Quick Tips: Total Productive Maintenance
When programs do not align with organization’s goals, they may receive support in the beginning, but if they don’t provide direct value to helping the company meet its goals and objectives, it will only be a matter of time before support and resources dry up.
The most effective TPM implementations are those that integrate well into the organization. The problem is that many programs never quite become part of the organization.
Breakdowns not only prevent you from delivering goods on time, but they add expense to your operational costs. You can keep costs down by being proactive instead of waiting for a failure.
By distributing the tasks and responsibilities around, you not only become more flexible and able to respond to changes more quickly, but you involve more people in the improvement process. Productivity comes from working smarter, not harder. That is the difference between effectiveness and efficiency. You can be effective without being efficient, but, the key to productivity is to do both.
TPM gives you a system to become more proactive. It encourages planning ahead instead of waiting for failure to arrive. Planned maintenance not only prevents expensive failures, but is far more economical.
Maintenance Prevention doesn't mean eliminating maintenance, it means eliminating costly maintenance by involving operators, maintenance craftsmen and others in activities that prevent equipment from breaking down. This means detecting problems while they are small and manageable.
Develop internal champions for the change process. These “change agents” will make the difference in your implementation, by owning the change. Training, development, and coaching will take these employees to new personal levels and take your TPM process to the new heights.
The equipment operator can be a valuable resource. They are at the machine far more than maintenance personnel, therefore they are an important resource to detect changes in conditions and perform some of the simpler maintenance tasks such as lubricating, tightening of fasteners, and inspecting.for a failure.
Develop a structured root cause analysis approach. Improvement Teams need the structure and process to be effective. We use the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control method from Six Sigma in our root cause process.
Early Equipment Management (EEM) is a technique for stopping maintenance related issues at the source. One of the most significant impacts we can have on spare parts, maintenance cost, and operations cost starts at the equipment design and purchase.
Skill transfer is a critical step in the development of operator based inspection. Before transferring a task from maintenance to operations, we must first transfer the skills!!!
5 S is a great preparation activity for TPM. It is fairly easy to implement and generally does not require a lot of maintenance resources. It can help show visible results and demonstrate that change is possible with in the current environment.
Use a root cause analysis process to ensure your Equipment Improvement Teams success. Teams often struggle to solve problems, without the use of a structured problem solving approach. Marshall Institute utilizes the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) process to bring structure to the process. This process comes from Six Sigma and is a proven problem solving model.
Partner with other local businesses that are implementing TPM. By networking, your organization can share best practices, share training costs, benchmark with other companies, and reward participation in the TPM process. This low cost resource can provide great returns!!!
Conduct a team report out at the end of your Autonomous Care events. The team gets a chance to discuss the improvements implemented, as well as discuss support needed to continue improving. Do not let the report outs take longer than 1 hour, and include a visit to the equipment.
Network with other TPM/TPR professionals. Conferences, seminars, and user forums are all good methods of keeping in touch. Conduct a team report out at the end of your Autonomous Care events. The team gets a chance to discuss the improvements implemented, as well as discuss support needed to continue improving. Do not let the report outs take longer than 1 hour, and include a visit to the equipment.
When beginning a TPM/TPR implementation, calculate a business case for the initiative. Develop a picture of cost savings, production improvements, and intangible benefits. Understanding this benefits helps with sustaining and justifying the efforts.
When implementing TPM/TPR find small ways to demonstrate that change is possible. Equipment improvement teams, autonomous care workshops, root cause analysis, and breakthrough teams can all be used to demonstrate "quick wins".
When applying visual controls: Clear packaging tape placed over equipment labels helps with adhesion and protection in harsh industrial environments. When applying visual controls: Clear packaging tape placed over equipment labels helps with adhesion and protection in harsh industrial environments.
Create a vision for the change desired with the TPR/TPM process. Once your key leaders agree on the vision, you can start to communicate the vision to the employees. Tie all TPR/TPM activities with the vision. Ask: How does this action support the vision?
Visual Controls are used to reinforce standards and to help the operator tell "normal from abnormal".
Standards are the key to accountability and the elimination of variation. The standard defines the expectation so the quality of the task can be audited and encouraged.
Always begin your TPM/TPR implementation with an assessment of your current status. The assessment will establish a baseline, understanding of the current environment, and a basis for future audits.
Always build a strong support system for your TPM/TPR process. Long term success and sustainability requires a broad support structure. Ensure that if one key supporter for the process leaves, your process will not fail.
Brainstorming minor stoppages (less than 10 minutes in duration) with the various operators helps to identify those that need to be tracked but also helps to win their commitment to tracking them in order to remove the recurring nuisances. A checklist on a clipboard with a pencil next to the machine can aid the operator in tracking by marking tick marks for each occurrence. Then calculating the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) can help identify the real culprits and monitor the effectiveness of any solutions.
Do you have any tips that you would like to share? Send us your maintenance & reliability tip, name, company, and job title to email[at]marshallinstitute.com and you might be featured next month!