (receiving/storage)
They get processed in a certain order (jointer, planer, table/band saw)
They get shaped/modified (router, typically)
They get assembled (bench/assembly table)
They get finished (assembly table/finishing booth)
They go out, as a finished project
For me, it would be ideal if I didn't have to keep back-tracking with pieces, and/or rolling the same cart back-and-forth, around my shop.

Second, I think you always need to review your plans -- written or mental -- thoroughly, before beginning.

Identify pieces that need to be milled to identical dimensions, and do all these processes, on all of these parts, at the same time.

In other words, you can lose a LOT of time swapping router bits and dado stacks, back and forth.

I also haven't ducted my DC. Doing that would save me a fair bit of time, since moving my DC hose from machine to machine seems to take more time than it reasonably should.

I think ... if I could truly optimize THOSE couple pieces ... I could save a lot of time. It's an up-front time investment, though, and ... that takes some pretty solid commitment.

[Will Blick]

Ben, great question, Neil great response.... if only we could all have the space to make the work flow that logistically, but all your points are completely valid.

I too spend waaay too much time to complete a project, so much, I almost dread it. what seems like a 20 hr job ends up a 60hr job, so not off by a little.

I find a lot of wasted time is finding the right tools, moving stuff around, side tracked, constantly fixing stuff going wrong in the shop, cleaning, sharpening, constantly reviewing plans or measurements, just too name a few. I have also come to accept, its not going to get much faster, I don't have a production set-up, so things take much longer than required, oh well....

[Jerome Hanby]

Biggest things for me would be (in no particular order)

1) Quit making stupid mistakes that cause me to redo steps/parts
2) Clean up before shutting down for the day. Basically leave things so if I want to take 15 or 20 minutes to work I don't need an hour of clean up before I can start.
3) Get better organised. Get a place for everything and quit having to move heaven and earth before I can use a particular tool
4) Better dust collection. Not only healthier, do away with tramping through the eternal mess.
5} Get a few key accessories. A Longer rail for my Festool tracksaw would let me have a single tool for breaking down sheet goods. Getting my 14" bandsaw mounted and in production would make band-sawing available on demand instead of requiring a Shopsmith set up.

[Van Huskey]

More/better planning, and just using my brain more in general and my standard response to most any question, bigger, better and faster machines!

[Andrew Joiner]

First, I think you have to lay out your shop in a logical order, by operation:


The materials come in (receiving/storage)
They get processed in a certain order (jointer, planer, table/band saw)
They get shaped/modified (router, typically)
They get assembled (bench/assembly table)
They get finished (assembly table/finishing booth)
They go out, as a finished project
For me, it would be ideal if I didn't have to keep back-tracking with pieces, and/or rolling the same cart back-and-forth, around my shop.

Second, I think you always need to review your plans -- written or mental -- thoroughly, before beginning.

Identify pieces that need to be milled to identical dimensions, and do all these processes, on all of these parts, at the same time.

In other words, you can lose a LOT of time swapping router bits and dado stacks, back and forth.

I also haven't ducted my DC. Doing that would save me a fair bit of time, since moving my DC hose from machine to machine seems to take more time than it reasonably should.

I think ... if I could truly optimize THOSE couple pieces ... I could save a lot of time. It's an up-front time investment, though, and ... that takes some pretty solid commitment.

Good points Neil.
Shop efficiency is one of my favorite parts of woodworking.
1-I have carts with bins for small parts and a rack for long boards. This keeps parts organized and an arms length away through each process. Even in a small shop this can save many steps for each process.

2- I have 2 workbenches/assembly tables in the center of the shop about 4' apart. I stand between these benches for most operations done on a job. My most used tools and machines are one or two steps away. I had a much bigger shop 20 years ago. It was less efficient than my 20'x30' shop is now. Mainly because my big table saw was 30' away from benches. I had a smaller table saw close to the benches, but you know how that goes, for most cuts the big saw did a better job.

