Concepts of Total Productive Maintenance -Topic - 4 : 12 steps of TPM implementation program

• 12 steps of TPM implementation program

Total Productive Maintenance (abbreviated as TPM), looks to be quite a vast and complex concept when it is newly introduced to an organization. An Organization which probably may not have enough exposure to the subject is sure to face a lot of difficulty to understand, absorbe and internalize the concepts of TPM and bring in to regular practice. A huge sum of money, a great part of effective resource and a large share of effective time also gets absorbed to get all, or atleast most of the employees to start practicing the pillar wise (Refer "Eight Pillars of TPM : https://kalpanathchatterjee.blogspot.com/2020/04/concepts-of-total-productive_27.htmlhttps://kalpanathchatterjee.blogspot.com/2020/04/concepts-of-total-productive_27.html) concepts of TPM. 

Initially TPM, as a concept was centered only with in production and maintenance areas. While practicing, looking at the results and looking at  applicability, these concepts were furthermore extended to relevant non- production areas, like "Engineering", "New Product Development", "Office Areas", "Administration", "Safety", and "Sales". In 1980's when most of the TPM practicing companies, were taking TPM concepts, beyond the shop floor and were trying to make it a company-wide practice, were facing certain common difficulties as there were no set strategy to do so. Around 1983, 12 steps of TPM implementation program was first introduced and to further structurize, these 12 steps were categorized under four stages. 

The Initial four stages are : 

1. Stage 1 - Introduction - Preparatory Stage
2. Stage 2 - Kick-off Stage of TPM
3. Stage 3 - Execution Stage 
4. Stage 4 - Establishment Stage of TPM 

The 12 Step of TPM implementation program is arranged under these 4 Stages. The detailed stages, the steps and the highlights of the points of implementation is shown below. With reference to the below steps a complete TPM implementation time-line mabe devised or while preparing a complete time-line from introduction to establishment phase, the below stage management plan may be referred.

