Reliable Plant Issue 3 of 2006

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Inside the Toyota MR-50
Maintenance Reduction 50 Percent, or MR-50, is the latest in a long line of Toyota initiatives aimed at eliminating waste and inefficiency in its plants. To understand MR-50, and what it is and isn’t, you must know all the details, and you must know Toyota. Editor Paul Arnold provides the inside story.

Departments
	Safety Report
	Mixed results In BLS data
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: • Departments\|Safety Report
	The number and rate of work-related injuries and illnesses declined in the American manufacturing sector in 2004, according to final data released this winter by the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, that data also showed that U.S. manufacturing still has plenty of room for improvement. A total of 941,900 non-fatal injuries and illnesses occurred at manufacturing plants in 2004. In 2003, the figure was 973,600. At a 2004 employment level of 14.23 million, the frequency rate equaled 6.6 cases for every 100 full-time employees. In 2003, with 14.46 million workers, the case rate was 6.8.

Editorial
	Editors Column
	Get lubed, reliable and lean
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: Paul V. Arnold • Editorial\|Editors Column
	Editor Paul V. Arnold previews Noria’s international conference in Columbus, Ohio.


	The Exponent
	Reliability-centered sales?
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: Drew D. Troyer • Editorial\|The Exponent
	Drew Troyer believes you should involve sales in the reliability process.

Features
	Advisors
	Maintenance leadership, Part 3
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: Tor Idhammar • Features\|Advisors
	Set up the right work processes and closely follow up on the progress to achieve change.



	File at the component level
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: Doc Palmer • Features\|Advisors
	Doc Palmer dissects the principles of successful planning by exploring how planners should file information.



	Select the right assessment tools
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: John Ha • Features\|Advisors
	Choosing the right personality or behavior assessment tool ultimately depends on what you are trying to accomplish.



	Standard practices vs. right practices
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: Mike Johnson, Noria Corporation • Features\|Advisors
	Few answers to machine relubrication questions are black and white. But, it is reasonable to state that relubrication work practices, in a practical sense, are either right or wrong. There is no middle ground!


	Applied Reliability
	The marriage of bearings, lubrication
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: David A. Pierman • Features\|Applied Reliability
	Just as bearings have improved in design, proper lubrication selection and practices must go hand-in-hand to achieve maximum performance.



	Detect soft foot with vibration analysis
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: Irene Hamernick • Features\|Applied Reliability
	Machine frame distortion, or soft foot, can cause high vibration levels because the machinery is unduly exposed to excessive wear with each shaft revolution.


	Editors Column
	CHRYSLER PLANT TOUR SLIDE SHOW
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: Paul Arnold • Features\|Editors Column
	See photos from the car maker's unveiling in Belvidere, Ill.


	Reliability Forum
	The right motor saves energy, money
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: • Features\|Reliability Forum
	Plants can do plenty to reduce energy costs associated with electric motors.


	Reliability in Action
	You get what you inspect
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: Curtiss Quirin • Features\|Reliability in Action
	Inspection requires not only the creation of a standard but also the discipline to observe and audit it on a regular basis.

None
	Advisors
	CBM doesn't work if you're dabbling
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: John Schultz • None\|Advisors
	Payback occurs when you integrate a full range of technologies across a high percentage of your asset base.

Web Exclusives
	None
	Toyota's battle of perception and backlash
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: David R. Butcher, ThomasNet • Web Exclusives\|None
	Toyota is winning market share from U.S. automakers and is winning on the profit sheet. Part of this can be chalked up to the Japanese automaker's remarkable job over the years of selling itself as an American company. Now it is bracing for possible political and consumer backlash caused by its rapid U.S. growth.



	Management + Plant-floor personnel = A winning team: Eight ‘simple’ tips that lead to manufacturing success
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: • Web Exclusives\|None
	Millions of dollars are lost each year because manufacturing companies are not addressing an essential, straightforward issue. The problem? Groups within the company are just not working together.



	An unsafe attitude can lead to workplace woes
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: • Web Exclusives\|None
	Self-improvement professionals – from weight-loss experts to exercise gurus to motivational speakers – will tell you that attitude is everything. To make any type of positive change in your life, the change must first begin in your own mind. Unfortunately, an unsafe attitude toward workplace practices can have just as much influence on a person’s behavior as a positive attitude – except for the worse. A potentially dangerous disregard for safety could lead to a serious workplace accident.



	Safe use of clamps through proper selection
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: The Hand Tools Institute • Web Exclusives\|None
	The notions "one tool does all" or "any tool will do" result in wasted effort, poor quality work, damage to the misused tool, and exposing the user to possible injury, according to the Hand Tools Institute, an association of American manufacturers of quality hand tools.



	Employee involvement and problem-solving on the shop floor
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: Curtiss Quirin • Web Exclusives\|None
	Success in a factory begins with two ingredients: people and information. And, when you add leadership to the mix, you get a recipe for serious improvement. What management often forgets, or chooses to ignore, is that we need more than people’s hands — we need their heads, too. Many times, poor attitudes in a group are the result of frustration and can be turned around with a little participation.



	Tool time: Test your knowledge on wrenches
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: Richard Wright • Web Exclusives\|None
	Take this 14-question exam on wrenches and see how you do. You may be surprised by the results.



	Catalyst Paper seeks to improve mill performance
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: • Web Exclusives\|None
	Catalyst Paper is a leading producer of mechanical printing papers in North America. The company also produces de-inked newsprint, market kraft pulp and containerboard. With five mills employing approximately 3,800 people at sites within 100 miles of each other on the south coast of British Columbia, Catalyst Paper has a combined annual capacity of 2.5 million tons of product.



	Optimize your operations (doing nothing is not an option)
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: Fred Fishman • Web Exclusives\|None
	In the good old days, it seems as though profit margins were high and demand was upward and predictable. While business inefficiency was always a topic of some concern, it was overpowered by the need to never stop the production juggernaut. Where inefficiency was recognized and addressed, the attention was clearly on improving the means of production, not on the business as a whole. The traditional business school rules that governed product and process decisions reliably delivered acceptable profit and growth. So, why change?



	Pressing responsibilities: How to operate power presses safely
	• Issue: 3/2006 • Author: TrainingOnline.com • Web Exclusives\|None
	Mechanical power presses are used to punch, shear, form and assemble metal parts for automobiles, doors and windows, and a variety of other products. Precisely because of their ability to cut through hard objects, they can be hazardous to anyone operating them, if proper precautions are not taken. In fact, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration calculated that power-press accidents cause about 650 amputations per year. Statistics for amputations were so high in metal-working industries compared to other manufacturing businesses that, several years ago, OSHA developed a National Emphasis Program to target power press safety for special enforcement and education activities.