Step Title Activities Equipment-Related Objectives (key points for the workplace
review)
People-related Objectives (key points for team activity
review)
Guidance by Management
1Initial Cleaning (Cleaning is Inspection)►Eliminate dust and dirt, principally from the main body of the equipment.
►Identify all minor equipment defects, contamination sources, hard-to-access areas, and sources of quality defects.
►Remove all unnecessary and non-urgent items, and simplify the equipment
►Eliminate environmental stress due to dust and dirt, and prevent forced deterioration.
►Improve the quality of checks and repairs, and shorten the time required for checking and servicing.
►Establish basic equipment conditions.
►Expose latent defects and take action to eliminate them.
►Encourage operators to get in touch with their equipment and develop a real feeling of ownership and attachment towards it. ►Encourage them to be curious, and have them voice any doubts about their equipment.
►Teach team leaders leadership skills through team activities.
►Help operators recognize minor equipment defects and other problems when they see them.
►Show how dirt and dust create forced deterioration and affect maintainability (instill the idea of ‘optimal conditions).
►Point out areas where cleaning is crucial, and teach the importance of maintaining basic equipment conditions by cleaning, lubricating, and tightening (use actual fastenings, lubrication manuals, etc. to demonstrate key points).
►Instill the idea that ‘Cleaning is Inspection’.
2Tackling Contamination Sources and Hard-to-Access Areas►Eliminate or contain sources of dust, dirt, and leaks; improve areas that are hard to access for cleaning, inspection, lubrication, tightening, operation, etc., to reduce the times required for these tasks.►Improve intrinsic reliability of equipment by getting it perfectly clean and eradicating all sources of dirt, dust, and leaks.
►Improve maintainability by improving cleaning, checking, and lubrication routines.
►Aim to develop equipment that requires no manual intervention.
►Have operators learn improvement theory and methodology, starting with the equipment they are most familiar with.
►Sow the seeds of improvement through team activities.
►Get operators to appreciate the sense of achievement and pleasure that making improvements can give.
►Make the most of improvement ideas, giving operators hints on how to turn them into concrete solutions (give them technical coaching and assistance).
►Teach problem-solving methods such as Why–Why Analysis.
►Make sure that any engineering work requested is done quickly.
►Help operators install visual controls such as match marks.
3Provisional Autonomous Maintenance Standards►Formulate action standards enabling cleaning, lubricating, and tightening to be carried out quickly and reliably.
►Introduce visual controls to improve the efficiency of checking work.
►Sustain the three basic equipment conditions (cleanliness, tightness, proper lubrication) to prevent deterioration.
►Carry out inspection based on visual controls such as nameplates, working range markings on gauges, etc.
►Get operators to learn the importance of complying with standards and find out what workplace management is all about, by having them create and follow their own standards.
►Make sure everyone knows how important their own contribution is, and teach the importance of teamwork.
►Advice on how to write cleaning and inspection standards, and what format to use.
►Give technical support on formulating lubrication standards.
►Show how visual controls can make checking much easier, and help operators to introduce them.
4General Inspection►Provide inspection skills training based on inspection manuals.
►Comprehensively inspect each equipment unit and achieve optimal equipment conditions.
►Make equipment improvements that facilitate inspection, and implement visual management wherever possible.
►Correct deterioration and improve equipment reliability by checking fastenings, transmission devices, and all other categories included in the General Inspection training curriculum.
►Introduce visual controls such as thermosensitive labels, range markings on gauges, and plates that clearly indicate machine name, V-belt specs, oil type and quantity, valve open/close positions, directions of rotation, and so on, so that anyone can carry out the checks properly.
►Help the operators to learn inspection skills by giving them practical training on the equipment, its structure and functions, and the criteria to use when assessing its condition.
►Learn how to deal with equipment problems through hands-on practice.
►Team leaders gain leadership skills through the process of teaching, and the members gain a sense of team spirit through the learning experience.
►Learn how to collate General Inspection data and use it effectively.
►Create General Inspection manuals, problem examples, etc., and give team leaders training in inspection techniques.
►Draw up inspection schedules.
►Teach simple problem-solving techniques through practical training.
►Deal with all work requests relating to identified problems as quickly as possible.
►Give guidance on the best use of visual controls.
►Explain methods of collecting and analyzing data.
►Get leaders to take part in drawing up maintenance schedules.
5Autonomous Checking►Teach operators about process performance, how to adjust operating conditions, and how to deal with irregularities, thereby enhancing their knowledge of the process and improving operational reliability.
►Consolidate the temporary cleaning and checking standards for each device into periodic checks and replacement standards for each process and area. ►Eliminate any duplicated tasks, and add any necessary ones that have been omitted.
►Improve the safety and stability of the entire process by ensuring it is always operated under the correct conditions.
►Develop new visual controls to make process inspection more accurate (e.g. labels on pipes stating what is inside them and which way it is flowing).
►Improve equipment so that it can be operated more easily and reliably.
►Have operators learn how to control the process correctly, and how to deal with any abnormal situations that arise.
►Learn about the properties of the processed materials and how they relate to the equipment used, and teach ways to make correct settings and adjustments.
►Get operators to appreciate their own responsibilities for planned maintenance, and sow the seeds of self-management, by implementing a regime of periodic inspection and replacement.
►Get operators to recognize the importance of recording time-series data.
►Create General Process Inspection manuals and troubleshooting manuals, and train team leaders in inspection techniques.
►Give on-the-job training on how to set up and adjust the process correctly.
►Advice on creating periodic inspection and replacement standards, (e.g. style, format, etc.), and setting inspection intervals (using performance data).
►Clearly spell out the separate responsibilities of the operating and maintenance departments, to avoid duplication or omission of planned maintenance tasks.
6Standardization►Draw up clear system flow diagrams and standards to ensure that Autonomous Maintenance is implemented properly and quality and safety are maintained.
►Improve setup routines and reduce work in progress.
►Establish self-managed systems for the movement of objects in the workplace, spare parts, tools, work in progress, finished products, materials, etc.
►Establish a Quality Management system specifying the exact relationships between quality and equipment conditions.
►Review and improve the equipment and its environment and layout.
►Create standards for sustaining the conditions of conveying devices, spare parts, tools, work in progress, finished products, materials, aisles, cleaning tools, etc., and implement visual controls wherever possible in all parts of the workplace.
►Broaden the scope of Self-Management by systematizing and standardizing the various checks and controls required.
►Get operators to see how equipment conditions relate to quality and understand the importance of Quality Management.
►Teach operators the importance of standardizing the way the workplace is managed, and then gathering further data and making improvements aimed at achieving even higher standards.
►Give managers and supervisors the ability and opportunity to do their real job (i.e. continually improving standards and ensuring that they are observed).
►Create system flow diagrams illustrating the process, and instruct on standardization.
►Create a manual that systematically sets out the relationships between equipment and quality, and use it to teach Quality Maintenance.
►Provide technical support for standardizing materials handling in the workplace, etc., and give guidance on how to achieve total visual management.
►Teach analysis and improvement techniques used in industrial engineering, preventive maintenance, and quality control, and show how to apply them.
7Full Self-Management►Deploy and implement company policies and objectives, and make improvement a routine part of the job. Eradicate waste from the workplace and promote further cost reductions.
►Record and analyze MTBFs and other maintenance data accurately and use them to make equipment improvements.
►Analyze various types of equipment data and use the findings to improve the equipment and raise process reliability, safety, maintainability, quality, and operability.
►Use the data to identify weak spots in the equipment and carry out Focused Improvements aimed at extending equipment lifespans and the intervals between routine checks.
►Raise awareness of objectives and instill cost- consciousness, including a full appreciation of maintenance costs.
►Train operators in repair skills to enable them to carry out minor repairs and restoration work themselves.
►Raise data recording and analysis skills, and show how to make improvements based on the findings.
►Teach the importance of management by objectives.
►Give training in repair skills, and get operators to put these skills into practice.
►Enhance operators’ improvement capabilities by providing technical assistance with equipment improvements and getting them to participate in improvement projects.
►Standardize effective improvements and encourage involvement in MP activities.