1. Stage 1 - Introduction - Preparatory Stage : The introduction phase consists of 5 Steps. Form timeline perspective this stage should consume six to eight months time frame. It involves following five steps: 
• Step 1 : Declaration of the resolution of  "TPM implementation"in the organization by top management : 
• A formal announcement of TPM implementation plan and Top Management's commitment is declared. 
• The same information is multiple times resonated in board meetings, internal communication meetings, through internal communication mediums like internal newsletters and bulletins so that all the employees are equally communicated.
• Step 2 : TPM education and campaign : 
• Publicity campaigns are initiated and TPM orientation sessions are held. 
• Training for senior management, middle management and junior management employees on TPM course is initiated. Staffs of same echelon are scheduled together. For general employees slide show meetings and other communication meeting forums are used.
• Step 3 : Establishment of TPM organization : 
• Setting up of Steering committee, formation of TPM pillar wise subcommittees are are done. A central TPM office or TPM promotion secretariat may also be formed to have a channel of central communication and coordination.
• Organizational model may be formally re-structured to have management led pilot models established. 
• Step 4 : Setting of TPM policies, principles  and targets : 
• TPM Program objectives and policies are clearly defined may be with respect to industry benchmarks, past performance, prediction of effects or industry competition.  Business objectives are built inline to the TPM policies, principles and targets.
• Survey of all the breakdowns and breakdown trends , accidents and accident trends, quality defects, losses and leakages are done in this phase and a baseline is established to critically define the improvement indices. 
• Step 5 : Formulation of TPM Implementation Program Master Plan : 
• A complete step wise master plan is formulated form introduction/ preparation stage to undergoing the TPM excellence certification examination. The timeline of the master plan may vary based upon the type of organization, complexity of processes and adaptability of employees. 
• With respect to the master plan annual target plans, quarterly activity plans and monthly schedules may be derived.
2. Stage 2 - Kick-off Stage of TPM : This stage includes the sixth step that is Kick-off of TPM. This step may take one to six months time to get concluded based on the span of customers, suppliers,  cooperative companies and other involved agencies. 
• Step 6 : Kick-off of the TPM implementation program : 
• This step involves inviting the customers (in case the concerned organization is a supplier organization), suppliers, associated companies, cooperative companies, relevant interested parties, and involved agencies and officially inform them about the organizations resolution for TPM implementation program. 
3. Stage 3 - Execution Stage : This stage includes five steps. Based upon the span of organization, the robustness of the processes, status of improvement indices, and involvement of employees of all levels the time line may differ from two to five years. Committed efforts, regular status reviews and dipstick checks and taking countermeasures on the reasons of performance lacunas will definitely help in reducing the timeline of TPM execution. This stage involves following five steps: 
• Step 7: Establishment of system for maximizing the production efficiency : 
• This step aspires to have ultimate production efficiency and effectiveness while using four pillars of TPM, i.e. Kobetsu Kaizen (KK), Jishu Hozen (JH) , Kaikaku Hozen (KH), Education and training (E&T). 
• 7.1. Kobetsu-Kaizen (Focused Improvement) : Deploy shop-floor teams and special project teams to pursue project team activities and workshop based small group activities. 
• 7.2. Jishu-Hozen (Autonomous Maintenance) : Introducing and nourishing the concept of self initiated checks, diagnosis, conduction of audits and closure certification of the open points by the operator running the machine. ( Refer 7 steps of JH : Link Under preparation).   
• 7.3. Kaikaku-Hozen (Planned maintenance) : This step is about achieving zero break down conditions while practicing corrective, periodic and preventive maintenance. 
• 7.4. Education and Training : This step is about training and developing the concerned team leaders to build a through knowledge on machine equipment and processes. Continuous education and training will raise the technical expertise and Know-how of the team leaders and the same team leaders will be involved in percolating / passing on the same to the team members. 
• Step 8 : Establishment of early equipment management - development management : 
• In this step the key concept is establishing "Initial phase management system" for the new products and "Vertical startup along with machine health checkup during purchasing" is monitored for new equipment. 
• The objective is to develop easy to manufacture product and to have easy to maintain equipment. Target is to achieve a zero maintenance machine. (Refer "Eight Pillars of TPM" - Development Management  : https://kalpanathchatterjee.blogspot.com/2020/04/concepts-of-total-productive_27.html for further details). 
• Step 9 : Establishment of  Hinshitsu-Hozen (Quality Maintenance) system : 
• Establish and sustain zero defect conditions is the objective of this step. It focuses on creation of conditions in which defects do not occur and the maintenance management of those conditions. (Refer "Eight Pillars of TPM" - Quality Maintenance  : https://kalpanathchatterjee.blogspot.com/2020/04/concepts-of-total-productive_27.html). 
• Step 10 : Office TPM for administration and support : 
• This step focuses on creation of systems for improvement of efficiency of administrative / indirect departments. 
• Support the production department to increase own efficiency and develop more effective office equipment. (Refer "Eight Pillars of TPM" - Office TPM  : https://kalpanathchatterjee.blogspot.com/2020/04/concepts-of-total-productive_27.html). 
• Step 11 : Establishment of Safety, Health and Environment : 
• This step is focussed on creation of systems to establish a controlled work environment from the perspective of safety, health and environment. 
• The objective is to create systems to establish a culture of zero accidents and zero pollution cases.  (Refer "Eight Pillars of TPM" - SHE  : https://kalpanathchatterjee.blogspot.com/2020/04/concepts-of-total-productive_27.html). 
4. Stage 4 - Establishment Stage of TPM  : This is the final stage of TPM implementation program where all the concepts of TPM is considered to have  been institutionalized and it is the stage of consolidation. This stage is only having single step i.e. step 12 and may take maximum six month to conclude.
• Step 12 : Complete implementation of TPM and targeting improvements :  
• In this step all the activities related to TPM implementation is considered to have been accomplished. Consolidation of all level is done and the organization is undergoing examinations for PM awards. 
• At the end of this step higher, more stringent and tough targets are taken and futuristic road map is plotted. 

These 12 steps are very important to be managed effectively and 100% employee engagement needs to be ensured by the organizational management team during the total implementation program. A tree diagram is shown below: 

Fig.1: Tree diagram to explain the inter relation of four stages and 12 steps of TPM implementation program. 

Hope this blog is helpful for you. you can post your feedbacks and doubts in the comment section below. in the next blog we will talk about the eight pillars of TPM. 

... To be continued

Concepts of Total Productive Maintenance -Topic - 3 : Difference between TQM and TPM Concepts

Difference between TQM and TPM

Total Quality Management and Total Productive Maintenance are often used interchangeably. However, TQM and TPM share a lot of similarities, but are considered as two different approaches in the official literature.

