After a couple of decades of testing, Lean business practices are now widely accepted as a major contributor to extraordinary customer service and profitable operations. But with this acceptance has come a new leveling of the playing field in many industries. The preemptive competitive advantages enjoyed by early Lean adopters have dissipated as more and more companies are “converted” to techniques that reduce waste and slash lead times. We have also come to the realization that only the most effective operations can position a company to compete with competitors who source off shore to suppliers in low cost labor markets.

I am from an automotive parts supplier in mid-western United States. Implementing TPM in a company is not easy. The philosophies of TPM are not that difficult to understand but are a some what difficult task to implement.

So you have a plan, now what? It is now time to execute. Hopefully, you are using some great CI methodologies founded in Six Sigma and the Toyota Production System. Each of the items on your plan may need some additional analysis to see exactly what is involved in the improvement of those items.

All Maintenance Technology Reader Panelists agree that training is important. The need for it is ongoing, and it is a part of routine strategy for most operations. Today, its value is heightened as manufacturing operations face growing departures of experienced workers.

The “breakthrough strategy” really works. Equipment becomes more reliable, costs go down, and behaviors change along the way. The key is focusing on results-the kind of results that will get people’s attention on the plant floor as well as in the key decision makers’ offices. Select the equipment that, if it ran better and was more reliable, would generate sizeable savings. But more importantly, choose equipment that would generate more throughput and revenue.

Determine which functions hold the greatest opportunity for improving your maintenance operations, and look around for companies that show excellence in each target function. Summarized below are four of the more common functions that are of interest to modern maintenance operations, as well as sample target industries for benchmarking.

Circular logic is how many large, otherwise sophisticated manufacturing plants manage financial accountability over their industrial contractors. They create a PO, send it to the contractor, the contract performs the work, keeps track of expenses, and then submits an invoice. The planning and scheduling and execution of the works are excellent, but the financial control needs upgrading.

The fix to the problem will take time, because it includes a cultural change. “Right now we have to save what we can in the short term so we do not have time to deal with this now, and on top of that it will cost money to improve our work system” is a common saying in this organization. The time and cost to improve is visible cost, the existing waste is embedded in the work system and invisible.