3- At the end of a work day I usually make a few notes as to where I was and what's next in the process. Like : parts A- H sanded to 180 grit, only H- L need 180 grit before assembly.

4- I make an exact cutting list from a rod layout. Even for a small item. I also make a basic plan of procedure for all but the simplest things I build. This takes time but eliminates mistakes and duplication of effort.

[Don Jarvie]

Here's a few tips that I have tried to incorporate into each project. You need to think like an assembly line to be more efficient.

1. Full size drawings. Get some graph paper and tape it together. Looking at your sideboard I would have made a drawing of the left or right front and 1 side. Theres some good articles in the Fine Woodoworking archives. Its worth the 35 bucks to join online and worth it. You can print out all the articles you want. The nice thing about the full size drawing is you see actual dimensions. 35 inches look good in your head but on paper it may be too big or small. The 4 inch bottom rail of the sideboard may look too big once its in your drawing so you can adjust and not waste wood. Once you have the drawing follow it. You can make adjustments here and there but work all of the issues out on the plans and the project goes much smoother.

2. Generate a cutlist from the drawings. How many legs, parts for the doors, etc. I made a table that listed planned, rough and actual and listed every part with a comment colunm. This way you make all of the parts that require a dado at one time. You rough cut them, let them sit over night and finish cut them the next day. The reason for this is you set the dado blade, router, etc once and make all the cuts. No matter now hard you try you will never get the dado, etc the same each time. This way all of you parts are cut the same dimension. From the cut list you can lay out all the cuts for each board to figure out how much stock to buy.

The cut list also ensures you don't miss parts. Say you have rough lumber. You face joint it, plane it and cut it and then you forgot the one side rail. The one forgotten piece will be that hair off that will require you to do more sanding, etc and waste time going back to make it. Trust me on this one.

3. Keep a log book for the project as Neil indicated. Write what you did for the day and what to do the next time. You can also highlight issues, miscuts, etc so you can figure out where the project went off schedule and what not to do on the next project.

To give an example, I had to make a co-worker 5 radiator covers all of the same design. I drew full size plans for the left front side and left side. All of the covers were the same height but varied in width. All I had to do was change the width dimensions on the cut list. Of the 5 I had to make 3 the same. I used the cutlist to make parts for all 3 at the same time. It was like an assembly line.

I also kept track of my time for each session in the shop. This was I could calculate my shop rate. The 1st radiator cover was 11 bucks per hour but went up to 17 per hour for the last one so I was more efficient. Even if your not being paid it still helps to know how much time it took for a project.

Hope this helps. Don

[Eric McCune]

Work on multiple projects at one time. I find I get stuck on tasks that require dry time like finishing and glue ups. When I have multiple projects I can work on something while waiting.

[Dave Zellers]

2) Clean up before shutting down for the day.
For me this is the simplest, most effective advice for productivity in small shops. It's so tempting to just turn off the lights and go home (upstairs :) ) at the end of the day but you pay for it in the morning when you are eager to get going but come down to a big mess.

The cleanup can be a very positive time where you reflect on what you did that day and make plans for the next day and like Andrew said, make a few notes.

[Bryan Cramer]

+2 for cleaning up and organizing. If you can't find the item you just laid down it is frustrating. That is the most important and cheapest idea:).

[J.R. Rutter]

You can also figure out what your optimum batch size is and try not to produce more than you can handle in a set amount of time. In a small shop, this can make a big difference. It may seem counter-intuitive, but if you do all of your milling at the beginning of a project, then only use some of the parts immediately while the rest are in the way and potentially getting dinged up, shrinking/expanding, etc. you have lost more than you gained by producing all of those parts "efficiently." By the same token, on large projects, I try to stage deliveries of raw materials so that they arrive about when they are needed.

Industry tools like 5S and lean manufacturing principles can also be helpful in small shops. Cleaning and organization are two fundamentals that have been mentioned that fall under 5S:

http://www.sprickstegall.com/Portals/42621/images//435_5s_Sep15_0930PM.gif

[Carl Beckett]

I do understand the desire to complete more projects. But for me, part of the pleasure of the hobby is NOT making it TOO structured (Im an Engineer, I managed production for a period, R&D for another) - if efficiency became too high a priority it would feel like work and that I no longer have a hobby.