Focus of Total Quality Management Concept : 

TQM attempts to increase the quality of goods, services and concomitant customer satisfaction by raising awareness of quality concerns across the organization.

TQM is based on some specific corner-stones:

•Design excellence,
•Product excellence,
•Process excellence,
•Marketing excellence,
•Customer experience,
•The organizational environment,
•Leadership commitment that guides the organization, and
•Commitment to excellence throughout the organization at all levels.

Focus of Total Productive Maintenance Concept : 

TPM focuses on operational excellence through achievement of 4 Zeroes such as

•Zero Breakdowns

•Zero Defects

•Zero Accidents and

•Zero Losses

TPM is aimed at the overall pursuit of production efficiency, improvement to its maximum extent. By preventing equipment break-down, improving the quality of the equipment and by standardizing the equipment (results in less variance, so better quality), the quality of the products increases.

The basic difference between these two programs can be sighted in a summarized tabulated form as  shown below : 

Table. 1.  Difference between the approaches - TQM   and TPM

Apart from differences TPM and TQM program also carries certain similarities between them : 

• Both the management improvement programs uses tools like employee engagement and employee engagement, benchmarking, target setting, data capturing and trend reviewing, systematic management review mechanisms and fact/ data based decision making etc.
• Both the programs demands highest degree of top management commitment for their success.
• Training of employees and engaging them with small grouped activities related to continuous improvement. Both the programs adopts reward and recognition mechanism to ignite employee enthusiasm for participation in improvement initiatives.
• Both the programs are long term vision oriented, takes quite a good time (approximately 3 to 5 years) for their implementation, call for a higher level of accountability and commitment from the regular employees, beyond their job responsibility. Once implemented bothe the programs are to be practiced for life time to  be able to receive continuous results.

TQM and TPM can both result in an increase of quality, performance, and productivity and customer orientation and both the concepts if deployed holistically in any organization, the organization receives immense amount of benefit out of it. However, the way of persuasion towards both concepts  are different different. But from experience I must say TPM can be seen as a way to help achieving the goals of TQM.

In my next blog I will talk about concepts of 12 step TPM Implementation Program ( Link:12 Steps of TPM Implementation Program) and  TPM pillars. ( Link : 8 Pillars of TPM)

Amazon link of some TPM referance books: 

1. "Introduction to TPM: Total Productive Maintenance" Book by Seiichi Nakajima :  https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-TPM-Productive-Maintenance-Preventative/dp/0915299232

2. " TPM in Process Industries (Step-By-Step Approach to TPM Implementation) by Tokutaro Suzuki : https://www.amazon.com/Process-Industries-Step-Approach-Implementation/dp/1563270366

3. " TPM for supervisors (The Shopfloor  Series)" : https://www.amazon.com/TPM-Supervisors-Shopfloor-Productivity-Press/dp/1563271613

Concepts of Total Productive Maintenance - Topic - 2 : A Brief History of Total Productive Maintenance

A Brief History of Total Productive Maintenance

Long time after first industrial revolution (initiated in Great Britain, in the mid of 18^th century, in between 1820 to 1840), the manufacturing process based industries from Europe, United States, Germany Russia and most of the other countries realized that the continuous manufacturing processes required for mass production are completely dependent on a synchronous interaction of human and machine. It is in did, needless to mention that with the evaluation and advancement of automation, equipment dependency also increases. Overall productivity thus, is a result of high performing machine operated by a skilled operator.

Figure 1. A Roberts loom in a weaving shed in 1835. Textiles were the leading industry of the Industrial Revolution, and mechanized factories, powered by a central water wheel or steam engine. (Picture collected from Wikipedia link : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution)

After Second World War was concluded in Sep’1945, Japan also focused to turn around their economy by strengthening business networks around the world. They were supported by United States and a good amount of knowledge exchange between Japan and US was visible at that period. Many industrial experts, statistician s and subject matter experts travelled form US to Japan and Japan with its unique managerial expertise adopted all the concepts and developed unique Japanese management systems, most popular among are Total Quality Management and Total Productive Maintenance.

