Well, it is the main principle behind every product that we have ever designed and manufactured. In many ways, it is much harder to design something that is actually simpler than something else is. . . it certainly takes a higher level of engineering ability. To strip away all the unnecessary, reduce to the simplest form and come up with a solution that meets the truest "Mechanics test of Reality" . . . Keep It Simple, Stupid
Which is historically referred to as the "KISS" principle. This often used phrase was originated during WWII as a reference to keeping the design of military equipment simple and free of "creeping featurism", the tendency to add more and more that really isn't necessary to make something work. The idea that a product is designed and built to be easy to operate and maintain . . . by the people that have to run it day after day.
At Advantage SPS, if you look at our design concepts, you will see that there is nothing that isn't absolutely necessary on our equipment. Some people refer to it as "clean". Most importantly, we have eliminated every possible moving part . . . down to only those that are required. On all our recycling machines, the fully pneumatic system eliminates ALL the parts that create classic maintenance headaches . . . bucket elevators that need to be kept in adjustment, conveyors belts that need to be adjusted, belts and chains that need to be adjusted to work properly. Only the bearings that are absolutely required to run the fan and magnetic drum.
It's funny, when you remove all these items and reduce the moving and wearing parts to the absolute minimum . . . . recycling machines become easy to operate and maintain.
And . . . the parts (with installation labor) you need each year cost you less. Which results in lower downtime and less critical maintenance.
So when you are looking at a new piece of equipment, count the number of moving and wearing parts.