The canteen tells you what the sales deck won't

The canteen tells you what the sales deck won't.

I ate lunch at a Foshan workshop once where the floor was spotless and the sales deck promised anything. At noon the canteen emptied fast and stayed empty. The line had stopped before lunch and nobody restarted it. A quiet canteen on a busy day is a capacity signal the brochure never shows.

What I watch on a Friday walk now:

1. The canteen at noon. Full means the line is running. Empty at peak means it stopped.
2. The loading board at the door. Which orders are on which machine today, not which client paid the visit.
3. The scrap bin. Offcuts from your board grade, or a cheaper one swapped when nobody watched.

A factory that lets you walk the floor unannounced on a Friday afternoon tells you more than the catalogue page.

If you have a supplier you have not visited, tell me the city and what you buy, and I will send the three lines I would check first.