What is Lean Maintenance? A Detailed Guide

In professional racing, every detail matters. Teams aim to cut down on waste as much as possible. Each second spent in a pit stop is carefully planned, and every part of the car is checked to make sure it works perfectly. The goal is always to move faster and more efficiently. When this same approach is applied to the shop floor, it becomes lean maintenance. Lean maintenance means cutting out waste in every part of your maintenance process so you can get more done, in less time, with fewer costs.

This guide will cover the basics of creating and tracking a lean maintenance strategy, giving you all the information you need. Let’s get started.

What is Lean Maintenance?

Lean maintenance works like lean manufacturing by continuously finding and cutting out waste from maintenance activities. Waste includes anything that doesn’t improve productivity, reduce costs, or increase output.

Examples of waste in maintenance can be:

• Spending money on a part that becomes outdated before it’s used
• Wasting time clarifying details of a maintenance request
• Gathering data that never gets used

It’s not always easy to spot waste in your maintenance process, which is why lean maintenance needs regular adjustments. This approach involves making small improvements over time to find the best setup for your processes. Lean maintenance isn’t a one-time fix, but a mindset that develops over years.

Characteristics of Lean Maintenance

1. Initiative-driven

   In traditional maintenance, the approach is reactive. This means that action is only taken when equipment breaks down. Maintenance teams wait for something to fail before they start repairs. However, lean maintenance focuses on taking proactive steps to prevent equipment failures from happening. By using predictive and preventive actions, the goal is to reduce the need for repairs and avoid unexpected breakdowns.

2. Organized and Scheduled

   When it comes to organized and scheduled maintenance in lean systems, everything is planned. This involves laying out the specific tasks, required materials, needed labor, and time for each maintenance job. Work priorities are set, work orders are issued, and teams are assigned to ensure everything runs smoothly. Materials and parts are also prepared ahead of time to avoid delays during the actual maintenance work.

3. Empowered Teams

   Empowered teams are groups that focus on completing specific tasks and achieving strong results. These teams are made up of members from different departments, which helps them work on projects that need a range of skills and knowledge. They have the freedom to handle some of their administrative tasks and even take part in choosing new team members. Since team members often have various skills, they can adjust quickly if something unexpected happens while they’re working. The goal is to complete full tasks in a coordinated way, with everyone contributing from their areas of expertise.

4. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)

   Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a strategy aimed at improving the efficiency and reliability of manufacturing equipment. It takes a comprehensive approach by considering the entire life cycle of production systems. The goal is to create a strong system on the shop floor that works to prevent various losses, such as unplanned downtime, product defects, and safety issues. By focusing on proactive measures, TPM seeks to eliminate breakdowns and accidents, ultimately ensuring that equipment runs smoothly and effectively.

5. Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)

   Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) takes a different approach. While TPM is about preventing equipment issues, RCM concentrates on making maintenance tasks as effective as possible. It emphasizes understanding how maintenance can best support the overall reliability of equipment. The aim is to identify the right maintenance strategies to keep machines running reliably, ensuring they deliver optimal performance throughout their lifespan.

Benefits of Lean Maintenance

1. Optimized Potential

   Optimized potential means that when both machines and people aren’t overwhelmed by unnecessary tasks, they can work at their best. For instance, a maintenance team might find that their skilled technicians are spending too much time helping out with production work instead of focusing on keeping the machines running smoothly. By collecting this information, the team leader can make a case for hiring additional operators. This way, the technicians can return to their main job of maintaining equipment, ensuring everything operates efficiently.

2. Enhanced Efficiency

   When we talk about efficiency, we mean getting more work done in less time. Lean maintenance strategies focus on identifying tasks and processes that take too long so they can be improved or removed. For example, consider a company that realized one of its teams was spending a lot of time traveling from their main office to a site that was quite far away. To tackle this issue, the company decided to set up a small office closer to the site. This change helped save a significant amount of travel time, allowing the team to get more work done each week.

3. Reduced Costs

   Using a lean maintenance approach can help lower costs in two main ways: directly and indirectly. Direct costs include things like labor and materials, while indirect costs refer to losses from equipment being down or not producing. For instance, if you find out that you can change the maintenance schedule for a piece of equipment from once a week to once a month, you could save up to 75% on labor costs. This strategy allows you to keep expenses in check while still maintaining the effectiveness of your operations.

4. Boosting Employee Engagement

   When companies cut down on unnecessary tasks and paperwork, employees often feel more connected to their jobs. This extra time allows them to learn new skills and focus on important work. For example, if a business invests in new maintenance software, technicians must have the time to learn how to use it effectively. If they’re swamped with other duties, that investment might not pay off. By reducing extra work, teams can spend more time getting familiar with new systems, asking questions, and adapting to technology changes.

5. Higher Product Quality

   Implementing lean maintenance can lead to improved product quality. By focusing on eliminating waste and streamlining processes, teams can pay more attention to the details that matter. This means fewer defects and more consistent results. When maintenance is performed efficiently, machines and equipment run better, leading to higher-quality products. In turn, this not only enhances customer satisfaction but also boosts the company’s reputation in the market.

