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Frank Hill is the director of manufacturing business development for Stratus Technologies. |
This article is not about lean manufacturing.
It’s about the assumption plant operations make when they implement lean strategies to purge waste in pursuit of customer value -- the assumption that the manufacturing lines are actually running and products are actually being produced.
Downtime is the enemy of lean. Downtime is, in fact, waste.
Idled lines do not add value. Restarting production after unplanned downtime requires more effort, usually expended with less efficiency and worker productivity. This reintroduces waste, which creates added costs that customers do not pay for, yet must be absorbed into cost of goods sold.
With this at stake, implementing IT strategies that reduce or eliminate unplanned downtime of critical manufacturing applications should be integral to lean program strategies. This often requires a change in mindset.
Most IT and operations people prepare for rapid recovery from failure, assuming it is inevitable. Instead, proactively preventing downtime from happening in the first place yields better outcomes; it’s also more efficient in practice and cost-effective over the long term.
Further, most organizations -- manufacturing or otherwise -- do not know the real cost when downtime strikes critical applications. Without knowing the value of downtime, the ability to choose the correct technology to protect the applications you need most, and weighing the risk/benefit of each choice, is suspect.