When the concepts of maintenance first entered in Japan from United States approximately around 1950 -51 it was used to mean preventive maintenance. Earlier the concept of breakdown maintenance (i.e. repairing the machine after breakdown occurs) was quite popular. In between 1950 s to till 1960 s various other aspects of maintenance were also introduced in Japan, namely Productive Maintenance (PM), Corrective Maintenance (CM), Maintenance Prevention (MP), Reliability Engineering (RE), Maintainability Engineering etc. along with which idea of Preventive Maintenance form Unitd States became quite popular among Japanese manufacturing experts. Nippondenso was the first company to introduce plant wide preventive maintenance in 1960. Preventive Maintenance is the concept wherein, operators produced products using machines and the maintenance group was dedicated with work of maintaining those machines. But with the automation of Nippondenso, maintenance became a problem as more maintenance personnel were required. So the management decided that the routine maintenance of equipment would be carried out by the operators themselves. Thus modern maintenance concepts were brought in to existence by modifying the American traditional idea of  Preventive Maintenance combining it with unique Japanese perspective and then tailoring it to the Japanese ways of management.

From 1960 s through 1970s concepts of traditional maintenance underwent numerous modifications which added value and gradually the concepts of Total Productive Maintenance came into picture.

Nippondenso which already followed preventive maintenance also added Autonomous Maintenance which was taken-up  by production operators. The maintenance personnel’s  went in the equipment modification for improving machine reliability, thus paving the ways to  the concepts of Maintenance Prevention. Preventive Maintenance along with Maintenance Prevention and Maintainability Improvement brought Productive Maintenance principals. The target of Productive Maintenance now was to deliver plant and equipment effectiveness to achieve optimum life cycle cost of machineries. Concepts of Productive maintenance combining with total employee involvement, management focus towards effective production process and management structure was framed as TPM or Total productive maintenance. Nippondenso Co. Ltd. , a TOYOTA group company, because of it’s unique initiatives in the path of enriching TPM, was awarded the distinguished plant prize for developing and implementing TPM, by the Japan Institute of Plant Engineers ( JIPE ), for the 1971 fiscal year. Being able to recognize the value of TPM   practices for the coming era of automation since 1970 s to till date Japan Institute of Plant Engineers and Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance are promoting the concepts of TPM. The TPM Awards are promoted by the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance (JIPM) and approximately 2,000 plants have received TPM Awards both in Japan and outside since the inception of the awards.

Some of the remarkable events are listed below (Following details are taken from the reference Link: https://www.jipm.or.jp/en/company/history/ ) : 

1961	The Japan Management Association (JMA) establishes a Plant Maintenance Committee.
1964	A system for awarding PM Awards is established.
1969	The Plant Maintenance Department is dissolved and the Japan Institute of Plant Engineers is established.
1971	The concept of plant maintenance with total participation (Total Productive Maintenance) is proclaimed.
1981	The Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance is launched, following approval from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry as charitable corporation.
1989	The definition of TPM is revised. The Society of Plant Engineers Japan is established.
1990	The Japan Association of Maintenance and Service Contractors is launched.
2005	JIPM Solutions company limited is separated and transferred from JIPM as a profit-seeking corporation.
2012	JIPM was approved as a public interest incorporated association by the prime minister.

Amazon link of some TPM referance books: 

1. "Introduction to TPM: Total Productive Maintenance" Book by Seiichi Nakajima :  https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-TPM-Productive-Maintenance-Preventative/dp/0915299232

2. " TPM in Process Industries (Step-By-Step Approach to TPM Implementation) by Tokutaro Suzuki : https://www.amazon.com/Process-Industries-Step-Approach-Implementation/dp/1563270366

3. " TPM for supervisors (The Shopfloor  Series)" : https://www.amazon.com/TPM-Supervisors-Shopfloor-Productivity-Press/dp/1563271613

Concepts of Total Productive Maintenance - Topic - 1 : A Brief Introduction to the concept of Total Productive Maintenance

Introduction to Total Productive Maintenance Concept

In today’s manufacturing world, Total Productive maintenance” commonly known as TPM is a very widespread and well known management system which is considered, to be the most effective methodology that demonstrates the overall pursuit of improvement of the efficiency of the production processes to the highest degree as far as possible. The term TPM is attributed to Nippondenso a company that use to supply parts to Toyota in 1960 and continues to do so even today as a part of TOYOTA Group Companies. However, Seiichi Nakajima is regarded as the father of TPM because of his numerous contribution to TPM. 

