PM Optimization: Integrating Lean into your Maintenance Strategy

Preventive Maintenance (PM) Optimization is often thought of as an activity to improve the effectiveness of the maintenance strategy, looking at the activities in the PM routine and matching them with known failure modes. While this is the first step to improving any maintenance strategy, it is just a beginning. In order for an organization to achieve its highest performance, they not only need to do the right maintenance, but they also need to do it efficiently.

This is where PM Optimization can unlock the hidden potential. When PM Optimization is combined with known and accepted Lean techniques, the efficiency of maintenance is truly unlocked. When performing PM Optimization, the team should be aware of the 8 types of waste: (1) Defects, (2) Overproduction, (3) Waiting, (4) Not utilizing talent, (5) Transportation, (6) Inventory excess, (7) Motion waste, and (8) Excess processing. Once the team is aware of the waste, there needs to be an unrelenting focus on eliminating the waste and minimizing planned downtime. To eliminate the waste, the team uses various Lean tools, such as SMED, 5s, and Visual Factory. When the 8 types of waste are targeted, the amount of planned downtime goes down, allowing higher levels of asset utilization. 

Presented at MainTrain 2017