Setting up a step-by-step rollout pattern for each machine

A company will need to establish basic equipment conditions quickly and have its operators become competent in sustaining them as soon as possible. It will also need to do it economically, and allow its workforce to enjoy the satisfaction of Autonomous Maintenance sooner rather than later. The best way to do this is to implement Steps 1 to 3 on one machine, then the next, and so on for each equipment unit.
The advantages of this approach are that:

  • Problems discovered and solutions implemented while tackling the first machine or zone can be taken into account from the start when going through the same steps on other machines or zones;
  • Each time Steps 1 to 3 have been completed for a given unit or zone, a review meeting can be held, so that lessons learned can be put to good use on the next unit or zone.

Rollout by equipment type

Besides basic forming and machining equipment such as presses and cutters, factories usually operate many other types of equipment, including process-type equipment such as plating tanks and large-scale painting units, or equipment that requires working at heights. This makes it impossible to adopt a single Autonomous Maintenance rollout scheme for the whole plant, so a different approach is required for each category.

With large electroplating or electrodeposition installation, for example, an Autonomous Maintenance plan of the whole unit is drawn up, the different sections are numbered off, and the basic equipment conditions are established successively in section- number order.

If working at a height is required, safety must be strictly observed. Such equipment can only be serviced by certified operators trained to work in these conditions, or by external specialists called in as needed. If contracting people in from the outside, the company must drive home the message that “Cleaning is Inspection”, so that they adopt the right attitude to inspecting, cleaning, and servicing the equipment.

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