Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 17

24 which the businesses have been built. They are the ones who, now more than ever, can determine where and how the company goes forward. They have the know-how and the time in the saddle to be the ones who can both teach and train. It is important to do both. In looking again at our pictures, we can see one example of a pump well that is being very well maintained and where we can be certain we will achieve higher levels of operating performance. On the other, we can see where we are going to now have to spend much more time fixing a problem that is a direct result of not doing the easier, more frequent cleanings that would prevent this from occurring in the first place. To a newer employee, these pictures would be good educational tools to demonstrate what we want in one case, and what we don’t want in the other. Ideally, the pictures could be mated up with other written and visual teaching aids to address the “why this is important” questions and to also show how it impacts their job as well as the broader company. If employees have the educational foundation as to why it matters, they can then be trained much more easily and effectively to do what is desired. When you don’t know why you are doing something it often is much easier to look at it as just more work. IF IT AIN’T BROKE, YOU STILL MIGHT WANT TO REPLACE IT We all know the adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, and there are lots of places in a manufacturing business where that is sage advice. There are other places where running until failure can significantly increase unplanned downtime and maintenance expenses. Not surprisingly, in our business we see our Japanese customers adhere to this principle most stringently and replace consumable pump parts prior to failure so that they can be in control of the operation vs. being at the whim of when the part decides to fail. Utilizing usage data allows them to manage this process in a way that generates cost savings, as well as increases in equipment uptime that outweigh getting another few days of use from a consumable part. This is not a common approach in other markets, and I would suggest that it would be worth more exploration, especially at a time when our best human resources are stretched so thinly. It is much easier to pull a pump, immediately put in a backup, and do the necessary maintenance as part of a scheduled PM event, than it is to react when something breaks and not do all the necessary other maintenance that can make such a difference. Pilots are told “stay ahead of the airplane” and generally, that means thinking a few steps ahead and doing what they can do now to be ready for what is coming next. The same approach to our manufacturing equipment and operation can yield huge benefits. MAKE IT VISIBLE AND KEEP RECORDS Lean manufacturing principles focus on repeatable work and the root cause issues that enable us to achieve that outcome. For most of us, machine uptime is a key objective and one that determines so many of our desired outcomes, including customer satisfaction, financial performance, and sales growth. We invest in sophisticated equipment technology and with it comes necessary maintenance to ensure both operation to the specifications, as well as achieving the expected useful life. How we treat the equipment will determine how we do on both outcomes. Our maintenance program should incorporate all the elements to achieve both. It should also be visible not only to the maintenance team but to the operators and facility management. The more we can communicate what we are doing, the more effective it will be and can be more easily managed. Similarly, the record- keeping needs to be robust. Not only so that we know what we did when and why, but so that we can look towards the continuous improvement process to drive future performance. Speaking from recent experience, I know that we have seen this slip within our own company as we have struggled to attract and retain the right resources. It has caused us to rethink how we are doing things and to elevate the priority of our preventative maintenance program so that we see the improvements we know we can achieve. This investment will pay dividends in many forms. BACK TO BASICS The Chinese proverb, “dig the well before you are thirsty” captures the essence of getting back to the basics of cleanliness and preventative maintenance. It sounds so simple and obvious, and yet most of us don’t do it. We opt instead for a much less effective, much more expensive, and much more time consumptive way of slaking our thirst well after we are parched. A return to some of the well-established principles and lessons that our mothers taught us as kids would go a long way towards seeing us all reach our desired outcomes. Contact: JEFF KELLER [email protected]