Process Downtime Reduction: How to Minimize Waste from Breakdowns, Set-Ups, Supply Chain Issues, and Staffing Constraints

Although the author has been consulting for 30 years, companies still have the tendency to make the same mistakes now as they did then. And, one of the biggest mistakes is not keeping their equipment properly maintained and running correctly. There is often a focus to increase productivity but companies fail to focus on and push downtime reduction. This book gives readers the techniques they crucially need to keep their critical manufacturing equipment running correctly and efficiently, which increases production, decreases labor costs, decreases breakdown costs, and ultimately increases the bottom line.

Downtime in production lines comes from many sources. It might be small for many of the sources, but it adds up. Often it is nearly invisible to the workforce and the management team. Most training courses and books look at one aspect of downtime causes - mainly product changeover (set-up reduction) or breakdowns (TPM). This book covers many sources and not just a few.

Besides addressing product changeover and breakdowns, it addresses supply chain issues that cause breakdowns, staffing issues, and downtime internal to the processes themselves. It completely covers how to monitor and determine which downtime sources to go after first.