Concepts of Business Excellence : Concepts of Total Productive Maintenance -Topic - 4 : 12 steps of TPM implementation program

12 steps of TPM implementation program

Total Productive Maintenance (abbreviated as TPM), looks to be quite a vast and complex concept when it is newly introduced to an organization. An Organization which probably may not have enough exposure to the subject is sure to face a lot of difficulty to understand, absorbe and internalize the concepts of TPM and bring in to regular practice. A huge sum of money, a great part of effective resource and a large share of effective time also gets absorbed to get all, or atleast most of the employees to start practicing the pillar wise (Refer "Eight Pillars of TPM : https://kalpanathchatterjee.blogspot.com/2020/04/concepts-of-total-productive_27.htmlhttps://kalpanathchatterjee.blogspot.com/2020/04/concepts-of-total-productive_27.html) concepts of TPM.

Initially TPM, as a concept was centered only with in production and maintenance areas. While practicing, looking at the results and looking at applicability, these concepts were furthermore extended to relevant non- production areas, like "Engineering", "New Product Development", "Office Areas", "Administration", "Safety", and "Sales". In 1980's when most of the TPM practicing companies, were taking TPM concepts, beyond the shop floor and were trying to make it a company-wide practice, were facing certain common difficulties as there were no set strategy to do so. Around 1983, 12 steps of TPM implementation program was first introduced and to further structurize, these 12 steps were categorized under four stages.

The Initial four stages are :

Stage 1 - Introduction - Preparatory Stage
Stage 2 - Kick-off Stage of TPM
Stage 3 - Execution Stage
Stage 4 - Establishment Stage of TPM

The 12 Step of TPM implementation program is arranged under these 4 Stages. The detailed stages, the steps and the highlights of the points of implementation is shown below. With reference to the below steps a complete TPM implementation time-line mabe devised or while preparing a complete time-line from introduction to establishment phase, the below stage management plan may be referred.

Stage 1 - Introduction - Preparatory Stage : The introduction phase consists of 5 Steps. Form timeline perspective this stage should consume six to eight months time frame. It involves following five steps:

Step 1 : Declaration of the resolution of "TPM implementation"in the organization by top management :

A formal announcement of TPM implementation plan and Top Management's commitment is declared.
The same information is multiple times resonated in board meetings, internal communication meetings, through internal communication mediums like internal newsletters and bulletins so that all the employees are equally communicated.

Step 2 : TPM education and campaign :

Publicity campaigns are initiated and TPM orientation sessions are held.
Training for senior management, middle management and junior management employees on TPM course is initiated. Staffs of same echelon are scheduled together. For general employees slide show meetings and other communication meeting forums are used.

Step 3 : Establishment of TPM organization :

Setting up of Steering committee, formation of TPM pillar wise subcommittees are are done. A central TPM office or TPM promotion secretariat may also be formed to have a channel of central communication and coordination.
Organizational model may be formally re-structured to have management led pilot models established.

Step 4 : Setting of TPM policies, principles and targets :

TPM Program objectives and policies are clearly defined may be with respect to industry benchmarks, past performance, prediction of effects or industry competition. Business objectives are built inline to the TPM policies, principles and targets.
Survey of all the breakdowns and breakdown trends , accidents and accident trends, quality defects, losses and leakages are done in this phase and a baseline is established to critically define the improvement indices.

Step 5 : Formulation of TPM Implementation Program Master Plan :

A complete step wise master plan is formulated form introduction/ preparation stage to undergoing the TPM excellence certification examination. The timeline of the master plan may vary based upon the type of organization, complexity of processes and adaptability of employees.
With respect to the master plan annual target plans, quarterly activity plans and monthly schedules may be derived.

Stage 2 - Kick-off Stage of TPM : This stage includes the sixth step that is Kick-off of TPM. This step may take one to six months time to get concluded based on the span of customers, suppliers, cooperative companies and other involved agencies.

Step 6 : Kick-off of the TPM implementation program :

This step involves inviting the customers (in case the concerned organization is a supplier organization), suppliers, associated companies, cooperative companies, relevant interested parties, and involved agencies and officially inform them about the organizations resolution for TPM implementation program.