And many (most) of my projects start with at most a sketch on scrap paper. I tend to design around the wood I am appreciating at the moment, and let the details evolve as they go.

You could say, I just enjoy winging it.

[Jerome Hanby]

Just a real life example of putting things where they belong. I had the water turned off last night to rerun a water line (originally installed by idiots <g>) and realised that the faucet I thought I was going to reuse was the wrong type. Being New years Eve, all the borgs were closed (found that out the hard way), so I had to cobble together a cap as a temporary measure. In the process, I set my roll of soldier down on top of an old RAS I'm going to refurbish on of these days and it promptly vanished from my memory and best I can tell turned invisible. I spent about an hour hunting that stupid roll with one last joint to sweat before I could turn on the water!

Well it's after 9:00 AM here so the stores are back open, I'm off to buy a faucet...if I can find my car keys.

[Peter Quinn]

The other day, Christmas eve actually, I went into the shop to find my air nozzle to blow up a gift for my daughter. Big blue bouncy dog. Cute. It came with a hand pump that would have taken maybe 8 arduous minutes of furious pumping, but I said heck, I have an 80 gallon compressor in the shop, this ought to take 5 seconds there. Well, I spent 40 minutes searching for the air nozzle. I have at least three air nozzles, maybe more. One for the end of each drop. Well, there is one in the van, one in the garage, one in a tool belt from a recent instal, one every where except in my shop on the end of a hose. I eventually found one, sitting on the bench under a pile of drawings that should not have been left on the bench, on top of the air nozzle that should not have been left on the bench either. This is the sort of thing that sacks my efficiency when I'm in the shop to work on a job or project. I've spent the last year and will spend the next year eliminating obstacles to progress as they arise. I decided last year that as I encountered persistent obstacles to shop efficiency, I would stop immediately and devise a solution. No more round tuits for me.

I had a hose swap situation from planner to jointer that was slowing me way down. For years. What I really need is a large cyclone and solid plumbing, not in the budget. But I had the pipe to plumb the planner so it drops right in front of the DC system, same for the jointer, the hoses are now out of the way and the swap takes about the same time as opening a blast gate, problem solved short term. I have a long starret steel ruler that gets used on every project for layout, TS sled set up, etc. Kept loosing it, nearly dropping it. Big drag on a cumulative basis. One day I stopped in the middle of a project and built a holder for it, mounted it in a convenient place. Problem solved, I can feel the efficiency gain every time I use the shop from that one small solution. So each time I focus on one of these problems, I stop and fix it, which slows me down in the short term but improves the long range picture dramatically.


Every April I open the doors, turn on the exhaust fans, blow out the shop, then pull down all the lumber in my storage racks, and evaluate. What stays, what goes. I tend to hold a lot of junk that gets in my way. Its so much easier to work after getting rid of the junk. Last year I sold machines that hadn't been used in years, burned a bunch of shorts, labeled all the keepers on the ends. Much better.

It takes a long time to get a shop working efficiently, but it also takes a lot of focus on the problem and a commitment to identifying problems and devising solutions. I know I'm not there yet, not even close, but I feel that forward progress is being made. Thats all you can ask for.

[Bill Huber]

This is a good thread, I was thinking about this the other day and I did not understand why I can get more done in less time when my shop is a mess.
The project that I am working on now, just about finished, went somewhat slow, as things went on and the bench got covered with all the tools I own, there was a few tools that were not on the bench but I think most of them were. Now things really stated to flow really good, I was getting things done, things were fitting together better and everything was great.

So now I am afraid to clean up the shop.

