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n one recent reliability trade magazine, there were 34 advertisements for new and improved tools or training for improving your reliability program. The tools included software, new condition monitoring gadgets, and training and certifications on best practices. Further, the magazine included eight articles on such topics. However, there were zero articles and zero advertisements on the biggest lever by far for rapidly and sustainably improving equipment reliability, cost, quality, safety and throughput – shop floor observation.
With shop floor observation, there is nothing to buy. But by leaving this tool out, vendors are misleading countless practitioners on what really gets a reliability program up and going. Longtime engineers, managers and plant managers will tell you that nothing comes even close to the impact firsthand observation has on operations, yet no one talks about it. Instead, vendors invent new tools to keep you in the office tied to your computer or smartphone looking at biased data with intoxicatingly beautiful graphics. This, coupled with the fact that you are already overwhelmed with e-mails, conference calls and daily management meetings, has resulted in nearly zero firsthand observations of reality.
Data and metrics are biased. All data is subject to filters, manipulation and interpretation, yet most people swallow it hook, line and sinker as the truth. Data granularity is also lost when you lump all numbers together and take averages and totals. Let’s look at three examples.
These are not hypothetical examples nor extreme cases, but rather common ones. No one is trying to be malicious; most often, they believe they are doing, in the moment, what is best for the company. Regardless, the metrics are not accurate. What decisions are the leadership team making with this bad data? Are they working on root causes with faulty PM data? Are they thinking they are better than they are with PdM, yet failures continue to happen? Bad data leads to bad decisions, plain and simple.
But, not all is lost. While KPIs are biased, they are not worthless. They actually provide good insight into what to go and see via firsthand observation. Observation, however, does not mean the five-minute snapshot. It refers to the chalk circle observation exercise pioneered by Taiichi Ohno, considered the father of the Toyota Production System that inspired lean manufacturing. Strictly speaking, chalk circle observation is one in which the observer stands in a small imaginary circle on the shop floor and observes the seven forms of waste and standard work. These observations are at least four hours in duration and are best when they occur over multiple days. By doing such a sustained observation, the leader gains insight into simple changes that can prevent waste and lead to new action plans. If done correctly, most actions can be completed in 30 days. Imagine the impact on both the organization and sponsors if for zero dollars you produce significant results in just days.
Here are three examples of chalk circle observations that lead to actions that deliver impressive results.
Note how simple, low or no cost, and impactful these changes will have on results. Also, reflect on the ability of KPIs to highlight these wastes.
Without a doubt, tools, training and certifications are critical parts of a reliability plan best serving those organizations well into their reliability journey. However, they are not a substitute for your most impactful action – observation. Further, highlighting only the cutting-edge tools and training is misleading those in the early phases of their reliability journey. Tools are not a substitute for firsthand observation.
Is this disease in your plant? In your next meeting, keep track of talking points that are based on biased metrics/KPIs, biased opinion and firsthand chalk circle observation. Expect to be amazed.