Concepts of Total Productive Maintenance - Topic - 1 : A Brief Introduction to the concept of Total Productive Maintenance

Introduction to Total Productive Maintenance Concept

In today’s manufacturing world, Total Productive maintenance” commonly known as TPM is a very widespread and well known management system which is considered, to be the most effective methodology that demonstrates the overall pursuit of improvement of the efficiency of the production processes to the highest degree as far as possible. The term TPM is attributed to Nippondenso a company that use to supply parts to Toyota in 1960 and continues to do so even today as a part of TOYOTA Group Companies. However, Seiichi Nakajima is regarded as the father of TPM because of his numerous contribution to TPM. 

Photo 1 .  Seiichi Nakajima considered to be the father of TPM Concept.

He has written the following books: Introduction to TPM (Productivity Press, 1988) and TPM Development Program (Productivity Press, 1989), which describe the building blocks of a TPM concepts , explains the overall equipment effectiveness measurements, provide sample implementation plans and document the potential benefits.

Similarly, Terry Wireman, who has written TPM, An American Approach (Industrial Press, 1991) looks at TPM from the perspective of the maintenance organization and describes the concept of TPM as a part of the overall manufacturing system. 

Photo 2 Terry Wireman well known author and consultant   

Another prominent TPM authority, Shirose (1992), described TPM from the viewpoint of the equipment operators in his book TPM for Operators (Productivity Press, 1992)

Apart from the there are numerous works that has been done by various writers which are to be considered to be great assets for the inquisitive minds working for understanding TPM perspective. some of the good works are given below for ready reference:

1.        "An Introduction tpm in www.plant-maintenance.com". Retrieved 2016-03-09.

2.       ^ Jump up to:^a b "Seiichi Nakajima - The Principles and Practice of TPM". www.cetpm.de. Retrieved 2016-03-09.

3.       ^ Prabhuswamy, M; Nagesh, P; Ravikumar, K (February 2013). "Statistical Analysis and Reliability Estimation of Total Productive Maintenance". IUP Journal of Operations Management. Rochester, NY: Social Science Electronic Publishing. XII (1): 7–20. SSRN 2246601.

4.       ^ "TPM-Total Productive Maintenance at LeanProduction.com". Retrieved 7 March 2015.

5.       ^ Jump up to:^a b Nicholas, John (1998). Competitive manufacturing management. Europe: McGraw-Hill.

6.       ^ Wienclaw, R (2008). Operations & Business Process Management.

7.       ^ Creech, Bill (1994). Five Pillars of TQM: How to Make Total Quality Management Work for You. E P Dutton.

·         Carannante, Toni. TPM Implementation. https://getinfo.de/en/search/id/BLSE%3ARN118636090/

·         http://www.tpmconsulting.org/dwnld/article/tpmww/TPM%20article3%20.pdf

In TPM, maintenance has to be recognized as a valuable aspect of manufacturing process i.e. the maintenance organization is considered to have a commendable role in making the business more profitable and the manufacturing system more competitive by continuously improving the capability of the equipment, as well as making the practice of maintenance more efficient.

TPM, is designed to prevent the occurrence of losses due to failures and small adjustments during production (which slows down the speed of production) and /or losses due to defects, startup and yield losses, or the losses due to break downs. In industry, total productive maintenance (TPM) is a continuous process of monitoring, maintaining and improving the integrity of production and quality systems of a plant through the machines, equipment, processes, and employees that add business value to an organization.              

It is a company wide team based effort to build, “ Quality in to the Equipment's”, to improve the overall equipment effectiveness.  The three words Total , Productive and Maintenance may be summed up as below:

Total :

•       All Employees are involved 

•       It Aims to eliminate accidents, defects, breakdowns and losses

Productive :

•       Actions are performed while production is on-going

•       Troubles for productions are minimized

•       Ensuring Stoppage free production

Maintenance :

•       Keep in Good Condition

•       Doing regular Cleaning, Lubrication, Inspection, Repair and Tightening

In the next blog I have detailed on the brief history of TPM Practice and its multiple definitions ( Link: A Brief History of Total Productive Maintenance)

Amazon link of some TPM referance books: 

1. "Introduction to TPM: Total Productive Maintenance" Book by Seiichi Nakajima :  https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-TPM-Productive-Maintenance-Preventative/dp/0915299232

2. " TPM in Process Industries (Step-By-Step Approach to TPM Implementation) by Tokutaro Suzuki : https://www.amazon.com/Process-Industries-Step-Approach-Implementation/dp/1563270366

3. " TPM for supervisors (The Shopfloor  Series)" : https://www.amazon.com/TPM-Supervisors-Shopfloor-Productivity-Press/dp/1563271613