
Planned Downtime: What it is, The Benefits
In today’s blog, we’ll be discussing what planned downtime is
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Collect and implement million dollar ideas
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Identify, assign and close shop-floor anomalies quickly
Prioritize internal and external quality defects
Make the most out of the shop floor walks
Schedule & plan maintenance activities
Collect data and compile production loss trees
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Collect and implement million dollar ideas
Document and manage quick to complex kaizens
Identify, assign and close shop-floor anomalies quickly
Prioritize internal and external quality defects
Make the most out of the shop floor walks
Schedule & plan maintenance activities
Collect data and compile production loss trees
Track and upscale workforce skills with ease
Build and deploy on-demand training with ease
Create campaigns to focus on the areas that matter more
Offer redeemable points and visualize your top performers
Get real time insights into your business processes
Customize forms by selecting your preferred fields
Manage access & control based on the roles assigned
Help you team share all the required details & improve traceability
Built a customized catalogue & offer unique prizes
Create campaigns to focus on the areas that matter more
Offer redeemable points and visualize your top performers
Get real time insights into your business processes
Built a customized catalogue & offer unique prizes
Customize forms by selecting your preferred fields
Manage access & control based on the roles assigned
Help you team share all the required details & improve traceability
Before we get into detailing why you should digitize abnormality reporting (F-tags), let’s first discuss what abnormality reporting (F-tags) are and why they’re essential for any manufacturing business.
Abnormality reporting is also known as F-tags. The F in F-tag stands for Fuguai, a Japanese word that translates to “deviation” or “abnormality” in English. So, an F-tag is a visual work order system where employees attach paper tags to machines and equipment when a process abnormality or irregularity has been identified. Essentially, F-tags are used to highlight deviations, faults, or abnormalities.
In short, manufacturing businesses utilize F-tags because:
There are three types of F-tags: maintenance, operator (non-maintenance), and safety.Â
Maintenance F-tags are red and requires specific personnel such as electricians, mechanics, and technicians to fix abnormalities.Â
Operator (non-maintenance) F-tags are blue and does not require any maintenance specific personnel to fix abnormalities. So, in other words, operators, supervisors, and cleaners can fix operator specific abnormalities. It is also important to note that examples of areas where operator F-tags should be attached to include:Â
Safety F-tags are yellow and requires mechanics or operators to fix abnormalities. However, anyone can write and attach a safety F-tag.
Traditionally, F-tags are done manually by hand — an individual attaches the relevant F-tag paper to the faulty machine or equipment, then the right personnel fixes it. But, this process is inefficient as:
Therefore, you should digitize abnormality reporting (F-tags) in order to make your tagging process easier to manage and control. Ultimately, there are three reasons why you should digitize abnormality reporting:
The first reason why you should digitize abnormality reporting is because it allows you to automatically capture data and analyze reports in real-time. Some problems need to be fixed right away, while others are lower priority. Digitizing abnormality reporting allows you to prioritize problems that may be causing you the most losses. In essence, it enables you to identify and resolve high priority problems quicker.
The second reason why you should digitize abnormality reporting is because it saves you and time money. Digitizing abnormality reporting significantly reduces the administrative effort that was traditionally expected. As a result, your employees can focus on resolving problems, instead of data management. Moreover, since your employees are able to focus more on resolving problems, they’ll resolve problems faster, resulting in reduced machine or equipment downtime. Therefore, saving you money.
The third and final reason why you should digitize abnormality reporting is because it increases employee engagement. Digitizing abnormality reporting increases efficiency and productivity on your shop-floor and your employees will clearly see these changes from their reporting. This will motivate them to continue working harder to make positive changes to your operational processes. Thus, engaging them.Â
TheLeanSuite is a lean manufacturing software that offers various built-in apps designed to accelerate your continuous improvement program. One of them being the Issue Tracker, a maintenance tagging system that digitizes abnormality reporting (F-tags). That is to say, it digitizes identifying abnormalities, attaching relevant pictures and documents, assigning abnormalities to the correct personnel, and much more.
In today’s blog, we’ll be discussing what planned downtime is
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