tool not a strategic tool. It is not designed for long-term change but rather toward immediate waste elimination. There is a tendency to push Lean toward a strategy for long term review of the maintenance process. There is a question to answer: What would my customer not be willing to pay for, if they knew about it?
In any program, or in any part of life, there are people who go too far and include everything under the banner of Lean (or in whatever else their passion is centered). Green and Law’s last comment in the interview was to beware of the lean fundamentalist.
What is it?
“Well what is lean?” you might ask. Lean is what people have always done. If you owned a factory you would practice Lean. In your household, don’t you try to run a lean operation? Aren’t you always telling the kids to turn the lights off, and to not use so much water?
Shingo’s definition of lean is an all-out war against waste from both manufacturing efficiencies and under-utilization of people. That is a pretty good starting point. Let’s get more specific.
Lean Maintenance: Is defined as delivery of maintenance services to customers with as little waste as possible, or producing a desirable maintenance outcome with the fewest inputs possible. In this discussion we will investigate ways of providing excellent services while minimizing the 10 inputs:
1.Labor (any kind including labor from the operator, mechanic, clerk, staff, and contractor)
2.Management effort (reduce headaches, or non-standard conditions requiring special management inputs)
3.Maintenance parts, materials, supplies
4.Contractors
5.Equipment rental
6.Service contracts of all types
7.Raw materials
8.Energy
9.Capital
10.Overhead
And/or ways of maximizing the outputs:
1.Improved reliability (uptime)
2.Improved output quantity
3.Improved repeatability of process (less variation)
4.Improved safety for the employees, the public, and the environment
The challenge is to produce these lean outcomes while maintaining a long-term, safe, environment, and conforming to governmental statutes and company policies.
IFS is a consultancy in the related area of Lean Manufacturing. They make some promises in their White Paper on Lean Manufacturing (to be found at their web site www.Ifsworld.com). The savings are likely to be similar to the ones that can be found in Lean Maintenance.
•A 90% reduction in lead time (cycle time)
•A 50% increase in productivity
•An 80% reduction in work-in-process inventory
•An 80% improvement in quality
•A 75% reduction in space utilization
In formal definitions, Lean is defined as the elimination of everything in the value stream that does not provide added value to the customer or to the product. Another way to approach this subject is to ask the question introduced above: “If the customer knew about this, would he/she be willing to pay for it?” So the customer might be willing for an effective permitting system to promote safety, but might also be unwilling to pay for the hours of waiting for the operator. Anything not contributing value is waste. So waste-free is the same as Lean. Of course waste has many forms that we will be looking at throughout this work.
Lean has four dimensions, or operates in four zones:
Practices: Lean Maintenance can be thought of as a set of practices and attitudes toward maintenance. These practices (like never sending someone to repair something without a plan, bill of material, and tool list) are like exercising, eating right, or self improvement. The improvement from the practice comes from its application over a long period of time. The good Lean Maintenance practices will carry you along, with gradual improvements over several years.
Attitude: Having the right attitude is related to practices. We are trying to produce our product or service with the least input possible because it makes sense from a profit motive and because it is the right thing to do for our environment and for our world. Like someone exercising, even if your attitude flags (I don’t want to exercise today), the habit of the practice will carry you over (you don’t have to like it—just do it!)
Technology: Breakthroughs in technology can happen at any time. Innovation is either continuous (incremental improvement) or discontinuous (giant leap in improvement involving shift to new approaches). Maintenance professionals who want Lean Maintenance will have to be in a constant search for new technology. The key to using technology is to wait for others (who like living on the bleeding edge of technology) to do the initial “beta” testing and to have a program in place to try some of the successes. Testing new technology in a scientific way (that is with rigorous testing and a control) is essential to know if a new technology is indeed better than the old.
Duration: Savings (of resources or money) from Lean projects are like little rivulets of water flowing back to the company. Over time and with ongoing attention they gather together into massive streams and then rivers of savings. The key is time or duration. One project will not make much difference, but dozens of projects over a few years can make a substantial, quantifiable difference in the picture, as shown by the diagram below.
Levels to Lean: Lean Maintenance can be seen in levels. Each level includes the levels below. Each level expresses a higher level of knowledge, investment, and commitment.
Level one—Looks lean superficially: Lean Maintenance efforts start with ‘Looks Lean’ projects. It is likely that there are easy savings or what is called ‘Low Hanging Fruit’. You could just reach out and grab the savings. Savings of this type include re-lamping with compact florescent lamps, or plugging steam and compressed-air leaks. There are great, quick, and low-cost actions that can be taken in this domain. Many organizations are satisfied to operate in level one, and never go to the higher levels.
Level two—Studies to make lean: Once the ‘Low Hanging Fruit’ is picked you will have to conduct studies and do some research into Lean practices and products. The effort and knowledge required for success is higher. Savings potentials here might include high-efficiency motors, more-efficient starters, or more-slippery lubricants. Improved inspection technology such as infrared cameras also fit in here.
Level three—Lean potential limit given existing technology: At the top of the totem pole is the investigation and adoption of new, different, and more-efficient manufacturing processes. These processes might offer better yields, higher quality, increased up time, lower energy usage, and fewer maintenance-intensive processes. Included would be maintenance process re-engineering, using some kind of hybrid or fuel cell technology, integrating technologies to make all systems work together, and major changes to new technologies for
