Economic Darwinism II -Maintenance
As the economy tightens, and businesses look to cut costs, maintenance is often one of the early casualties. As with layoffs, I am convinced that this is a huge mistake. Maintenance for most of us is one of those nagging things like dental appointments. We know we should be doing it, but always seem too busy to properly keep up with it.
The truth of the matter is that maintenance is a really good return on investment. A small amount of scheduled time, and your production keeps running. A few tools and a bit of lubrication and you avoid replacing expensive parts. A few hours of scheduled downtime a year, and you can prevent thousands of dollars in service calls.
The damage caused by unscheduled repairs goes way beyond the cost of parts and technicians. It can be very difficult to truly calculate what is lost when your production is interrupted by breakdowns. There are the clearly visible costs discussed above, but the damage goes deeper. At best, you’ll need to pay out overtime to catch up to the schedule. At worst, you miss deadlines, and possibly lose customers. Lost customers are a blow at any time, but during a slow economy, it is a business killer.
Knowing that a proper maintenance protocol can save money, it is not hard to see how it can be a source of increased profit. While reviewing a client’s operation, I noted that 4 people were tasked to cleaning up edgebanded parts. I spent a few hours with their edgebander operators, showing them how to measure the stock and set the glue line properly, lube and adjust the trimmers, and keep the cutting tools clean. Without having to upgrade their old bander, one person is now tasked to checking and cleaning the parts as they come off the bander, opening up three others for assembling the cabinets.
Good maintenance also pays dividends in quality. A table saw that is clean and aligned accurately cuts cleanly, leaving crisp edges and fewer tool marks. And tools that work properly are safer for your workers, reducing lost time accidents, OSHA fines and lawsuits.
So how do you begin squeezing the advantages from maintenance? Every tool in your shop has, in it’s manual, a maintenance schedule. Compile that data for all your equipment. There will typically be daily, monthly, quarterly, and yearly intervals. Sorting through this information, you should be able to set up a schedule.
Maintenance needs to become part of your company’s culture, and that can only come down from the top. Workers need to know that you expect them to do their maintenance chores and do them right. That any time they find problems like loose bolts, they must take the time to get the proper tool and fix it, or find the person who can. Ultimately, they need to know that their job is not at risk for taking proper care of their machines, but at risk if they don’t.
So begin gathering your data, create a schedule, and devote specified time to keeping your equipment running safely, accurately and predictably. You will find that although counter-intuitive, you will likely realize savings rather than expenses.
Please feel free to comment here or by email. I’m presenting these ideas in the hopes of spurring discussion.
Email: rbagnall@consultingwoodworker.com
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphbagnall
A Digital Angle Gauge on your Belt
Having recently upgraded to an iPhone, I’ve been searching through the available applications for it.
One very cool app in the inclinometer. It uses the iPhone’s built in accelerometer to check angles. So far it seems more than accurate enough to set a table saw blade angle. On Tuesday I’ll have access to a computer driven saw and I’ll be able to check it against that machine. Apple’s itunes has an Apps store that includes several versions of inclinometers. I’m using Plaincode’s Clinometer.
