In this months issue of Manufacturing Engineering there is a guest editorial on Lean maintenance:
http://www.sme.org/cgi-bin/get-mag.pl?&&04dem005&000007&2004/04dem005&ARTME&SME&

In this article The author talks about Six Sigma's DMAIC guideline serving as a roadmap for this procedure. Are there any covers who have been involved in this kind of approach to maintenance and what has been your experience with it?

Though many of us are probably aware I include the definitions to the acronymn here.

In thw article the author defines the Six Sigma's DMAIC as:

D--Define the problem
M--Measure the problem
A --Analyze how the problem can be eliminated
I--Implement the solution
C--Control the solution to ensure its continuance and improvement, if practical

I am looking forward to responses to this as we are concidering implementation of this discipline here.

Mark

Thanks Mark, I have also read that some will use SPC charts on there machines. Is this part and parcel to the DMAIC? I have read of a "predictive maintenance" that is based on measurements and analysis of failures, I believe someone else called it "charting". I am somewhat confused about the whole deal and looking for insight.

its a continuious improvement model.

Which are lean, six sigma,ISO ETC.