[John TenEyck]

When I am doing something that involves more than just a few pieces, making a COMPLETE SketchUp drawing and generating a cutlist from it really saves time in the shop. When I make a drawing complete with all the joint details I can go the shop with the cut list and just start selecting stock and start to work. If I didn't use SketchUP, I'd make full size drawings as someone else suggested, and I'd draw in the joint details on it, then make a cutlist. SketchUp just seems simpler to me, especially when modifications are needed, but the point is - time spent "building" a piece in SketchUp or on paper is (a lot) of time saved in the shop.

[Steve Kohn]

I found I was spending a lot of time just reconfiguring tools for a specific part of the project at hand. Things like changing router bits, or taking the router in/out of the router table, or stepping thru the grits of sandpaper on the sander, etc. So I started gathering some duplicate tools. For example I have a PC 7518 router permanently mounted in the router table, I have 2PC 690's (one with plunge base and one standard), a Bosch Colt with roundover bit semipermanently installed, etc. I also have 6 hand sanders, each with a different grit paper on them. Three of the sanders are ROS, and 3 are palm sanders.

Lastly I build a shop bench that allows all the sanders to be in one drawer, along with the router pads. All the sandpaper is organized by grit and in a drawer of abrasives. Just little things that work for me.

[Ben West]

Do you ever find yourself asking questions you already know the answer to?

I think my efficiency would take a huge leap forward if I:

-have a place for everything and keep things in their place
-clean up, not just at the end of every day, but at the end of every operation, and
-have a well conceived plan for each project and process in bunches

Of course, Peter alludes to part of my problem...I lack some of the shop storage and set up to be as efficient as I'd like. What I really should do is alternate furniture projects with shop projects, and do as Peter suggests...fix problems as they occur.

Great input, everyone.

[Rod Sheridan]

A lot of good thoughts in this thread.

For me the two most important items are;

1) A clean, tidy organised shop so I don't spend an hour looking for something

2) Good drawings and cut lists. I always design my own stuff, and make detailed drawings of every part, this saves a lot of precious shop time. A cut list also saves time, and I don't forget to rough out a piece for a component and have to back track to the rough milling stage.

Another item that saves time is machinery with accurate scales and gauges. Need a part 346 mm X 140mm X 23mm thick, if your saw is accurately calibrated and your planer has a digital height gauge, there are no requirements to sneak up on a size or re-adjust the fence, the planer setting etc. It may sound silly however it's calibration time that saves machining time.

regards, Rod.

[Russ D Wood]

I only get a few folks that actually come by the shop and the first comment is 'how clean it is'. Well I can thank a high school shop teacher for that, as he drilled it into us that the tools were only safe to use if the shop was clean! Now being a teenager I didn't quite grasp exactly what he was saying. Now many years later (don't ask) I finally get it. If there is stuff lying around either on the tools or on the floor the shop is very dangerous. If the only piece available is the piece you are working on, then you are at least giving yourself a head start. What has this to do with efficiency, I just find that with one last thing to worry about I can really concentrate on the project. The hardest areas to keep clean are the planner and the table saw but when I'm done I just give it a quick sweep and go on to the next process. Since I do mostly cnc stuff I have drawings before I start so that helps a little. I also have almost all of my smaller equipment on lockable casters so I can temporarily rearrange portions of my shop if need be. That helps a lot. One extra thing I've done in my shop is that I have lots of extra tools placed at the four corners of my shop, things like extra screwdrivers, pliers, tape measures, and PENCILS etc,. It saves a step or two and they add up. Just my .02c worth.

[Bill White]

+3 on the daily cleaning process. My first shop working job was managed by a clean-freak. Boy, was he right. I clean my shop after each day's work, have an orderly tool placement system, good dust collection, and I'm a total anal retentive person/a$$hole.
I work in circles with the TS as the center of the shop.
Psycho crap aside, I have a pretty neat environment. (I also put my toothbrush in the dishwasher. Duhhhhh!)
Bill

[Ray Newman]

Russ Wood & Bill White: BINGO!

Plus, my parents instilled in me the old tried and true adage: "everything has a place and everything in its place."

