In manufacturing, inefficiency rarely announces itself with a dramatic failure. More often, it appears quietly: a machine that waits a little too long for a setup, an operator who spends a few extra minutes searching for a tool, a batch that requires rework, a production schedule that constantly shifts to absorb surprises, a quality issue that is “small” enough to ignore until it becomes expensive. Individually, these moments seem manageable. Collectively, they shape the true cost structure of a plant.