An old saying often crops up when management expects too much. “Better, faster, cheaper — you can have any two of the three.”
This old saying generally holds true, but there are many exceptions to it. One of those can be in relation to the repair of your critical equipment.
The next time a repair must be made, take careful note of each component activity and how long it took. For example, consider three items pulled from one repair:
- Walk to shop and back for test equipment: 8 minutes.
- Walk to shop and back for drawings: 8 minutes.
- Walk to shop and back for fuse: 8 minutes.
How could this repair have been completed 24 minutes sooner? Place all of these items in a locker near that critical machine. Let’s say that machine is part of a line that produces $650,000 of revenue per hour; it costs about $300,000 to walk back and forth to the shop but only $1,800 for a locker that contains the test equipment, drawings, fuses, hand tools, and supplies needed to make the repair.
That addresses faster and cheaper. You also get better work because the techs waste 24 minutes less time, so are under less pressure.
