Quest for Defect Elimination

Want more reliability? Then eliminate defects- NOW!

Quest for Defect Elimination is a full-color graphic novel that provides the basics of defect elimination and shows the quest to achieve fewer defects.

In manufacturing, fewer defects mean better quality, better yield, higher energy efficiency, and fewer machine breakdowns. In equipment maintenance, fewer defects lead to fewer breakdowns and higher reliability. Almost all the programs to improve production and reliability in the last 40 years have one thing in common. They eliminated defects.

What do others say about Mr. Levitt's books?

Sanya Mathura, Author & Managing Director at Strategic Reliability Solutions Ltd

"A captivating novel of the battle that reliability faces within most industrial plants! Joel expertly maneuvers the challenges that teams struggle with daily and provides quick and cost-effective methods of implementing changes that can positively affect your equipment's reliability. Overall, a great way to foster camaraderie amongst peers and get everyone on board with reliability."

Don Fitchett, President - Maintenance, Engineering Training Co., Nevada

"Although we had heard many of those perspectives in Joel's book from the stakeholders before, it is nice to have them in one presentation to get a better sense of the big picture.

The 3D analysis lab was super cool! The real-world examples and learning process I watched (read?) play out was of great value to the story. Your book Joel is a real piece of art. You wrote it in such a way that it is relatable to everyone. It didn't hurt that I have a soft spot for superhero comics. :) Thanks for sharing."

Eliminating defects is a quest that will test your grit and strength. Once on the journey, you will find friends to help you and enemies that will fight you tooth and nail passively and actively. "Quest for Defect Elimination" will prepare you for your unique journey. The key to effective defect elimination is to maintain a steady diet of small projects so that gradually the number of defects entering your process is lower than the number of defects getting removed.

Joel Levitt has been an author, management trainer, and consultant for over 35 years. He has been writing books to train maintenance professionals for 25 years and has 19 books in print. His books are part of the SMRP Body of Knowledge. He has trained real people in companies in 39 countries in 600+ sessions. 98% of participants rated the training very good or excellent. He has been a speaker at the National meetings of AFE, IMC, SMRP, NAWGA, ISA, and others.

This work is part of a series: Elements of Great Maintenance Management

The challenge we face is transferring basic knowledge to the next generation. Without this valuable knowledge transfer, our mission-critical systems will not do their jobs and will be challenging to maintain.

The problem is that traditional teaching modes don't work anymore. These kids read less and use Google or YouTube (and all the social media sites) for everything they need to know. The second problem is that they will learn the complicated stuff, but they miss the fundamentals (which are boring and there is no screen!) of maintenance and reliability.

We will cover fundaments of maintenance. Topics will be covered in an entertaining way to train the whole team. We will use compelling stories, humor, and interesting characters to keep people's interest and convey the basics.