Most discussions in the media and across the conference circuit refer to the maintenance department as a single cog in the Lean machine. According to experts, however, the maintenance department is at the heart of any continuous improvement drive.

Lean manufacturing comes from the systems and processes of the Toyota Production System. Toyota has been heralded by industry-watchers as supremely effective at producing high-quality products while reducing costs and shortening cycle times. For more than 10 years, cult-like followers of the Lean movement across North American industry have dabbled in this innovative Eastern approach to cost-saving manufacturing.

Vought Aircraft Industries is just one aerospace manufacturer that has tried to go Lean.

Joe Bechtol, director of facilities and security at Vought says that its maintenance and engineering department was instrumental in the initial implementation phase and continues to play a key role in supporting the entire process. With both a traditional maintenance organization and a comprehensive engineering staff that incorporates electrical, mechanical and civil disciplines, Vought's maintenance crew handles two different yet related aspects.

"The engineering group lays out the process of change — redesigning the floor layout and cell operation — and the maintenance group implements the changes — moving, retrofitting and rebuilding equipment. When the floor comes up with a concept of change, we are instrumental in the implementation," says Bechtol.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc. is one of the world's largest independent suppliers of aerospace structures. As a major provider of components for prime manufacturers of aircraft, the company has worked on virtually every Boeing jetliner in production, from the 737 to the 777. This 5,000 employee, $1 billion a year firm is roughly eight years into its Lean journey and openly discusses how its implementation has specifically impacted its maintenance and facilities engineering department.

Starting the journey
According to Vought's manager of engineering and lean implementation, Lee Mitchell, "Vought Aircraft started on its Lean journey in 1993 as part of the Lean aircraft initiative put together by the United States Air Force, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a handful of key aerospace firms. Collaboratively, as an industry, we realized that we needed to make some significant changes from the mass production methods we implemented."

The group looked at how the major U.S. automakers were competing with foreign manufacturers by implementing the Toyota production system. Vought started the process by studying as many texts as possible with the intent of trying to take the ideas and see how they could apply to the aerospace industry. For instance, Mitchell says they started by studying the popular book, The Machine That Changed the World by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Roos.

As the Vought maintenance team learned more about implementation, they recognized that the Lean principles needed to go across the entire enterprise, so according to Mitchell, Vought started to involve the above the floor processes of business management, engineering, and other support organizations. In each of these areas they started to look at where they could improve their value streams and eliminate waste.

The next step was implementing a cross-company campaign that raised awareness of the Lean philosophy and reducing wasteful practices. Vought employees understand Lean principles and are aware of what management is trying to accomplish. "Employees now see what can be done individually and as team members to further the initiative by making improvements and eliminating waste," said Mitchell.

Obstacles and benefits
Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge any maintenance department involved in the process is the balancing of resources to meet the demanding needs of a Lean environment. Over time, the requests on maintenance actually increase and the load can be significant.

"Lean has taken a great toll on the assets of maintenance." says Bechtol. Obviously there are a limited number of man-hours and various budget constraints that any organization has to deal with. "Unfortunately, we have let some of the backlogged normal maintenance slide be-cause we've had to focus energies on im-plementing Lean. Costs are actually taken away from the general maintenance and applied in priority towards Lean," he says.

Despite this, it is crucial to remember what Lean implementation is doing for the organization in the big picture, Bechtol says. "Understanding that makes a maintenance group set some priorities to meet the goals. You need to adjust to improve the production stream, which will eventually improve your cost structures. It does, however, definitely impact the day-to-day."

Some of the ways Vought has been able to cut waste has been in travel. By limiting the movement of both people and equipment Vought has been able to reduce its travel budget by 50 percent. Some of the perishable materials have been streamlined and reduced in need. And the maintenance department has been able to find items that are obsolete, thereby taking items offline and reducing the spare parts inventory, further helping with the cost structure. "Being able to eliminate outdated equipment has helped with the budget constraints," says Bechtol.

According to Mitchell, company-wide the most noticeable benefits have been in reduced inventory and span times through waste elimination. Response time has been improved, and taking Lean principles into consideration throughout the production process has yielded a positive impact upon the quality of the product. "The Lean tools are ensuring first-time quality allowing the firm to realize the next step of gains," said Mitchell.

Words of wisdom
Having eight years experience in the never-ending conquest of Lean implementation provides Mitchell and Bechtol with the opportunity to share some valuable advice to those that are new to the Lean process.

