TABLE OF CONTENTS The primary focus of this book is placed on maintenance planning and maintenance scheduling as performed in the Lean Environment. The qualifier in the lean environment introduces a host of new considerations for traditional practices. These considerations are new because these were not involved in traditional, or pre-Lean Maintenance planning and maintenance scheduling activities. Although all planning and scheduling activities will be thoroughly developed during the course of this book, it is nonetheless important to provide a comprehensive description of the Lean Environment as it is differentiated from the pre-Lean Environment.
Chapter 1 briefly touched on the origins of "Lean Manufacturing." Taiichi Ohno is generally acknowledged as the father of Lean Manufacturing, and therefore with Lean Thinking. Ohno's Toyota Production System (TPS) a Lean Manufacturing system although created by Ohno, was conceived by Henry Ford in the first decade of the twentieth century and subsequently refined during the second decade. When Ford brought out his "Model T" in 1908, he introduced the first, efficient assembly line production process to the world of manufacturing. The assembly line employed the precise timing of a constantly moving conveyance of parts, subassemblies and assemblies, ultimately culminating in the creation of a completed Model T chassis. As a completed chassis rolled off the assembly line, 10 to 15 more were located at various stations along the assembly line, gradually being built-up eventually to roll out as another completed Model T.
Five years of fine-tuning the various operations, eliminating the wasted time in...
