From Lean Maintenance

Overview

Benjamin Franklin says: Waste not want not.

Most of the waste that is easy to get to is visible. Just look for trash, dirt, excessive work in process, people hanging around, and the accumulation of almost anything. The problem, normalization of deviance, will be discussed in depth in a subsequent section, but it is the reason why it is hard to see the accumulations. The piles look normal, and that is where the pointer lists come in useful.

Waste reduction can be as simple as improving the kinds of paint brushes (to reduce the time it takes to paint something, reduce the amount of paint used, and improve the quality of the job). Reduction of waste could also require deep knowledge of pump applications, such as evaluating two different pumps in the same application (with consideration of initial cost, availability, energy costs, reliability, repair costs, availability of spare parts, downtime, and downstream impacts).

In traditional Lean Manufacturing, several waste areas are identified. These areas have analogies in Lean Maintenance, and some represent major losses.

  • Over-production is one of the uncommon wastes in maintenance. An example is when you are rebuilding valves and you might rebuild too many for immediate use.

  • Time wasted in waiting is a major loss in maintenance. We are always waiting for another trade, for operations, for drawings, for something. This waste is one of the items that can be reduced by multi-skilling, planning, and scheduling.

  • Time wasted moving people, tools, or materials to and from...

Copyright Industrial Press Inc. 2008 under license agreement with Books24x7

Products & Services
Incinerators
Incinerators are used for burning organic material, gases, fumes, hazardous waste, and municipal trash or sewage sludge at a high temperature, sometimes to produce energy.
Sprayers and Spray Coating Equipment

Sprayers and spray coating equipment refers to any component used in a variety of industrial spraying processes, including application tools, handling equipment, and supplemental machines. They are used in the process of atomizing coatings, paints, lubricants, solvents, deicing liquids, chemicals, and powders so they can be spray-applied to a surface.

Compactors (Industrial)
Industrial compactors, waste and garbage compactors, crushers and other compaction equipment are used to process wastes, textiles, rubber, fibers and other low-density materials into a finished compact shape.
Manufacturing Support Software
Manufacturing support software is used in shop floor, process, tool and maintenance management.

Topics of Interest

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