[Steven Green]

File this in for what it's worth. I've worked in a woodshop of one sort or another all my life. There are a few things that I do that are pure habit but looking at this thread I see how they improve my production. Everything needs a home, find appropriate places for your tools and always put them back. Mill everything that comes through the door, I mill all the lumber that I get when it comes in. Makes reaching for the next piece very simple. Clean the place, I clean up every time I finish for the day. I stop with enough time to clean up so it gets done every time. Don't start till you have it figured out. Don't jump to the next step or project till you have thought it through and know what needs to be accomplished.
Great thread by the way

[Jim Matthews]

You finish projects?

If you're punching the clock, raising kids and keeping a roof up - you have limited time.
I fear many of us rush our projects from desire to have something to "show for our efforts".

That last scintilla of effort that makes a project uniquely yours takes considerably more time than the previous steps.
If you're shop is like mine - once the project leaves, it's on to the next.

Therefore, you might not get another crack at getting things right.

*******

The prior posters point to the essential ingredient for an efficient shop session - cleanliness.
That said, I marvel at woodworking magazine photos that look like a surgery suite.

I clean up when I can't find "that" tool....


jim
wpt, ma

[Kirk Poore]

Stay in the shop for longer periods. Seriously. There is a certain mental overhead charge that you pay every time you go out to the shop to work. What were you doing last time? Where are the parts/tools/whatever? What's your next move? Did you get the last operation done, or do you have more of it to do? If you think you're productive the instant you walk through the door, I suggest you video a shop session and see how much of the time you're actually getting something done. Once the mental chaff is cleared away, you'll start being more productive.

Not that the stuff other people suggest isn't true.

Kirk

[Pat Barry]

I echo the idea of putting things away where they belong and cleaning up the mess, however when actual practice is concerned I just can't seem to get to that at the end of the day, so I spend an equal amount of time at the beginning of the next day doing the same things (if I can). I don't consider this to be the thing that limits my shop productivity though, that is actually thinking and planning and selecting materials. Maybe I could get better about drawing things up in advance (I don't work from pre-made plans) because the other point someone made about getting all the same set-up processes (cutting to a particular length or width for example) is a huge timesaver as compared to re-doing all the set-ups for a forgotten piece and then having to make the set-up EXACTLY the same as the previous one to make sure things fit properly.

[Jerome Hanby]

I actually plan on piddling around in the shop for a while before I start doing any real work. I decide what I'm going to work on then take some time to reorganize something or assemble some gadget or relocate some tool, something fairly mindless. After a while I have a pretty clear notion of how something needs to be done and I get started. When I just jump in cold it seems like I always end up making some silly mistake or working twice as hard as I needed to for the desired result. I've always been that way, it used to drive my father crazy when I'd sit and look at a tractor (or whatever) for 15 minutes then hop up and fix it in nothing flat after we had spent all morning working hard and accomplishing absolutely nothing.

Pretty sure I'm taking this out of context, but I think it applies. I heard it attributed to Calvin Coolidge and looked it up to make sure I quoted him accurately. "Four-fifths of all our troubles would disappear, if we would only sit down and keep still."

[Neil Brooks]

I've always been that way, it used to drive my father crazy when I'd sit and look at a tractor (or whatever) for 15 minutes then hop up and fix it in nothing flat after we had spent all morning working hard and accomplishing absolutely nothing.

Or ... "sharpen the saw."

One of my dearest friends is a high-level corporate database guy. He's insanely good at his job.

MANY is the time that his boss would walk in, and -- seemingly seeing him doing nothing -- say, "What are you doing," in a sharp tone.

His answer ... always ... was "thinking."

He lost more than one job that way, but ... literally ... got calls from co-workers, years later, thanking him for designing in the features that saved their bacon, allowed flexibility, and scaleability -- keys in IT systems.

Sharpen the saw, indeed.

One reason I really hate when I can "only get in 45 minutes" of shop time. Almost not worth doing anything besides cleaning up and organizing.