First, communication is absolutely essential. Not just at the management level, but to the individual on the floor. Everyone must have an understanding of the process to be a success. In union shops, bring labour on board early. This is key to demonstrating that the point of Lean is not to eliminate jobs but to eliminate waste.

Secondly, there must be support of the senior staff. "Support of the senior staff shows the employees that it is not just some trendy management flavor of the month. There must be a commitment. The CEO should be out on the shop floor showing the company's commitment to the initiative," said Bechtol.

Third, there must be a commitment of resources. There must be a budget of funds within the organization dedicated to the Lean initiative. If there is not a true commitment of resources, you will find that you are spreading out your Lean funds too thin. Involving the Lean implementation team in this process is key since this gives implementers an idea of whether or not an activity is cost-effective in the long run. Cooperation between implementation and maintenance groups is critical.

Fourth, stick with it. Anyone at all familiar with Lean will echo that it is not a short-term process. It is a continual operation and it takes years to realize the many benefits.

"You must have patience before you will see the benefits," says Mitchell. Realization in inventory reductions will definitely take time, especially if you are part of a firm that is historically sitting on a large amount of inventory."

Most discussions in the media and across the conference circuit refer to the maintenance department as a single cog in the Lean machine. According to experts, however, the maintenance department is at the heart of any continuous improvement drive.

Lean manufacturing comes from the systems and processes of the Toyota Production System. Toyota has been heralded by industry-watchers as supremely effective at producing high-quality products while reducing costs and shortening cycle times. For more than 10 years, cult-like followers of the Lean movement across North American industry have dabbled in this innovative Eastern approach to cost-saving manufacturing.

Vought Aircraft Industries is just one aerospace manufacturer that has tried to go Lean.

Joe Bechtol, director of facilities and security at Vought says that its maintenance and engineering department was instrumental in the initial implementation phase and continues to play a key role in supporting the entire process. With both a traditional maintenance organization and a comprehensive engineering staff that incorporates electrical, mechanical and civil disciplines, Vought's maintenance crew handles two different yet related aspects.

"The engineering group lays out the process of change — redesigning the floor layout and cell operation — and the maintenance group implements the changes — moving, retrofitting and rebuilding equipment. When the floor comes up with a concept of change, we are instrumental in the implementation," says Bechtol.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc. is one of the world's largest independent suppliers of aerospace structures. As a major provider of components for prime manufacturers of aircraft, the company has worked on virtually every Boeing jetliner in production, from the 737 to the 777. This 5,000 employee, $1 billion a year firm is roughly eight years into its Lean journey and openly discusses how its implementation has specifically impacted its maintenance and facilities engineering department.

Starting the journey
According to Vought's manager of engineering and lean implementation, Lee Mitchell, "Vought Aircraft started on its Lean journey in 1993 as part of the Lean aircraft initiative put together by the United States Air Force, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a handful of key aerospace firms. Collaboratively, as an industry, we realized that we needed to make some significant changes from the mass production methods we implemented."

The group looked at how the major U.S. automakers were competing with foreign manufacturers by implementing the Toyota production system. Vought started the process by studying as many texts as possible with the intent of trying to take the ideas and see how they could apply to the aerospace industry. For instance, Mitchell says they started by studying the popular book, The Machine That Changed the World by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Roos.

As the Vought maintenance team learned more about implementation, they recognized that the Lean principles needed to go across the entire enterprise, so according to Mitchell, Vought started to involve the above the floor processes of business management, engineering, and other support organizations. In each of these areas they started to look at where they could improve their value streams and eliminate waste.

The next step was implementing a cross-company campaign that raised awareness of the Lean philosophy and reducing wasteful practices. Vought employees understand Lean principles and are aware of what management is trying to accomplish. "Employees now see what can be done individually and as team members to further the initiative by making improvements and eliminating waste," said Mitchell.

Obstacles and benefits
Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge any maintenance department involved in the process is the balancing of resources to meet the demanding needs of a Lean environment. Over time, the requests on maintenance actually increase and the load can be significant.

"Lean has taken a great toll on the assets of maintenance." says Bechtol. Obviously there are a limited number of man-hours and various budget constraints that any organization has to deal with. "Unfortunately, we have let some of the backlogged normal maintenance slide be-cause we've had to focus energies on im-plementing Lean. Costs are actually taken away from the general maintenance and applied in priority towards Lean," he says.

