Matt,
This isn't a tool gloat, so no envy, but a way of maybe helping you with your difficulties, as my shop was also set up for a production schedule system, like you are attempting to do.
As I have mentioned before, I have a duff right arm, so I placed all my change tooling on the left hand side of my lathe. First pic.
I have done the same with all my collets and most of my cutters for the mill as well. Keeping everything within easy grab range when I am sitting on my high swivel stools.
The second pic might be a thing you could consider. If you have air in your shop, you could do what I did, mount a 3/8" power wrench on a tool support hanging from the ceiling. For collet changes, which take a lot of spinning in and out, it makes the job so much easier, or even tightening and slackening a normal chuck, it really relieves the pressure, let it go and it retracts out of the way. I am just doing the same sort of thing with a 3/8" air powered butterfly wrench, for doing hand tapping. I saw it somewhere on the web, and it definitely looks a good idea. In the US you can get the tap adapters to fit, but here in the UK, I am having to make my own, as they are not available here.
The third pic shows that everything that fits in the tailstock, is within easy reach on the wall behind it.
If you can spend a little time planning out where everything should be, you will find that jobs get just a little easier to do, and you aren't always trying to find that elusive bit of tooling.
Almost all the lower areas on the walls in my shop are dedicated to what is going on at that certain position in the shop. Very little is more than a short stretch away.
As I said before though, you do need to replace things when you have finished with them.
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