[Dan Schocke]

I'm not sure if it makes me more efficient or just really slow, but I generally take the time to clean up as I complete each operation in my shop. In either case, it makes me feel better about things, so it's worth the time invested. I also force myself to put away small items like squares, pencils, rulers, drill bits, etc. before I leave the workstation. At some points, this feels massively inefficient when I go retrieve the combination square that I just put away 5 minutes earlier, but at least I know exactly where it is located....

My main problem is instilling the same principles into my 8 year old son, so I would appreciate some thoughts from those of you that have been there.... I love having him in the shop, where he works on his own "projects" at his own bench, and I am happy that he loves working with tools -- I just struggle with him making my tools disappear. Usually it's just that he thought it would be cool to have that 10th pencil in his tool chest instead of mine, but occasionally he'll take something and forget where he placed it (at least forget when the time comes that I actually notice it's missing :(). He's good about not touching the tools that I tell him are dangerous, but can't get his head around the idea that I actually might need that set of dividers or pair of scissors for something at a later point :).

--Dan

[Ben West]

Well, this thread has spurred some action on my part. Over the weekend, I started work on a better lumber storage system for my shop. I was spending too much time sorting through my pile, stacking and restacking, and tripping over it. I'm working on a vertical storage system that makes use of my existing french cleat arrangement in the shop. That alone will save me an hour or two on each project.

On cleaning -- I took some classes last year with Mike Gray at Old English Furniture and Cabinet Company (http://www.oefcc.com/) and was impressed by how clean he keeps his shop. He has developed a habit of cleaning up after every operation. So, if he makes 5 cuts on the tablesaw, he stops to vacuum up the dust and put everything back in its place (sled, fence, etc.) before moving on to the next thing. It does slow you down a bit, but what a jump in efficiency to not have things cluttered and not have to spend half a day cleaning just to begin a project. He's my hero.

[Neil Brooks]

Dan--

If your son truly likes working with wood, then ... it may be worth holding that out as the "consequence" of not following the shop rules.

We put things away, after we've used them. When we don't do that, we don't get to work in the shop (for a day, a week ... whatever).

I learned that specificity is key. In other words, not "Put the dirty laundry where it goes,," but "Dirty laundry belongs in the hamper."

Maybe there's a shop equivalent that makes it very clear what you expect, and the "consequence" of failure.

Good luck. I'm sure you want to encourage his passion, but ... with safety in mind. Safety ... is ALL about rules.

[Bill White]

J.R. kinda hit my plan with the visual.
I try to work in a circle with the TS at the center. I am a maven about daily clean up. My tools/tooling have a specific place in the shop and they go "home" each night.
I even have visitors who ask what have I ever built 'cause the shop is clean each morning. Now during the day.......? But that's a different issue.
Bill

[Ben Hatcher]

For projects with multiple, similar pieces, it pays to plan each operation from the location of infeed stock to the orientation and location of outfeed. Doing this allows you to reduce the number of times you have to look at a piece to verifiy the orientation, reorient, and greatly reduces those accidents where you cut/shape the wrong side.

Other usefult tips:
-Make sure you have sufficient storage for work in process.
-Two assembly areas, one for subassemblies the other for the main project.
-Having enough clamps:D
-Sand and prefinish before assembly whenever possible.

[Nelson Howe]

My latest revelation in efficiency, which I generally lack, has been my roll around cart (http://www.grizzly.com/products/3-Shelf-Red-Utility-Cart/H0760), which I bought in the fall on sale for another purpose. I'm building a pair of bedside tables right now, and I use the cart to move my stock around the shop as I machine it. It seems like a really simple thing, but being able to move a load/unload station to exactly the right spot as I go from jointer, to planer, to bandsaw, to router table, to workbench cuts down on extra movements tremendously. With three shelves, it also gives me a safe place to store milled pieces until I come back to them. My only problem with it is that the lowest shelf is right at my dog's level, and he loves to come into the shop to grab pieces of scrap to chew. I just know it's only a matter of time before he nabs one of my sixteen stiles with all the mortises and curved tapers cut into it. He loves my maple bench dogs.

