Golden Rules for TPM #05: Cleaning is Inspection - The First Step to Understanding the Structure of Facilities

TPM Golden Rules 

Cleaning is not only to eliminate stress on equipment caused by dirt, but also to discover troubles. Any troubles found should be restored and improved to better understand your equipment.

Let's discover troubles through cleaning!

Cleaning is not just about cleaning to make things neat, but also about reaching every corner of the equipment to thoroughly eliminate dust and dirt from rotating and sliding parts. By doing this, we discover minor troubles through the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste).

The detection of these troubles is called the "Tagging" or labelling activity, and the restoration is called "De-tagging" or de-labelling. Tagging and De-tagging activities will be described in detail in a later rule.  Through these activities, the operators gain an understanding of the mechanism and structure of equipment and develop an eye to recognize troubles as troubles. In other words, cleaning and labeling activities are the start of acquiring "the skills to protect one's own equipment by oneself."

Through cleaning, tagging, and de-tagging activities, operators gain experience "inspecting through cleaning," "finding defects through inspection," "restoring and developing Kaizen from problems," "obtaining results through restoration and Kaizen," and "gaining a sense of accomplishment through the results". In workplaces where correct cleaning is not implemented, there is a lack of interest in equipment, and breakdowns and defects occur frequently. How is your workplace right now? 

Thoroughly clean by yourself!

Cleaning cannot be learned by leaving it to others. The key to practicing "Cleaning is Inspection" is as follows.

1. Get your own hands dirty and make sure cleaning is part of the job.
2. Thoroughly remove long-standing dirt or stains.
3. Open the covers and lids of equipment and clean every corner.
4. Clean auxilliary facilities such as transport equipment and control panels
5. Determine the source of contamination and areas that are difficult to clean.

These activities will increase awareness of the equipment and help the operators to understand the structure of the equipment.