Overview

Benjamin Franklin says: An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

When you think about lean workers and lean workforces, think about the difference between a platoon of army or even marine personnel, and an equal number of Special Forces personnel. Special Forces have the ability to focus high levels of firepower for short to moderate periods of time, on an objective. They can move quickly because they are designed to be maximally mobile. The Special Forces have deep ability to be flexible and adapt to the situation. Finally, they move without disrupting the environment (stealthy).

The focus, speed, stealth, and flexibility bring about the objective. The lean maintenance worker is like that Special Forces soldier, flexible, with the ability to focus adequate firepower on any maintenance problem.

It is very simple to define an ideal maintenance worker from a Lean perspective. The ideal workers are those who have the skills to handle whatever maintenance tasks are thrown at them. Taking that concept to its extreme, the most efficient set-up is where all roles are in one person. That arrangement gives maximum flexibility. When we speak about all roles, we mean all: maintenance, production, set-up, QC, and so on.

Did you ever notice that, early in the history of almost every company, there is a stage where everyone does everything? Companies in that stage are most Lean because there is very little surplus anything. Everyone moves toward the problem. Problems get handled (or the company goes under!). With too...