Facility managers consider factors like maintenance, dependability and operations to ensure excellent production conditions. However, this is easier said than done. Total productive maintenance makes this possible and CMMS software can help.
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A Senseye study of major industrial firms finds that large facilities lose 27 hours a month to machine failures, on average, at the cost of $532,000 for each hour of unplanned downtime.
Considering these whopping numbers, we’ll attempt to understand the importance of achieving total productive maintenance and how it helps to improve maintenance team performance and productivity.
What This Article Covers:
- What Is Total Productive Maintenance?
- 8 Pillars
- 5 Core Elements
- Primary Benefits
- How to Calculate TPM
- Who Should Participate in TPM?
- How to Implement a Plan
- Conclusion
What Is Total Productive Maintenance?
Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a complete facility management technique that strives to achieve flawless output and prevent failures. TPM ensures that equipment is reliable, manufacturing productivity is high and product quality is high.
Preventative maintenance strategies, ongoing technician training, and good communication between maintenance and production workers are essential to meet total productive maintenance goals. TPM aims to reduce the following issues:
- Unplanned downtime
- Human mistakes
- Manufacturing defects
- Workplace accidents
- Resource waste
- Inefficiency
TPM prioritizes proactive and preventative maintenance to maximize the operating efficiency of the equipment. It blurs the line between production and maintenance by emphasizing the importance of empowering operators to assist in the upkeep of their equipment.
Implementing a TPM program provides a shared responsibility for equipment that motivates plant floor workers to increase their involvement. This can be quite helpful in raising productivity in the correct atmosphere (increasing uptime, reducing cycle times and eliminating defects).
8 Pillars
1. Autonomous Maintenance
Training your equipment operators to do routine maintenance chores on their assigned machinery is called autonomous maintenance. This encourages accountability and ownership in employees to ensure regular cleaning, lubrication and equipment maintenance. Personal accountability helps employees identify possible equipment faults before they occur.
2. Focused Improvement
Small teams can optimize tasks and workflows by employing a cross-functional approach to problem-solving.
3. Planned Maintenance
The frequency of scheduled maintenance is determined by the machine’s performance and failure rates. Its purpose is to eliminate unplanned downtime and problems.
4. Early Equipment Management
Machine operators’ practical expertise and experience are essential for suppliers. This simplifies maintenance easier and increases equipment performance soon after installation.
5. Quality Maintenance
Quality maintenance improves overall manufacturing quality. Timely detection of equipment failures and resolution help to eliminate faulty production issues.
6. Education and Training:
Maintenance tasks are performed properly due to ongoing training and coaching. TPM’s goals and standards are applicable to machine operators, maintenance specialists, and supervisors.
7. Safety, Health, Environment (SHE)
TPM also improves working conditions making facilities safer and cleaner and more efficient. A healthy working environment boosts employee productivity making them alert and thereby reducing accidents.
8. Office TPM
TPM improves not only production but also administrative processes. It optimizes tasks like procurement, scheduling and order processing. Office TPM ensures the availability of equipment and materials.
5S Methodology
The traditional TPM approach uses the 5S methodology. The purpose of 5S is to keep working environments clean in the following order:
- Sort: Sort the tools, supplies and equipment in the work area and remove everything that isn’t needed.
- Set in Order: Arrange the remaining things in a logical manner.
- Shine: Keep your workplace spotless at all times.
- Standardize: Define clear standards for the first three tasks.
- Sustain: Ensure long-term sustainability of the 5S system.
Primary Benefits
Limit Unplanned Maintenance
Equipment is well-maintained thanks to meticulously planned and scheduled maintenance. TPM also encourages all plant employees to take ownership of their machinery, making maintenance a worthwhile investment. Assets are better cared for because TPM makes upkeep personal.
Workplace Safety
When technicians are racing to solve a breakdown, they are significantly more prone to incur risks; therefore, fewer breakdowns indicate a safer workplace. Furthermore, when everyone remembers to maintain their equipment, problems can be identified and addressed before they become potentially dangerous situations.
Better Overall Facility Performance
Small fixes will stop going undetected if everyone in a facility keeps an eye on maintenance, which will help you move away from reactive maintenance and control the backlog. It relieves the maintenance team of small-job stress, allowing them to focus on larger projects, which improves your facility’s overall performance. Get rid of the backlog by switching to proactive maintenance.
