Facilitator guide
Case objectives, demonstration plans, debriefs, common mistakes and application checks across all 81 workplace cases and method lessons.
Download Facilitator guide PDF · 166 pages · 65.1 MBA tool room ready for the next job
Tool readiness + clean/inspect/respond. Follow the visual, practise a decision, then check your thinking.
Fictional teaching examples and AI-generated illustrations. Proposed changes and goals are not achieved results. Use the written instructions and check local conditions before applying a method.
Make the next-job tool kit obvious
Clear homes reduce searching only when the correct tool and its status remain clear. The retained twelve observations have a 6.5-minute median search time and a 2-minute goal. Separate ready tools from those awaiting verification. Cleaning accessible areas can reveal recurring residue; record the condition and route it to the responsible person. Do not return a suspect tool to use merely because its storage position is tidy.
Follow the method
- Find the correct tool
- Verify identity + status
- Prepare within approved work
- Return to its home
- Inspect + respond to abnormality
Read the example carefully
Retained tool-search sample: 12 observations, median 6.5 minutes; proposed goal 2 minutes. Start when the next-job tool list opens and finish when the complete correct set reaches presetting.
Keep ready, missing and awaiting-verification conditions distinct. No wrong or unverified tool should be released in a faster search trial.
Try it before revealing the answer
Where should a tool go if its identity is known but its verification status is uncertain?
Reveal the answer and reasoning
The defined hold or awaiting-verification route, with an owner, rather than the ready-tool home.
Link operator care to maintenance response
Introduce TPM as coordinated equipment care and loss prevention, not simply a cleaning rota. Operators perform only trained, authorized checks; qualified maintenance owns work outside that boundary. Define what normal looks like, record an abnormal condition and verify the response under the approved procedure. The photo and 6S rubric cannot establish reliability, lubrication adequacy or technical equipment condition. Use the existing search-time data separately from any new equipment-health measures.
Follow the method
- Recognize normal
- Observe approved points
- Tag abnormality
- Qualified response
- Verify + update standard
Read the example carefully
The operator-care and qualified-maintenance lanes meet through a recorded abnormality and verified response. Checks remain within trained, authorized boundaries.
A useful condition record includes the asset, observed condition, trend, owner, due date, response and comparable recurrence check. This is not a calculated equipment-health score.
Try it before revealing the answer
What evidence would show the residue problem was addressed beyond wiping it up?
Reveal the answer and reasoning
An authorized response to its source and a comparable recurrence check, with conditions and observation window recorded.
Sources and further reading
- Lean Enterprise Institute — Total Productive Maintenance ↗
TPM engages operators, maintenance, engineering and management in preventing equipment losses across the equipment life cycle; routine care supports reliable operation.
- Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance — 2023 TPM Award Outline, autonomous maintenance example ↗
The historical 2023 mechanical-equipment example progresses from cleaning and inspection through contamination control, provisional standards, inspection capability, standardization and self-management. It supports method teaching, not current award eligibility.
- NIST — Asset Condition Management: A Framework for Smart, Health-Ready Manufacturing Systems ↗
Asset-condition management assesses current and future equipment health and connects that knowledge to operations. A photograph alone cannot establish reliability or predict remaining useful life.
- OSHA: Control of Hazardous Energy ↗
Equipment servicing can expose hazardous energy. Task-specific training and applicable control procedures govern; generated workplace illustrations cannot authorize maintenance work.
Take the lesson into your team.
Read the lessons online or use these PDFs to prepare, practise and review with your team. No sign-in needed.
Learner workbook
Printable case worksheets, blank observation records and five calculation exercises; answers are separate.
Download Learner workbook PDF · 169 pages · 10.7 MBAnswer key and coaching notes
Reasoned sample responses, worked calculations and coaching guidance; fictional examples are clearly labelled.
Download Answer key and coaching notes PDF · 105 pages · 8.5 MBMethod and application reference
The native method mechanisms and worked applications for all 68 detailed lessons, in a separate bookmarked portrait reference.
Download Method and application reference PDF · 141 pages · 10.2 MBIllustrated systems atlas
Five illustrated system chapters: 15 Flare concept maps and 26 original workplace teaching cards, with links to all 81 supporting cases and method lessons.
Download Illustrated systems atlas PDF · 69 pages · 55.8 MBUse the next tool for the next question.
- Extrusion loss and wellness
- 6S Shine reveals abnormalities
- Daily-management escalation
Give the press area a clear reset
An abnormal condition can inform equipment-loss investigation; search-time gains and OEE remain separate measures.
Explore the connected method →Make tomorrow ready
Daily management makes the maintenance handoff, response owner and recurrence check visible.
Explore the connected method →