6. A Safer, More Effective Team

   Lean maintenance also contributes to a safer work environment. By removing unnecessary tasks and focusing on essential operations, teams can work more effectively. With clearer processes and less clutter, the chances of accidents and mistakes decrease. Moreover, lean practices encourage regular training and skill development, which equips employees to handle their jobs safely and confidently. This focus on safety and efficiency creates a more effective team overall, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration.

3 Kinds of Waste in Maintenance

To effectively reduce waste in maintenance operations, the first step is to identify where waste occurs. Waste can typically be found in three main areas: environmental, financial, and human potential.

1. Environmental Waste:

   Environmental waste happens when raw materials are not used efficiently or are discarded due to poor maintenance practices.

   Common examples include:

   • Increased scrap or rework after equipment maintenance, leading to more materials being wasted.
   • Excessive fuel consumption is caused by poorly maintained vehicles or unnecessary trips to and from job sites.
   • Overstocking maintenance parts due to outdated inventory management practices.

   The effects of environmental waste can include:

   • More pollution and waste are generated.
   • Higher carbon emissions contribute to environmental issues.
   • Lower-quality products result from rushed or inadequate maintenance.
   • Increased safety risks for workers and others.

   To reduce environmental waste in maintenance, consider these strategies:

   • Conduct regular inventory checks and use just-in-time purchasing to avoid having too many unused parts.
   • Schedule maintenance tasks closely together to minimize travel time.
   • Implement a second technician check after repairs to ensure everything is working correctly before resuming operations.

2. Wasted Human Potential:

   Wasted human potential occurs when staff members are bogged down by administrative tasks and unnecessary activities, which distract them from the specialized work they are trained to do. This can lead to burnout, lower morale, and higher employee turnover, creating even more inefficiencies.

   Here are some examples of wasted human potential in maintenance:

   • Spending excessive time on writing, reviewing, and sorting work orders.
   • Repeatedly fixing the same parts or components.
   • Inspecting equipment that rarely fails or is not critical to operations.
   • Offering production support more often than necessary.
   • Hunting for parts and supplies in the storeroom instead of focusing on other tasks.

   The consequences of wasted human potential can be significant:

   • Increased employee turnover, resulting in a loss of valuable knowledge within the organization.
   • Reduced time spent on actual maintenance tasks and accumulating backlogs.
   • Decreased employee engagement and reluctance to embrace new systems.
   • Less accurate data due to hurried or incomplete documentation.

   To address these issues and work more efficiently, consider the following strategies:

   • Hold regular maintenance team meetings to talk about challenges and brainstorm solutions.
   • Automate repetitive tasks, like generating work orders or reports.
   • Cut back on scheduled maintenance for equipment that has low follow-up needs.
   • Train machine operators to handle routine maintenance tasks themselves.

3. Financial Waste:

   Financial waste relates to unnecessary expenses caused by ineffective maintenance practices. This also includes production losses due to equipment being out of service for too long.

   Examples of financial waste include:

   • High costs for labor and parts due to excessive preventive maintenance that isn’t necessary.
   • Defective products resulting from poorly assembled or repaired assets.
   • Delayed repairs because technicians have to wait for parts.

   The impact of financial waste can lead to:

   • Increased costs for labor and materials.
   • Greater capital expenses that affect the budget.
   • Loss of revenue due to downtime.
   • Missed chances for business growth.

   To streamline operations and reduce financial waste, consider these approaches:

   • Review your preventive maintenance schedule to identify tasks that can be reduced or eliminated.
   • Look for maintenance tasks that can be completed while equipment is still in operation to reduce downtime.
   • Develop a Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action System (FRACAS) to address issues with critical equipment.
   • Create parts kits for essential equipment to speed up repairs and prevent running out of stock.
   • Hold regular meetings with production teams to align maintenance efforts with operational needs and updates on equipment changes.

By focusing on these areas, maintenance teams can work towards greater sustainability and efficiency, reducing waste and enhancing overall operations.

Advanced Tools and Concepts for Lean Maintenance Workflow Development

1. 5S Philosophy:

   The 5S philosophy is a system designed to create a tidy and efficient workplace. It has five key principles, each starting with the letter “S” in Japanese: Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, and Shitsuke.

   • Seiri (Sort): This step focuses on getting rid of unnecessary items, tools, and materials in the workspace.
   • Seiton (Set in Order): After sorting, the next step is to arrange the remaining tools and materials neatly, so they are easy to find and use.
   • Seiso (Shine): Regular cleaning is essential, ensuring that the work area is not just tidy but also safe and inviting.
   • Seiketsu (Standardize): This involves setting standards for cleanliness and organization to maintain the improvements made.
   • Shitsuke (Sustain): The final principle is about developing habits to keep the workspace organized and clean consistently.

   The main goal of the 5S process is to create a workspace that is efficient, clean, and safe, while also reducing waste.