Photo 1 .  Seiichi Nakajima considered to be the father of TPM Concept.

He has written the following books: Introduction to TPM (Productivity Press, 1988) and TPM Development Program (Productivity Press, 1989), which describe the building blocks of a TPM concepts , explains the overall equipment effectiveness measurements, provide sample implementation plans and document the potential benefits.

Similarly, Terry Wireman, who has written TPM, An American Approach (Industrial Press, 1991) looks at TPM from the perspective of the maintenance organization and describes the concept of TPM as a part of the overall manufacturing system. 

Photo 2 Terry Wireman well known author and consultant   

Another prominent TPM authority, Shirose (1992), described TPM from the viewpoint of the equipment operators in his book TPM for Operators (Productivity Press, 1992)

Apart from the there are numerous works that has been done by various writers which are to be considered to be great assets for the inquisitive minds working for understanding TPM perspective. some of the good works are given below for ready reference:

1.        "An Introduction tpm in www.plant-maintenance.com". Retrieved 2016-03-09.

2.       ^ Jump up to:^a b "Seiichi Nakajima - The Principles and Practice of TPM". www.cetpm.de. Retrieved 2016-03-09.

3.       ^ Prabhuswamy, M; Nagesh, P; Ravikumar, K (February 2013). "Statistical Analysis and Reliability Estimation of Total Productive Maintenance". IUP Journal of Operations Management. Rochester, NY: Social Science Electronic Publishing. XII (1): 7–20. SSRN 2246601.

4.       ^ "TPM-Total Productive Maintenance at LeanProduction.com". Retrieved 7 March 2015.

5.       ^ Jump up to:^a b Nicholas, John (1998). Competitive manufacturing management. Europe: McGraw-Hill.

6.       ^ Wienclaw, R (2008). Operations & Business Process Management.

7.       ^ Creech, Bill (1994). Five Pillars of TQM: How to Make Total Quality Management Work for You. E P Dutton.

·         Carannante, Toni. TPM Implementation. https://getinfo.de/en/search/id/BLSE%3ARN118636090/

·         http://www.tpmconsulting.org/dwnld/article/tpmww/TPM%20article3%20.pdf

In TPM, maintenance has to be recognized as a valuable aspect of manufacturing process i.e. the maintenance organization is considered to have a commendable role in making the business more profitable and the manufacturing system more competitive by continuously improving the capability of the equipment, as well as making the practice of maintenance more efficient.

TPM, is designed to prevent the occurrence of losses due to failures and small adjustments during production (which slows down the speed of production) and /or losses due to defects, startup and yield losses, or the losses due to break downs. In industry, total productive maintenance (TPM) is a continuous process of monitoring, maintaining and improving the integrity of production and quality systems of a plant through the machines, equipment, processes, and employees that add business value to an organization.              

It is a company wide team based effort to build, “ Quality in to the Equipment's”, to improve the overall equipment effectiveness.  The three words Total , Productive and Maintenance may be summed up as below:

Total :

•       All Employees are involved 

•       It Aims to eliminate accidents, defects, breakdowns and losses

Productive :

•       Actions are performed while production is on-going

•       Troubles for productions are minimized

•       Ensuring Stoppage free production

Maintenance :

•       Keep in Good Condition

•       Doing regular Cleaning, Lubrication, Inspection, Repair and Tightening

In the next blog I have detailed on the brief history of TPM Practice and its multiple definitions ( Link: A Brief History of Total Productive Maintenance)

Amazon link of some TPM referance books: 

1. "Introduction to TPM: Total Productive Maintenance" Book by Seiichi Nakajima :  https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-TPM-Productive-Maintenance-Preventative/dp/0915299232

2. " TPM in Process Industries (Step-By-Step Approach to TPM Implementation) by Tokutaro Suzuki : https://www.amazon.com/Process-Industries-Step-Approach-Implementation/dp/1563270366

3. " TPM for supervisors (The Shopfloor  Series)" : https://www.amazon.com/TPM-Supervisors-Shopfloor-Productivity-Press/dp/1563271613

SMED Implementation, Step-7

SMED Implementation, Step-7

"Eliminate Changeover "

The last step of SMED implementation, i.e. Step 7 of SMED implementation is the step that talks about elimination of changeover time loss by completely eliminating the requirement of changeover. In my last blog, i.e. SMED implementation, Step 6 ( Link :SMED Implementation, Step-6) , i.e. mechanising or automating all setup activities, we have seen some examples of automated changeover to have reduced setup time.But by any means, if we are able to eliminate the need of changeover, then there will be no wastage of time at all in the name of changeover. 