Despite this, it is crucial to remember what Lean implementation is doing for the organization in the big picture, Bechtol says. "Understanding that makes a maintenance group set some priorities to meet the goals. You need to adjust to improve the production stream, which will eventually improve your cost structures. It does, however, definitely impact the day-to-day."

Some of the ways Vought has been able to cut waste has been in travel. By limiting the movement of both people and equipment Vought has been able to reduce its travel budget by 50 percent. Some of the perishable materials have been streamlined and reduced in need. And the maintenance department has been able to find items that are obsolete, thereby taking items offline and reducing the spare parts inventory, further helping with the cost structure. "Being able to eliminate outdated equipment has helped with the budget constraints," says Bechtol.

According to Mitchell, company-wide the most noticeable benefits have been in reduced inventory and span times through waste elimination. Response time has been improved, and taking Lean principles into consideration throughout the production process has yielded a positive impact upon the quality of the product. "The Lean tools are ensuring first-time quality allowing the firm to realize the next step of gains," said Mitchell.

Words of wisdom
Having eight years experience in the never-ending conquest of Lean implementation provides Mitchell and Bechtol with the opportunity to share some valuable advice to those that are new to the Lean process.

First, communication is absolutely essential. Not just at the management level, but to the individual on the floor. Everyone must have an understanding of the process to be a success. In union shops, bring labour on board early. This is key to demonstrating that the point of Lean is not to eliminate jobs but to eliminate waste.

Secondly, there must be support of the senior staff. "Support of the senior staff shows the employees that it is not just some trendy management flavor of the month. There must be a commitment. The CEO should be out on the shop floor showing the company's commitment to the initiative," said Bechtol.

Third, there must be a commitment of resources. There must be a budget of funds within the organization dedicated to the Lean initiative. If there is not a true commitment of resources, you will find that you are spreading out your Lean funds too thin. Involving the Lean implementation team in this process is key since this gives implementers an idea of whether or not an activity is cost-effective in the long run. Cooperation between implementation and maintenance groups is critical.

Fourth, stick with it. Anyone at all familiar with Lean will echo that it is not a short-term process. It is a continual operation and it takes years to realize the many benefits.

"You must have patience before you will see the benefits," says Mitchell. Realization in inventory reductions will definitely take time, especially if you are part of a firm that is historically sitting on a large amount of inventory."

Unlike the many utopian production models that have come and gone over the years, the concept of Lean manufacturing is actually an enterprise-wide approach to integrating efficiency.

Patterned after the popular and highly effective Toyota production system, Lean essentially incorporates proven methods aimed at removing any form of waste from daily manufacturing processes, regardless of department, without necessarily adding any new equipment.

What role should maintenance take in the planning and implementation processes? How should a maintenance manager go about integrating the Lean principles into the department operations? In what aspects does Lean truly impact the maintenance department?

Role in planning
Implementing Lean within any enterprise necessitates the ability of various departments to work in conjunction with one another as a team with a congruent mission or goal. Typically, the initial team planning and brainstorming meetings are referred to as Kaizens. Initially, maintenance will play a key role in Kaizens as the enterprise is restructuring its production environment to eventually meet the overall goal of single-piece flow capability.

According to Sam Swoyer, Vice President of TBM Consulting Group (www.tbmcg.com), a consulting firm based in Durham, North Carolina that helps firms transform their operations into Lean enterprises, "Maintenance is an especially important cog in the beginning of the Lean implementation process.

Using the Kaizens breakthrough process, we create diverse teams that develop methods to capitalize on continuously improve." says Swoyer. "And initially, we work almost exclusively to develop smooth workflow, which in many cases results in the need for the quick movement of equipment to suit the desired need."

One of the key areas of activity for a maintenance department is the ability to support this type of event. Recognizing that the traditional maintenance approach is to take a series of CAD drawings, study the move, brief everyone on the project and make the necessary moves during a plant shutdown, the prompt moves implemented during a Lean reorganization can be quite taxing. So, initially the maintenance organization must be very flexible and be able to prepare for a number of different situations.

