Changeover improvement: A maintenance perspective

The current paper assesses on-machine maintenance in the context of recent work to improve changeover performance. It is argued that techniques employed to improve changeovers equally might be applied in maintenance situations. With brief reference to case studies from the authors' research, it is further argued that focused maintenance activity can also directly influence changeover performance, particularly by ensuring that items involved during a changeover (change parts, product, fixed machine components and consumables) are in satisfactory condition. The role of design to improve either changeover or maintenance performance is also discussed. Design rules that might be employed are introduced. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.