Our downtime calculator puts hard numbers around the benefits of cutting 10 minutes of idle press time per shift. We also promised to keep offering ideas for how to do that (in addition to tips from Jeff Matos of Broadridge in the first post.)
This week Lois Ritarossi advises using a checklist to plan for regular preventative maintenance and for shift turnover meetings. Preventative maintenance takes time today but saves time and money for tomorrow. “Proper preventative maintenance is more important than ever in getting consistent uptime from your printers,” advises Lois. “Checklists are an effective tool to instill discipline and assist memory particularly when tasks are routine yet critical. Daily and weekly PM tasks become rote for tenured operators. Using a checklist in complex production environments with many distractions will ensure each step in performed in the proper sequence.”
Use a checklist for regular PM and for each operational shift turnover to create alignment on communication and operational status between shifts. Checklists sound simple, but it is a bit of an art and a science. Lois recommends the Checklist Manifesto – How to Get Things Right on the how and why of checklists.