Effectively eliminating waste
This is always one of the most difficult aspects of implementing Lean — recognizing how your existing methods fail. In order to recognize waste within the department it may be necessary to rely somewhat on criticism from external departments. Since individuals within these departments are not intimately involved in your affairs they have less of an attachment — much like an editor reviewing a writer's work. One of the best ways to handle this is to implement a cross-categorical Kaizen blitz to recognize potential areas of improvement.

Once the production workflow is improved it is crucial for the maintenance department to use the same Kaizens to find areas within the maintenance department that need improvement and to develop solutions. Once aware of the areas that demand immediate attention, it is time to draw up a plan of attack.

As Bill Fetterman president of consulting and Lean implementation firm CMD says: "It is crucial for a firm serious about Lean to implement a system for ensuring that maintenance plans and systems meet the needs of the operating teams, thereby guaranteeing that equipment effectiveness is understood, measured and improving; equipment uptime meets the needs of the manufacturing operating teams and systems are in place to monitor equipment performance; and that maintenance activities are reviewed for sufficiency. Undoubtedly, the goal is 100 percent predictability of equipment performance. Remember however that having smaller inventories yields limited tolerance for unscheduled downtime."

Long-term effects
As one would expect, the implementation of such an all-encompassing program will have long-term effects to each department involved. Routinely for the maintenance department, it will entirely restructure the duties of the staff.

Traditionally maintenance departments have been reactive rather than proactive and when fully implemented, the Lean maintenance department will be a predictive group using tables and tools designed to ascertain that costly downtime will not occur. Undoubtedly, downtime does occur, but through the implementation of various Lean principles, maintenance is able to label equipment and provide production employees with the training necessary to understand how a machine is operating which can significantly enhance a maintenance department's ability to attack a situation before it becomes a problem through proactive operator interaction. Specifically, the training allows an operator to better detect abnormalities that when unnoticed and left untreated can lead to significant downtime.

Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Cascade Engineering is an ideal example since it has been very successful in using Lean to train its operators to assist the maintenance department. As a portion of the training, the maintenance department has effectively labelled all areas of concern on its machinery. The labelling of all aspects of the equipment facilitates easy maintenance and identification. For example, when the rear hydraulic assembly is leaking, the operator can call maintenance and let them know exactly where they noticed a problem thereby eliminating guesswork and yielding shorter downtimes. Furthermore, systematic checks are identified on the machine in red or yellow lettering identifying the necessary order. For instance, weekly check step one would be written inside a box with red lettering.

Over time maintenance's role can take a drastic turn. According to TMP, "After the initial moves are made and workflow is optimized as far as machinery moves are concern, maintenance gets actively involved in improving fixturing, rebuilding and upgrading tooling, modifying equipment to capitalize on automated processes." In many cases the maintenance department actually must become much more creative in its role.

Such resulting creativity is quite evident in many of Grand Rapids, Michigan-based automotive components producer, Lacks Enterprises. Lacks starting integrating Lean concepts a few years back and has already seen drastic changes within the role of its maintenance departments. Robert Tice, Maintenance Manager at the Barden St. Assembly plant has taken the opportunities provided by Lean to begin implementing more automation solutions. For instance, at this facility, the maintenance department has designed and built a system that uses pneumatics to aid operators in lifting various wheel components thereby facilitating assembly by reducing the amount of time it takes to move components and further reducing the possibility of injury.

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Peter Fretty is a freelance writer based in Michigan. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Unlike the many utopian production models that have come and gone over the years, the concept of Lean manufacturing is actually an enterprise-wide approach to integrating efficiency.

Patterned after the popular and highly effective Toyota production system, Lean essentially incorporates proven methods aimed at removing any form of waste from daily manufacturing processes, regardless of department, without necessarily adding any new equipment.

What role should maintenance take in the planning and implementation processes? How should a maintenance manager go about integrating the Lean principles into the department operations? In what aspects does Lean truly impact the maintenance department?

Role in planning
Implementing Lean within any enterprise necessitates the ability of various departments to work in conjunction with one another as a team with a congruent mission or goal. Typically, the initial team planning and brainstorming meetings are referred to as Kaizens. Initially, maintenance will play a key role in Kaizens as the enterprise is restructuring its production environment to eventually meet the overall goal of single-piece flow capability.

According to Sam Swoyer, Vice President of TBM Consulting Group (www.tbmcg.com), a consulting firm based in Durham, North Carolina that helps firms transform their operations into Lean enterprises, "Maintenance is an especially important cog in the beginning of the Lean implementation process.

