Page 74 - TPM A Route to World-Class Performance

The top-down and bottom-up realities of TPM 55

got time to do it. By the way, Joe and I have put forward a proposal to
production engineering to use a closer tolerance and age-hardened ratchet so
that this problem is resolved once and for all. This will mean our spares costs
will go down and I won’t have to mess about jamming a wedge in here as a
temporary measure: botching up is a thing of the past. After all, if the handbrake
ratchet on your motor car kept failing, you wouldn’t put up with it, would
you?
The other thing which Joe and I have discussed is the bulb-changing task
on this OHP. I used to think the bulb was the most critical part of this machine,
but it isn’t. It’s important, but not as critical as something else which I will
tell you about later. Anyway, back to the bulb. They do fail now and again,
and in the bad old days when the bulb went I used to switch off the machine
and go for a cup of tea and wait until Joe got round to getting a new one out
of stores -which is about half a mile away. Joe would then change it over and
we would eventually get going again. I reckon we used to lose something
like four hours a month on this ’breakdown’ if the bulb went. Not any more,
though, because Joe and I have thought about this problem as well. In fact,
I’ve been on a half-day in-company bulb-changing course and I am now a
fully accredited bulb changer! . . . I’m certainly no electrician, but I am proud
of what I’ve achieved.
What happens now if a bulb goes? Quite simple: I switch off the on/off
switch here and walk over to the power point. I switch that off. I pull out the
plug and bring it back here with the lead, so there is absolutely no way I can
electrocute myself. I then remove the lid, take out the old bulb and put it in
the waste-bin here; I do not leave it lying around as a future accident risk.
Then, using a cloth, I take out the new bulb from its packaging; I use a cloth
because it’s a halogen bulb and if I get my sweaty hands on it, it will be
useless. I then insert it here, replace the lid, take the plug and lead to the
socket and re-energize the circuit. Switch on the on/off switch at the OHP
and ’bingo’ - we’re back in production. I feel really good that I can change
bulbs. I feel a better person all round.
There are some other important points about bulb changing which Joe and
I have agreed. We keep two spare bulbs here by the machine, on this ‘shadow
board’ - not 800 metres away in central stores. I always - without fail-
record the fact that I’ve used a bulb so that Joe and I can build up an equipment
history file on this OHP, so that we both have access to past problems - non-
standard events, if you like - which will help us in our problem resolution
sessions. At the moment, Joe and I are looking into the possibility of bulbs
with a different power rating, as these current ones seem to be unreliable. Joe
also thinks it may be something to do with dust and dirt ingress, but more on
that later.
Now to the best part of this equipment care procedure which Joe and I
have built up and which we are both pretty proud of. The most critical part
of this OHP - given that we have a power supply, of course! - is the fan. For
years, I’d always thought the bulb was the most important part. I didn‘t even
realize there was a fan in the machine, far less understand that it’s there to