What is happening on your plant floor?

Pick the symptom that looks most like yours. We show you the short path: what to measure, how to find the cause and which method to apply, with the calculator and the source for each one.

My line stops all the time

A short path with the tools of the site, each one with its source.

1
Measure how much you lose
- OEE calculatortoolHow much of the shift is lost and in which factor.
- MTBF, MTTR and availabilitytoolWhether it fails a lot or takes long to repair.
2
Find the cause
- Pareto 80/20articleThe few causes that explain almost all the stops.
- 5 WhysarticleAsk why until you reach the root.
3
Improve
- TPM and its pillarsarticleHave the operator take care of their equipment.
- Predictive maintenancearticleDetect the failure before it stops the line.

Articles: 58
Tools: 23
Spreadsheets: 17

If you are just starting

A reading path in order: from the types of maintenance to how to decide which equipment to look at first.

Six readings, in this order.

Topics

Maintenance

Plan, measure and make equipment reliable.

Maintenance ManagementPlanning, types of maintenance, how to organize the department, costs, equipment criticality and life cycle cost (LCC).4 articles Reliability and TPMRCM, Total Productive Maintenance, predictive maintenance and risk-based inspection (RBI).4 articles Indicators and KPIsMTBF, MTTR, availability and the key maintenance indicators.2 articles OEEOverall Equipment Effectiveness: how to measure it and improve it.2 articles

Improvement and Lean

The improvement culture, the Lean tools and how to solve problems.

Continuous Improvement and LeanKaizen, 5S and SMED, and the Lean tools built on them: Gemba, the 8 wastes, JIT, push vs pull, Kanban, Jidoka, poka-yoke and Heijunka.11 articles Problem SolvingSMART, PDCA, Ishikawa, Pareto, RCA, 5 Whys, FMEA, DMAIC, 8D and the A3 report: the kit to diagnose and solve problems on the plant floor, for those just starting.10 articles Methodologies and PhilosophiesTaylorism, Fordism, Toyotism, the Toyota Production System, Lean principles, Theory of Constraints and SWOT, with a map to choose: where each way of producing and managing comes from, and when each one fits.8 articles

Processes and quality

Measure the work, design the process and reduce defects.

Work Study and ProcessesTakt time, cycle time, time study, fatigue, learning curves, lead time, capacity, layout, VSM and line balancing: the classic and Lean tools to design and improve a process.12 articles Efficiency and ProductivityIndustrial productivity and energy efficiency on the plant floor.1 article QualityBasic quality tools, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma and Total Quality Management (TQM).4 articles

Tools

Calculators and templates to bring the theory to your own numbers. Everything is calculated in your browser, no sign-up.

See all 23 tools

Maintenance

Problem solving

Time and processes

Lean, quality and strategy

Excel spreadsheets

With the formulas already built: you fill in the yellow cells and the rest is calculated for you. These are the maintenance ones; there are more for time study, processes and quality.

See all 17 spreadsheets

The source, always in view

Every concept comes with a box like this one, right next to the paragraph it supports.

How we cite

Copyrighted books are cited by title and author, without copying or linking the PDF.
Open-access papers, theses and guides include a link to the original.
Examples we made up to explain a method are marked as illustrative.