Stage 3 - Execution Stage : This stage includes five steps. Based upon the span of organization, the robustness of the processes, status of improvement indices, and involvement of employees of all levels the time line may differ from two to five years. Committed efforts, regular status reviews and dipstick checks and taking countermeasures on the reasons of performance lacunas will definitely help in reducing the timeline of TPM execution. This stage involves following five steps:

Step 7: Establishment of system for maximizing the production efficiency :

This step aspires to have ultimate production efficiency and effectiveness while using four pillars of TPM, i.e. Kobetsu Kaizen (KK), Jishu Hozen (JH) , Kaikaku Hozen (KH), Education and training (E&T).

7.1. Kobetsu-Kaizen (Focused Improvement) : Deploy shop-floor teams and special project teams to pursue project team activities and workshop based small group activities.
7.2. Jishu-Hozen (Autonomous Maintenance) : Introducing and nourishing the concept of self initiated checks, diagnosis, conduction of audits and closure certification of the open points by the operator running the machine. ( Refer 7 steps of JH : Link Under preparation).
7.3. Kaikaku-Hozen (Planned maintenance) : This step is about achieving zero break down conditions while practicing corrective, periodic and preventive maintenance.
7.4. Education and Training : This step is about training and developing the concerned team leaders to build a through knowledge on machine equipment and processes. Continuous education and training will raise the technical expertise and Know-how of the team leaders and the same team leaders will be involved in percolating / passing on the same to the team members.

Step 8 : Establishment of early equipment management - development management :

In this step the key concept is establishing "Initial phase management system" for the new products and "Vertical startup along with machine health checkup during purchasing" is monitored for new equipment.
The objective is to develop easy to manufacture product and to have easy to maintain equipment. Target is to achieve a zero maintenance machine. (Refer "Eight Pillars of TPM" - Development Management : https://kalpanathchatterjee.blogspot.com/2020/04/concepts-of-total-productive_27.html for further details).

Step 9 : Establishment of Hinshitsu-Hozen (Quality Maintenance) system :

Establish and sustain zero defect conditions is the objective of this step. It focuses on creation of conditions in which defects do not occur and the maintenance management of those conditions. (Refer "Eight Pillars of TPM" - Quality Maintenance : https://kalpanathchatterjee.blogspot.com/2020/04/concepts-of-total-productive_27.html).

Step 10 : Office TPM for administration and support :

This step focuses on creation of systems for improvement of efficiency of administrative / indirect departments.
Support the production department to increase own efficiency and develop more effective office equipment. (Refer "Eight Pillars of TPM" - Office TPM : https://kalpanathchatterjee.blogspot.com/2020/04/concepts-of-total-productive_27.html).

Step 11 : Establishment of Safety, Health and Environment :

This step is focussed on creation of systems to establish a controlled work environment from the perspective of safety, health and environment.
The objective is to create systems to establish a culture of zero accidents and zero pollution cases. (Refer "Eight Pillars of TPM" - SHE : https://kalpanathchatterjee.blogspot.com/2020/04/concepts-of-total-productive_27.html).

Stage 4 - Establishment Stage of TPM : This is the final stage of TPM implementation program where all the concepts of TPM is considered to have been institutionalized and it is the stage of consolidation. This stage is only having single step i.e. step 12 and may take maximum six month to conclude.

Step 12 : Complete implementation of TPM and targeting improvements :

In this step all the activities related to TPM implementation is considered to have been accomplished. Consolidation of all level is done and the organization is undergoing examinations for PM awards.
At the end of this step higher, more stringent and tough targets are taken and futuristic road map is plotted.

These 12 steps are very important to be managed effectively and 100% employee engagement needs to be ensured by the organizational management team during the total implementation program. A tree diagram is shown below:

Fig.1: Tree diagram to explain the inter relation of four stages and 12 steps of TPM implementation program.

Hope this blog is helpful for you. you can post your feedbacks and doubts in the comment section below. in the next blog we will talk about the eight pillars of TPM.

... To be continued