59.1 INTRODUCTION

It is necessary to link cost reduction with the elimination of various kinds of waste in order for a firm to survive the current severe economic environment. Therefore, the need to use equipment to its utmost capacity has become paramount. As quality demands have become more and more stringent, it has become necessary to establish and maintain conditions that prevent equipment from creating defects and thus to avoid shipping defects. Requirements for production of small lots with a wide range of product variety, just-in-time (JIT) production, and cost reductions have imposed severe conditions on the manufacturing industry.

Faced with a situation where equipment (even if new and purchased at great expense) breaks down frequently, has many short stoppages and produces numerous defects, it is impossible to implement a flexible production system and/or JIT. Therefore, the elimination of equipment losses has become an urgent issue.

As the operation and functional level of equipment advances, so does the necessary skill level of operators and maintenance personnel on the production floor. In other words, today s operators must not think of themselves as just using or driving a machine from day to day, but must be able to retain a sense of ownership, protecting and caring for their machines. As for maintenance personnel, the prevention of equipment malfunctions needs to take precedence over fire-fighting.

In addition, a worker-friendly environment in the workplace has become more and more important. This means that the prevention...