Hydraulic Pressure Display

An outlet of an electrical cabinet has small piece of hazard tape attached and as crude as it maybe you can now tell when walking past if the filters are blocked on the inlet vents. The green circle is a task point for a TPM check.

Lighthouse CPM-100 vinyl printer

To produce most of the labels you can see on this site you need one of these.
Its a Lighthouse CPM-100 vinyl printer and cutter. It is very versatile and can print and cut just about any colour combination. On this model the width is restricted to 100mm but unlimited in length which in reality covers just about every label you could want to make for your Visual Maintenance application.
We used to get all are labels and signs made but with this is you see somewhere you think its useful you can have a suitable label made up in a matter of minutes and out on the equipment right away. It also makes changing settings a breeze as sometimes setting which you think are the best can, a year or so down the line, need to be tweaked after you improve or understand the process better.
We actually also use the vinyl label rolls to produce the shapes for our shadow boards.

Hydraulic valve descriptions

The valve stack has quite a complex arrangement with a lot going on despite its size. An explanation of the the valves and their functions is therefore posted beside them so during fault finding the problem can either be found or ruled out quicker. You still need the manuals for the full hydraulic diagrams but hopefully the visual diagram means people are at least looking at the right thing. Especially useful if someone wants to try to move something manually.

What do those stack lights mean?

The colour coded label ensure the operators in the area know exactly what their stack light alarms mean. This factory has no true andon system, all machines however have a stack lights indicating their status but with plenty of different colours etc. for various faults.


Ideally there should be standardization across all stack lights and failing that the above signage could be improved further by making it larger so it can be read from a distance in all directions.

Pressure switch set points

These IFM hydraulic rated pressure switches have a dual set point and on this application they need to be set up very accurately. The label shows exactly what is required at the point of use.
It ensures that a new switch can be set up correctly and during inspections the set points can be double checked they are still at the correct setting.

Safety lock

In this example before the labeling there was just a handle with no explanation of what it was for and no one knew there was another one at the other side of the machine. A simple description solves this and helps ensure that backed up with training that the safety locks will be used in the right circumstances.

Descriptive isolation

Originally the isolator had only the white electrical reference showing which meant that before isolating various sections of the machine who had to consult the manual to be sure what you were isolating. The blue descriptive labelling gives a much clearer indication of what exactly will be isolated.


it is still felt though that an addition of a pictorial reprentation would be of further benefit.

Waste bin floor markers

All plastic waste bins have a coresponding colour coded cirle on the floor ensuring the bin is always left in the correct predetermined best position.

Cleaning station

This cleaning station shadow board is mounted inside the machine cell and means that on machine stoppages small routine cleaning tasks can be carried out without having to go and find cleaning materials. Normally the operators would have spent 10 minutes of more gather up the required material prior to small visual cleaning jobs taking place.
All cleaning jobs are broken up into small 5 - 10 minute chunks that can be slotted in around natural stoppages throughout the week and followed on a TPM T Card board.

Hydraulic pump / motor direction

As simple as it gets - the arrow shows quickly what direction the motor / pump should be turning especially useful on first start up after a wiring, electrical component or motor change. We have all seen a motor run in the wrong direction at some point with the results that follow especially if there is an electrical technician doing the work who is not familiar with hydraulic pumps.


I have found the best place to mount the arrow is on the bell housing as it most likely stays for the life of the machine. Motors and pumps can get changed out so any arrows placed on them disappear with the changed out component.

Colour coded lubrication points

Here all the lubrication points on the machine are marked up colour coded and numbered so TPM lubrication routines can be carried out easily by operators or maintenance. Each machine has a corresponding A3 lubrication map at its information point for all lube point on the machine.


The lubrication map follows the 5R lubrication principle. RIGHT point / RIGHT lube / RIGHT quantity / RIGHT frequency / RIGHT method.

CIL (Cleaning, Inspection and Lubrication) point labelling

This is an example of how to best show where certain Cleaning / Inspection / Lubrication points are during a maintenance or TPM routine.


The numbered points correspond to checks detailed on Standard Work instruction and helps personnel find the correct points easier and faster ensuring the right work gets carried out.

Pneumatic sensor bank settings

Here there is a bank of pneumatic pressure switches for ensuring correct part location. Each of the sensors has numerous setting that need changed from factory setting to ensure that the sensors work correctly and some of the sensors are set up slightly differently to each other.


The sensors where labelled and a corresponding chart fitted as close as possible with all the settings shown. This helps ensure that settings are not set wrongly due to not being known, assumed or tweaked. personal can check them during maintenance routines and should one ever fail the correct settings are available with out having to go looking.

Adjustable sensor positions

Here the proximity sensors are on adjustable slots that where designed into the plate by the OEM to help with initial setup of the machine. They positions should never need change, if they do its likely because that something is worn and hence the worn item should be changed out.
The plate could also be re-engineered with fixed holes however the small blue arrow markings show exactly where each sensor should sit if they ever need changed in future.

Floor markings for bins

Clearly defined area's where bins must sit ensure that nothing else is likely to be left there and block the space unintendedly.

Manual ball valve position

This shows a manual ball valve with a clear diagram beside showing that it should be closed for normal operations. This valve in the past before the label was fitted was opened by someone during production who assumed it had been close by mistake.This caused problems and down time with the process which is meant to run with just pure nitrogen from another seperate valve. It wasn't until the next morning when an experience technican came in that the problem was found.
There is literly thousands of ball valves in the factory so it is vital to know what state they should all be in.

Electrical cabinet labelling

This was in an installation of a new machine where originally nothing was labelled. All the cabinet componenets were sunsquently labelled for there function and all lidding was labelled so in the event of it ever being removed it would be put back in the correct place for the compoent labelling to make sense.


It is planned to go one step further and also show the correct ampage set points for all the MCB's. How many times have we gone to machinery with a motor burnt out only to find somebody in their wisdom had turned up the trip to stop those nuisience faults.

Hydraulic tank sight glass mark up

The tank sight glass marked up to show where an acceptable level is allowed and what point the low level alarm and cut out kicks in. The technicains and operators know that they do not need to top up until the oil gets close to the bottom of the green band. Previously they either were topping up too regularly is the system was losing oil through small leaks or they assumed that as long as there was oil in the sight glass it would be ok. An oil level close to the bottom of the sight glass kicks in the minimum level alarm and then the low level machine stop.