Nelson

[Jerome Hanby]

My latest revelation in efficiency, which I generally lack, has been my roll around cart (http://www.grizzly.com/products/3-Shelf-Red-Utility-Cart/H0760), which I bought in the fall on sale for another purpose. I'm building a pair of bedside tables right now, and I use the cart to move my stock around the shop as I machine it. It seems like a really simple thing, but being able to move a load/unload station to exactly the right spot as I go from jointer, to planer, to bandsaw, to router table, to workbench cuts down on extra movements tremendously. With three shelves, it also gives me a safe place to store milled pieces until I come back to them. My only problem with it is that the lowest shelf is right at my dog's level, and he loves to come into the shop to grab pieces of scrap to chew. I just know it's only a matter of time before he nabs one of my sixteen styles with all the mortises and curved tapers cut into it. He loves my maple bench dogs.

Nelson

That is a great idea. I bought a cart for that purpose...it's currently covered with all the junk leftover from my wiring job...

[Paul Cahill]

You could say, I just enjoy winging it.

Well put Carl. Planning and the resultant efficiency is critical at work but at home in the workshop, beyond the basic desire to get things done, and an expectation that my efficiency will tend to improve with practice and time, part of the enjoyment of woodworking for me is not to expend too much effort or precious brain cells on planning.

[jim gossage]

When building a project w multiple identical pieces, a story stick can save a lot of time and also help to use up some scrap lumber.

[David Hostetler]

For me, I have found the following the work best.

#1. Send my wife to spend the day with her sister or dad...
#2. Joint / plane stock in one big batch.
#3. Size cuts in batches. (I need X number of pieces Y size long. So set up stop blocks, and crank them out!)
#4. Joinery in batches.
#5. Detail in batches.
#6. Finishnig prep prior to final assembly but after dry fit.
#7. Final assembly.
#8. Finishing.

For me, finishing takes the longest, and generally works best when I have a couple of projects that will be finished similarly lined up and ready to go. That way I can just crank the work out and be done with it.

[Jeff Monson]

For me, efficiency increases with age. The older I get, the less I can remember, if I cant remember what I did last night, then how can I complain about what I didnt get done? Fairly simple in my book.

Seriously though, after reading every post (some great info.) a clean, well organized shop helps efficiency by leaps and bounds. Another thing that I like to do is maintain all my tools at the same time, clean and wax cast surfaces, make sure blades are clean and sharp, make sure the dc bin is empty, make sure the vacuum bags are empty, etc. Things flow pretty smooth when you are not consistently maintaining different machines.

[Ben West]

Just an update...

I am about halfway through a duplicate of my last project, and it is easily going at least two or three times as fast. Five things have led to this:

1) I spent a good bit of time since my first post on this thread organizing and building a few things (shelves, etc) to enhance organization. I created a vertical lumber rack, which is much easier and faster to sort through than before. I've decided to alternate projects from here on out -- one furniture project alternated with a shop project to enhance shop organization/efficiency -- until I'm satisfied with the shop.
2) I've committed to cleaning up, at a minimum, at the end of every day in the shop. When I can, I clean at the end of each process. So, for example, when I finish cutting a stack of pieces to length, I stop and vacuum all the dust off the tablesaw, put the sled back in it's place, etc.
3) I have a complete set of drawings and a cut list posted for constant reference.
4) As much as possible, I process in batches, with all the jointing, planing, cutting, etc. done at once.
5) Lastly -- and this is the one thing that nobody else has mentioned -- I am spending much less time on non-show surfaces. Up until now, I had been hitting all surfaces with my smoother, regardless of whether they are a show surface or an interior, structural piece. For this project, I am only smoothing the show surfaces. The interior frames of the cabinet, for example, are being left as they came out of the planer.

I'm not a production shop, obviously, and speed isn't the most important thing to me. But, between a busy career, family, and other chores around the house, my shop time is limited a a few hours a week. I'd like get as much enjoyment from that time as possible, and getting projects completed is part of that. So, I appreciate all the suggestions!