Less Unplanned Downtime
As machine operators have a better understanding of their equipment, they will be able to spot anomalies more easily. Operators can warn the maintenance staff before equipment breaks down since they are on the front lines and can detect problems sooner. You can schedule maintenance at your convenience to ensure uninterrupted production.
How to Calculate
The best way to measure TPM is by calculating Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
OEE = Availability x Performance x Quality
Availability is measured as 100% minus the following:
- Time lost due to equipment failure
- Time lost due to modifications and setup
- Time lost due to returning to work after breaks and weekends
Performance is measured as 100% minus the following:
- Time lost as a result of minor disruptions
- Time lost as a result of speed (actual vs. optimal speed)
Quality is measured as 100% minus losses related to defects in production.
If availability is 94%, performance is 95%, and quality is 92%, the OEE calculation is 0.90 x 0.95 x 0.92 = 82%.
TPM’s ultimate goal is to increase OEE to 100% or to keep equipment running at full speed, at maximum capacity and without interruptions. TPM also places a premium on producing products that are free of flaws.
Who Should Participate in TPM?
According to the total productive maintenance philosophy, equal participation is essential.
Top Management & Reliability Engineers
Total productive maintenance should be applied as a corporate policy enabling top managers to participate and keep abreast of maintenance costs. Reliability managers must be involved to crunch maintenance data from the CMMS.
Operators
Operators are the main handlers of a facility’s assets, making them responsible for asset upkeep. They ensure assets go for regular cleaning and lubrication. They detect and report early symptoms of equipment damage and identify ways to improve equipment performance.
Maintenance Personnel
Maintenance teams are responsible for training and assisting operators in achieving their objectives and doing more complex preventative maintenance tasks. They aim to improve operating procedures that are directly related to key performance indicators (KPIs).
How to Implement a Plan
The successful implementation of a total productive maintenance program consists of seven steps:
1. Announce the TPM Program and Organize Training Sessions
Announce your plan to develop a TPM program and start a training program. Communicate the program’s goals, benefits and roles to participants clearly and concisely.
2. Identify the Target Area
Focus on one piece of equipment at a time to prevent being overwhelmed. The first equipment for which you’ll apply TPM concepts is either:
- The one easiest to improve
- The one that leads to frequent bottlenecks
- The one that has the most problems
The equipment that is the easiest to improve will yield the most immediate results. This is also the least dangerous method. Fixing equipment that fails frequently will boost productivity immediately. However, this method is not advisable for high-risk situations and only companies with TPM experience should use it.
3. Restore Equipment to Its Original Condition
This stage entails following the 5S principles to restore the device to its original operational capacity:
- Remove all unnecessary tools from the work area
- Organize all tools and parts that are required
- Clean both the equipment and the work area
- Take pictures of the equipment in its current state
- Conduct audits to ensure that the equipment is in good working order
4. Offer Training for Autonomous Maintenance
Provide enough training to equipment operators so they can undertake routine maintenance on their own. The success of TPM depends on open communication between machine operators and maintenance professionals.
5. Track and Measure Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Over Time
Keep track of the overall effectiveness of this piece of equipment and compare it over time. Recognize positive and negative patterns and make adjustments as needed. Drops in OEE are most commonly caused by unplanned stop time. It is important to conduct a root cause analysis for every recurrence. A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) can provide necessary data about trends over the last few weeks to offer insights into problems and how to manage them proactively.
6. Reduce Losses
You’ll be able to assess the most common causes of losses using OEE data. Assign a dedicated team to identify symptoms and recommend actions. During planned maintenance, implement those actions. Once manufacturing restarts, analyze the outcomes. Track OEE to assess the solution’s sustainability.
7. Introduce Proactive Maintenance
Schedule planned maintenance tasks. Determine which asset components are susceptible to failure and/or deterioration. Conduct maintenance activities according to those requirements.
Conclusion
Total productive maintenance is a comprehensive approach to maintenance that boosts productivity, lowers the chance of failure and enhances overall performance. TPM is founded on the concepts of autonomous and preventative maintenance and demands the active participation of all workers and managers.
Do you follow total productive methods in your facility? How did they help you improve maintenance? Let us know in the comments!