2. Just-in-Time

   Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory management, often linked with lean manufacturing, is about ordering supplies only when they are needed. In a maintenance setting, this means companies will only purchase essential spare parts and tools. To make this work effectively, a well-organized maintenance schedule is crucial, along with a good understanding of the condition of each asset. For successful JIT practices in Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) inventory management, it’s important to use reliable spare parts management software. This should be paired with predictive maintenance techniques to anticipate when items will need replacing, helping to keep everything running smoothly without overstocking.

3. Kaizen Events:

   Kaizen events are short, focused projects organized by management to help a team improve in certain areas, such as applying 5S principles. These events usually last less than a week and are guided by a facilitator. The main purpose of a Kaizen event is to promote ongoing improvement. Even though each event is treated as a separate effort, they should be held regularly across different parts of your company. This allows team members to get more chances to practice 5S principles and other lean maintenance techniques, with feedback along the way to help them improve.

4. Advance CMMS:

   In lean maintenance, self-directed teams handle tasks automatically, so it’s essential to schedule these routine tasks as efficiently as possible. A Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) can help achieve this by improving how maintenance planning and scheduling are done. It also assists in managing work orders and other related activities. By streamlining these processes, a CMMS supports teams in working more effectively and efficiently, which is crucial for maintaining a smooth operation.

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   Developing a Lean Maintenance Strategy

   Creating a lean maintenance strategy can be broken down into 3 straightforward steps:

   1. Evaluate Your Current Practices
   2. Identify Waste and Find Ways to Eliminate It
   3. Establish Ongoing Processes for Continuous Improvement

   Step 1: Understand Your Maintenance Processes

   The first step is to gain a clear understanding of how your maintenance team currently works. This involves taking a close look at your existing processes to identify areas where you might be overdoing things or missing out on important tasks.

   Key elements to document include:

   • Information about your equipment, such as its importance and common failure points (you can use an FMEA template for this).
   • The frequency and type of inspections and repairs conducted.
   • Definitions of emergencies and your team’s response strategies.
   • How you create, assign, and track follow-up or corrective maintenance.
   • The structure and purpose of team meetings.
   • Setting goals, creating metrics, and collecting relevant data.
   • Health, safety, and compliance practices.
   • Management of parts purchasing and inventory.

   Additionally, consider your business needs:

   • Seasonal production levels.
   • Fluctuations in sales.
   • Reactions to past emergencies.
   • Organizational goals and available resources.

   Step 2: Find Immediate Improvement Opportunities

   Next, focus on identifying where you may be wasting time, money, or effort. Here are some ways to spot these inefficiencies:

   • Engage with Your Team: Discuss specific processes with maintenance team members to learn which parts of their work take the most time or present challenges. Use their feedback to simplify tasks and remove obstacles. For instance, if lubrication is often misidentified, color-coding can help avoid confusion and reduce waste.
   • Analyze Consistently Over-budget Tasks: If certain tasks consistently exceed their budgeted time or costs, conduct a root cause analysis (RCA) to find out why. This approach is more effective than simply cutting costs, as it helps you address the underlying issues. For example, if a weekly task’s labor costs are unexpectedly high, you might discover that having different technicians handle the job is slowing things down. In this case, you could assign the same technician to the task to increase efficiency.
   • Audit Your Planned Maintenance: Regularly review your planned maintenance work to ensure it’s as efficient as possible. This involves questioning the necessity, frequency, and resource allocation for each maintenance task. For instance, if a task is scheduled every 10 days regardless of equipment usage, consider adjusting it to be based on actual usage, such as after a certain number of operating hours.
   • Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Create metrics to track your maintenance team’s performance and growth. This data will help identify areas where you can improve productivity and reduce waste. For example, monitoring turnover rates or opportunities for knowledge sharing can reveal complex processes that need simplification, ultimately boosting team morale and performance.

   Step 3: Create a Long-term Vision

   The ultimate aim of your lean maintenance strategy is to foster continuous improvement that aligns with your business goals. However, as those goals evolve, so will your focus on improvement.

   In this step, document what changes you’ve made, their impacts, and any future adjustments needed. If some changes don’t produce the desired results, resist the urge to revert to the old way of doing things immediately. Instead, analyze the reasons behind the negative outcomes and explore alternative improvements. It might take a few attempts to find the right approach.

   Closing Thoughts

   Improve your maintenance operations with Lean Maintenance! By using Lean principles, you can cut down on waste, streamline processes, and boost the reliability of your equipment. NEXGEN offers helpful features like scheduling preventive maintenance, managing assets in real-time, and tracking work orders efficiently. These tools can support your team in creating an effective Lean Maintenance strategy.

   Begin your path to better operations today. Lean Maintenance can help lower costs, increase efficiency, and promote a culture of ongoing improvement. Don’t miss out—join us to enhance your maintenance practices for a more efficient future!

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   Optimize Maintenance with NEXGEN CMMS

   Leverage a comprehensive CMMS to manage your plant maintenance tasks effortlessly.

   Schedule a Demo