This is achievable through evaluating and re-evaluating the product and process design multiple times. Some of the ideas are discussed below - 

(1) Part commonization is one of the major steps, that eliminates the need of changeover.In the product design itself, this option may be tried out, and once commonization is done,same sequence of operations will be applicable throughout.

(2) having dedicated machines for each individual component, is sometimes a cheaper option. This options must be evaluated in terms of cost vs. benefit analysis.
(3) Modification of toolings to produce multiple parts in a single go, may prove to be a great option in some cases.
e.g. - Instead of having several injection moulding tools to produce to produce different components, we can consider to have single injection moulding tool producing several components like an Air-fix model of  an air craft kit. The photograph of an air fx model and its assembling process has been shown in the below photograph.

Figure 1: Airfix model aircraft kit

The complete model kit can be produced in by a single injection moulding tool in a single go. Like step-6 of SMED implementation (i.e. Mechanizing or automation), Step-7 of SMED implementation (i.e. eliminating the changeover process) can be expensive and often time consuming. hence cost vs. benefit analysis is must.

SMED is one of the tools form the lean tool kit, which helps in methodically reduce setup/ changeover time. It incorporates just in time, waste reduction in process and 5S concept implementation, involves spaghetti analysis and most importantly the concepts of KAIZEN and team work. 

The more advanced version to this SMED concept which is now a days getting popular is OTED, i.e. Öne- Touch Exchange of Dies". 

Thank you very much for visiting my page and reading my blog! Plz give your feedback in the comment section below. Wish you happy learning!

SMED Implementation, Step-6

SMED Implementation, Step-6

"Mechanizing the set-up or using automation for change over"

In my previous blogs, Step-4 of SMED Implementation (Link : SMED Implementation, Step-4) and Step-5 of SMED Implementation (Link: SMED Implementation, Step-5) I have detailed about the techniques of simplifying and streamlining internal and external work elements involved in the changeover process, and thus reducing the time taken in completing the whole process of changeover.

Here we shall talk about using automation or mechanizing some of the crucial or time taking and effort consuming activities, to have efficient and effective and less time consuming setup / change over. 

Like previous steps, here also before establishing or going for any form of automation, the changeover process we must do a cost vs. benefit analysis. In one of my previous blog SMED Implementation, Step-3 ( Link : SMED Implementation, Step-3) , cost vs. benefit analysis has been detailed. You can use it for reference. If the cost benefits does not justify usage of automation, we must revisit the previous steps of SMED that has already been done and we must try to see if we can try some more improvements, in the external and internal work element. 

To have brief overview to understand the word, automation, you can follow the wikipedia link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/automation. 

Some examples of automations are given below: 

1) Automatic change of program in a robotic welding line (mostly practiced in automobile manufacturing factories ) of weld shop with the help of timer and sensors, to avoid line stoppage during model change (Automobile body change as per sequence).  Figure below shows the example of robotic welding and robotic sealant application process in a automobile industry.

Figure 1. Robotic welding process and sealant application process

2) Automatic paint selection process ina robotic welding line during colour change in the paint booths to have zero time loss. 

3) Programmed and automated soft drink selection process in the bottling plants of soft drinks which offers multiple soft drink options that gets bottle-filled in the same line in a sequence.

4) Automatic tool selection program for machining operation to guide operation wise indexing process supported by automated adjustments. 

One of the most important reasons of automated system implementation is to ensure safety of employee while handling heavy equipments and machine parts or tools may be hanging or suspender and while handling hazardous / corrosive items.

Deliverables of Step 6 of SMED implementation i.e. "Implementing partial or complete automation" are - 

1. Ensuring employee safety while handling heavy equipments and hazardous materials.

2. Bringing down change over time to much lesser level.

3. Human effort reduction or elimination.

4. Eliminating the chances of human error during setup or changeover.

In the next blog, (Link: Step 7 of SMED Implementation), I will give a brief on Step 7 of SMED Implementation, i.e. eliminating the changeover. 

To be continued...