Implementation of TPM
What is TPM, or Total Productive Maintenance?
TPM is a manufacturing-led initiative that creates a collaborative approach among all stakeholders within an organization—particularly between operations and maintenance—in an effort to achieve production efficiency, uninterrupted operations and ensure a quick, proactive maintenance response to prevent equipment-specific problems.
The goal of TPM is to create a production environment free from mechanical breakdowns and technical disturbances by involving everybody in maintenance duties without heavily relying on mechanics or engineers.
Modernization and the ongoing automation in different industries have noticeably amplified the gap between operators and their machines.
Years ago, machine operators were limited to manning their respective posts. Whenever there is a mechanical trouble, operators would stop working and would call in the mechanics to fix the problem. Even with the slightest snag, operators would leave everything to maintenance for fear of making the problem worse, and besides they don’t want to take on the mechanics’ jobs.
On the other hand, the traditional mechanics could love the smell of a breakdown. They know that they have become indispensable specialists in the trade—they are assured of a stable job every time a fix is needed. So, the vicious cycle goes on and on, and the aftermath of which is immense amount of waste: man hours, production time, opportunity lost, and ballooning maintenance expense.
But with the adoption and adaptation of TPM, the vicious cycle has come to an end. Today, TPM builds on the classical Japanese concepts of autonomous maintenance with process mapping for cross-functional duties.
Coupled with the right tools and training, TPM equips the operators the necessary skills to address mechanical or equipment-related issues. Calling the engineers and mechanics is no longer necessary since operators are already prepared and confident in dealing with the problems.
Undoubtedly, TPM is one of the most effective ways to create a lean organization with reduced cycle time and improved operational efficiency.
Implementation of TPM and Autonomous Maintenance
There are four tool cornerstones in TPM: OEE, 5S, Kaizen and Autonomous Maintenance. In this article we will focus on implementation of Autonomous Maintenance, as the other topics are covered in other articles.
If you go to a normal plant and do a print-out of all maintenance jobs stored in their CMMS software, you will probably find a mixture of the following type of activities:
Emergency repairs, Inspections, Lubrication, Oil changes, Adjustments, Conditions checks, Planned replacements, Modifications, Reconditioning, etc.
Research has shown that about 60 percent of the jobs on the list could be considered simple. This means that only basic maintenance knowledge is required and there are no safety risks involved. These 60 percent represent only about 20 percent of the time for the maintenance personnel, as they are quick and simple by nature, but a transfer of these duties to operators would nevertheless be a great relief for the maintenance department.
Conducting a TPM Event
A TPM Event is the most efficient way to determine all the activities that are needed for a disturbance free operation. This is cross-functional teamwork that is carried out by technicians, operators, engineers and supervisors. The idea is to go to the shop-floor with all the knowledge we have about the machinery, discuss it together, and then list everything that is needed on a specific equipment to ensure it is run problem-free. This includes cleaning, inspections, preventive maintenance, checks, etc.
With this list in hand it is time to determine what is suitable or not for the operators.
Determine if a task is suitible for operators
The key to successful implementation of Autonomous Maintenance is that operators should participate in the maintenance, but that the work should not have a negative effect on their normal duties.
- Is it possible to learn the task in about 30 minutes?
- Can we facilitate the task so that it can be done during a normal production day, without hindering production?
- Can we arrange it so that necessary tools are available for the operator?
- Are there no safety hazards involved?
Training
The next step, which is very important, is training of the operators. The training is typically excuted by the maintenance department in a TPM organization.
The operators should individually determine their need for training. The training should be hands-on and on-the-job with a good possibility to practice.
Sceduling and follow-up
It is important to have a good system for scheduling and follow-up of the TPM duties. If you plan to use your CMMS system for this, you might have to think again, as most operators do not use the CMMS daily. Check-lists or card systems are common ways to implement a scheduling system for TPM. If you already have a working system for 5S scheduling, the best way is to integrate the systems.
Oskar Olofsson, 2009
TPM assessment here.
Use OEE to estimate revenues and costs with TPM.
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