Using the Kaizens breakthrough process, we create diverse teams that develop methods to capitalize on continuously improve." says Swoyer. "And initially, we work almost exclusively to develop smooth workflow, which in many cases results in the need for the quick movement of equipment to suit the desired need."

One of the key areas of activity for a maintenance department is the ability to support this type of event. Recognizing that the traditional maintenance approach is to take a series of CAD drawings, study the move, brief everyone on the project and make the necessary moves during a plant shutdown, the prompt moves implemented during a Lean reorganization can be quite taxing. So, initially the maintenance organization must be very flexible and be able to prepare for a number of different situations.

Effectively eliminating waste
This is always one of the most difficult aspects of implementing Lean — recognizing how your existing methods fail. In order to recognize waste within the department it may be necessary to rely somewhat on criticism from external departments. Since individuals within these departments are not intimately involved in your affairs they have less of an attachment — much like an editor reviewing a writer's work. One of the best ways to handle this is to implement a cross-categorical Kaizen blitz to recognize potential areas of improvement.

Once the production workflow is improved it is crucial for the maintenance department to use the same Kaizens to find areas within the maintenance department that need improvement and to develop solutions. Once aware of the areas that demand immediate attention, it is time to draw up a plan of attack.

As Bill Fetterman president of consulting and Lean implementation firm CMD says: "It is crucial for a firm serious about Lean to implement a system for ensuring that maintenance plans and systems meet the needs of the operating teams, thereby guaranteeing that equipment effectiveness is understood, measured and improving; equipment uptime meets the needs of the manufacturing operating teams and systems are in place to monitor equipment performance; and that maintenance activities are reviewed for sufficiency. Undoubtedly, the goal is 100 percent predictability of equipment performance. Remember however that having smaller inventories yields limited tolerance for unscheduled downtime."

Long-term effects
As one would expect, the implementation of such an all-encompassing program will have long-term effects to each department involved. Routinely for the maintenance department, it will entirely restructure the duties of the staff.

Traditionally maintenance departments have been reactive rather than proactive and when fully implemented, the Lean maintenance department will be a predictive group using tables and tools designed to ascertain that costly downtime will not occur. Undoubtedly, downtime does occur, but through the implementation of various Lean principles, maintenance is able to label equipment and provide production employees with the training necessary to understand how a machine is operating which can significantly enhance a maintenance department's ability to attack a situation before it becomes a problem through proactive operator interaction. Specifically, the training allows an operator to better detect abnormalities that when unnoticed and left untreated can lead to significant downtime.

Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Cascade Engineering is an ideal example since it has been very successful in using Lean to train its operators to assist the maintenance department. As a portion of the training, the maintenance department has effectively labelled all areas of concern on its machinery. The labelling of all aspects of the equipment facilitates easy maintenance and identification. For example, when the rear hydraulic assembly is leaking, the operator can call maintenance and let them know exactly where they noticed a problem thereby eliminating guesswork and yielding shorter downtimes. Furthermore, systematic checks are identified on the machine in red or yellow lettering identifying the necessary order. For instance, weekly check step one would be written inside a box with red lettering.

Over time maintenance's role can take a drastic turn. According to TMP, "After the initial moves are made and workflow is optimized as far as machinery moves are concern, maintenance gets actively involved in improving fixturing, rebuilding and upgrading tooling, modifying equipment to capitalize on automated processes." In many cases the maintenance department actually must become much more creative in its role.

Such resulting creativity is quite evident in many of Grand Rapids, Michigan-based automotive components producer, Lacks Enterprises. Lacks starting integrating Lean concepts a few years back and has already seen drastic changes within the role of its maintenance departments. Robert Tice, Maintenance Manager at the Barden St. Assembly plant has taken the opportunities provided by Lean to begin implementing more automation solutions. For instance, at this facility, the maintenance department has designed and built a system that uses pneumatics to aid operators in lifting various wheel components thereby facilitating assembly by reducing the amount of time it takes to move components and further reducing the possibility of injury.

---

Peter Fretty is a freelance writer based in Michigan. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Why us, why now? In years past, the engineer, manager or superintendent was responsible for improvement ideas. Maintenance people were "hands" hired to do what they were told. Today, organizations are lean and mean; we need the capabilities of all maintainers. The downsizing craze, however, has left everyone in a managerial role with too many tasks and too little time. There's no one left to cut costs!