The kiln queue and shelf audit for a working studio

Intake: every piece on the record before it leaves the wheel

• Check that every maker signs or stamps the foot before the piece leaves the wheelWalk the greenware shelves and count unmarked pieces. More than two or three in a week means the habit is not established, and the fix is a stamp box at every wheel rather than a sign on the wall.
• Confirm the intake tag records maker, date, clay body and intended coneClay body matters as much as the name, because a stray cone ten stoneware in a cone six load is an expensive afternoon. Good looks like a tag no one has to interpret.
• Time how long it takes one member to log a piece into the queueIf it takes longer than about thirty seconds, people will skip it when the studio is busy. Shorten the form until logging is faster than finding you to ask a question.
• Test what happens when a member logs a piece while nobody is on the floorEvening and key access hours are where the record usually breaks. The intake step has to work with no staff present, or the queue is only accurate for daytime work.
• Spot check ten logged pieces against what is physically on the shelfCount matches, missing entries and ghosts still logged but gone. Anything worse than nine out of ten means the record is decorative rather than useful.

Shelf: give every pot an address that two people would agree on

• Label every bay, shelf and ware cart with a permanent numberPaint or engrave rather than tape, because tape falls off in the damp room. Good looks like a location you can say aloud over the phone with no ambiguity.
• Write down the shelf inches each membership tier includesMeasure the actual linear inches you have, divide realistically, and publish the figure. Studios that never do this quietly let the earliest members keep twice what newer ones get.
• Mark which shelves are damp box, greenware, bisque waiting and glazed pickupMixed use shelving is where drying schedules go wrong and dry pots get bumped. Each zone should have a purpose you can point to on the wall.
• Audit for pieces sitting where they no longer belongAnything bisqued that is still on the greenware shelf, or glazed work on the pickup rack for more than a month, is capacity you are giving away for free.
• Set the reclaim rule for shelves belonging to lapsed membersWrite the grace period, how you notify, and where reclaimed work goes. Thirty days with two notices is common and defensible, and the date belongs in the member record.

Firing: run the queue on a rhythm members can plan around

• Publish the firing days for bisque and glaze and hold them for a full seasonA schedule that shifts weekly is the same as no schedule. Fixed days let members plan their throwing and cut the volume of questions about pickup dates.
• Post the cutoff time for getting work into the next loadBone dry on the intake shelf by six on Sunday for a Monday bisque is the kind of rule people can follow. Vague cutoffs push the decision onto whoever loads.
• Record load number, cone, witness cone result and unload date for every firingThis is the log that answers both member questions and glaze problems. A photo of the loaded shelves before the lid closes takes ten seconds and settles most disputes.
• Check that firing charges are captured at load time, not reconstructed laterCount pieces or shelf inches as the load goes in and record it against each member. Rebuilding fees from memory a week later costs you money every single time.
• Confirm one person owns the queue on each firing dayLoading by committee is how pieces end up in the wrong cone. Name the person on the schedule, including which of them holds the key to the kiln room.

Handback: pickup, unclaimed work and the money

• Notify makers automatically when their pieces come out of the kilnA message with the piece and the shelf address ends the daily lap of the studio. Good looks like a member who collects within a week without being chased.
• Set a pickup window and a written policy for what happens after itSixty days is a reasonable ceiling in most studios. Put it in the membership terms, not on a sticky note, so the conversation about a full pickup rack is already settled.
• Photograph and date unclaimed work before it movesOne phone photo per shelf, filed by month, protects you if someone returns in the spring. It takes minutes and it has ended arguments that would otherwise cost a member.
• Reconcile firing fees against dues once a monthCompare what the load logs recorded with what actually got billed. A gap of more than a few percent means intake or load logging is leaking money you have already spent power on.
• Ask three members whether they knew where their work was last monthThis is the only honest measure of whether the queue works. If they hesitate, the problem is visibility rather than firing speed, and no bigger kiln will fix it.