WIKI Title: WIKI: Tools

Description: WIKI that describes how to select effective tools.

What are Tools?

According to m-w.com, tools are handheld devices used to aid in performing a task.
Generally, tools are used to finish the task faster and more effective than it would be
done without it.
Why do I need to learn Tools?
Imagine trying to cook food without a stove or a frying pan. You would have to find
another source in order to heat the food. You could either light a fire or use some
other heat source. After finding an alternate heat source to cook the food, you could
either just hold the food over the heat source or find something else. Even in this
case, you are still using tools. This shows you how important tools are in performing
your daily tasks. Your pen is a tool that you use to write down notes. Finding the most
effective tool for the job is important in completing a task in the fastest possible time,
but at times, it is impossible to perform the task without a tool.
What does it look like when effective tools are used?

How do I select the appropriate tools?

1. Determine what tools can perform the task that you need done. Evaluate the
processes that you need to perform and find out what tools you will need.
Perform research as to what tools can be used in order to perform a task. This
can be done by looking at information from companies in the same industry.
There may also be websites that provide this information. Create a list of these
tools.
2. Evaluate each of the tools, sort them into what they are used for in the process.
Group those that have a similar function together.
3. Read reviews of the tools and compare them against one another. You may
use the following criteria to evaluate the tools:
a. Availability - Availability is how much time the tool was available for use
compared to how much the total time was that you expected to use the
tool. Simply, was the tool or equipment available for use the whole time
that you were expecting it to be used for production. Were there any
times that the tool/equipment could not be used?
 ○ For example, in a restaurant and you are using a gas range and the
gas valve breaks and needs to be replaced, that affects availability.
If you clean the gas range during the day as part of maintenance,
that would also affect availability.
b. Performance - Performance is all about efficiency. When a tool or
equipment is purchased, you gain information as to how much work it can
perform in a given amount of time. Performance measures how much of
the actual work gets done compared to how much work the tool or
equipment should be able to do.
○ For example, when a company purchases a printer, they are usually
advertised saying how many pages they can print per minute. If a
printer is able to print 12,000 pages per hour, but only manages to
print 11,000 pages, then it is not performing at 100% efficiency.
c. Quality - Quality looks at how much of what was produced is good
compared against how much was produced in total.
○ For example, if you buy a machine that is supposed to assemble a
bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. The machine creates a total
of 100 sandwiches, but only 75 of them have all the components of
the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich; this shows only 75% of
what was produced meets the company’s quality standards.
Additional Resources
Importance of Providing the right tools at work

Cited Resources
“Tool.” ​Merriam-Webster,​ Merriam-Webster,
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tool​.

“Calculate OEE.” ​Overall Equipment Effectiveness Manufacturing Made Easy by

Vorne​, www.oee.com/calculating-oee.html.