Total Productive Maintenance - TBM Consulting Group

M A N A G E M E N T B R I E F I N G
Total Productive Maintenance
8 Steps to Better Equipment Reliability,
More Capacity and Sustained Improvement
By Doug Kiss
Executive Summary
If Total Productive
Maintenance (TPM) did not
produce results or sustainment
at your company, perhaps it
was because you took a tool
approach rather than a systems
approach. Instead of being
viewed as a fixit (or fixitprevention)
measure, TPM
should become the foundation
of a larger maintenance
vision that supports strategic
high-level goals.
The reason many TPM events
don’t show payback or sustain
is that they are one-offs:
The systems that support the
equipment effectiveness are not
put into place; the measures
that support the effort are not
created; or the wrong measures
are forced.
Planning a TPM implementation
and the systems/measures
that support it is critical.
Following up on the data
and the implementation of
countermeasures are the daily
requirements.
The function of the Maintenance
Department is not to fix broken
things. It’s to find, preserve and
expand manufacturing capacity.
You’ve launched your continuous improvement (CI) initiative. Product lines
have replaced process villages. There’s more floor space. Supervisors
and executives are closer to the gemba after experiencing 5S, visual
factory and Managing for Daily Improvement. Standard work has made
abnormalities more visible, and Six Sigma methodology has corrected
problems that have plagued the operation for years.
The results are showing on the bottom line, and Accounting has credited
your CI effort as a large contributor. Fair skies and smooth sailing, right?
Well, partially right. Momentum like this—effectiveness like this—needs
growth to sustain.
But many organizations are hesitating to make investments needed
for growth. Often the roadblock is finding, preserving and expanding
manufacturing capacity.
The tenuous global economy has held back some capital investment, but
some company leaders could also be cautious because they have been
dissatisfied with equipment lifespan and/or lifecycle costs despite using Total
Productive Maintenance (TPM) as part of an operational excellence program.
If TPM did not produce results or
sustainment at your company, perhaps it
was because you took a tool approach rather
than a systems approach.
Instead of being viewed as a fixit (or fixit-prevention) measure, TPM should
become the foundation of a larger maintenance vision that supports
strategic high-level goals.
Equipment-Maintenance Challenges
First, let’s look at equipment-maintenance challenges that are common
among manufacturers and cause problems such as downtime, reduced
speed, product yield and the unknown costs/availability of parts and time
associated with restoration of lost capacity:
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• Austerity has forced a general degradation
of equipment condition in the past decade.
The maintenance skills base has eroded due to
attrition, a decline of technical school graduate
availability, and a tendency among companies
to drop maintenance mentoring/apprenticeships.
Maintenance departments often lack basic and
specific skills, and few have taken the time to
quantify the gap, let alone plan to bridge it. In
addition, maintenance organizations can lack a
vision and a structure that focuses on effectiveness.
Achieving Maintenance
Excellence
Autonomous maintenance, preventivemaintenance
optimization, predictive
maintenance, spare-parts inventory, and waste
elimination in maintenance are just a few of the
subjects you may need to address. The most
effective way we’ve found to make rapid and
sustainable change is through TPM improvement
events conducted as part of a plan to achieve
maintenance excellence. Most events are
weeklong, team-based activities focused on a
critical piece of equipment. Teams learn the
theory, specialty tools and methodology and
immediately apply it. They see the benefits
themselves and help to accelerate the process
throughout the facility. The teams report their
accomplishments at week’s end to the process
owners.
Targeted training and workshops ranging
from one to three days are used as needed to
supplement the TPM improvement events. These
include, but are not limited to:
• Maintenance manager 101
• Lubrication excellence
• Condition-based maintenance and PM
optimization
• Overall equipment effectiveness
The last step is to periodically set new milestones.
Agreement on progress and results in this group
and the setting of the next stretch goal are key.
• Production departments are focused only on
“making the numbers.” Basic daily care and
equipment monitoring are not performed by the
person who is operating or tending the equipment.
We find operators using workarounds and special
tricks and tools to limp things along. Some of these
are good ideas but are seldom shared as best
practices. Others are contributing to advanced
equipment decline as problems go unreported and
some are downright dangerous.
• Computerized Maintenance Management
Systems often are not in place or poorly used.
No useful data is available quickly—equipment
history or spare parts inventory/cost. Good
data and history are essential for making good
decisions about modifying preventive maintenance,
stocking or ordering spare parts, and upgrading or
purchasing equipment.
• Maintenance and Production don’t partner and
share ownership of the equipment. If maintenance
skills are below par and spare parts are not
tracked or managed, preventive maintenance likely
takes too long and causes significant equipment
downtime. The other result is that everyone sees that
Production does not value equipment maintenance.
When equipment is not released for regular service
time after time, it sends a bad message. Both of
these scenarios promote/reflect a lack of trust and
an inability to make and keep agreements.
To address the problems that
result from these challenges,
some have held a TPM event,
which can be a great start—
but a start alone is not a longterm
plan to find, preserve and
create manufacturing capacity
necessary for growth.
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Creating TPM Systems for Long-Term Benefits
The reason many TPM events don’t show payback
or sustain is that they are one-offs: The systems that
support the equipment effectiveness are not put into
place; the measures that support the effort are not
created; or the wrong measures are forced.
(The other option has always been buying new
equipment. While there’s a time for this, I’d suggest
that we put the systems into place to support new and
old equipment alike before making new purchases.)
TBM’s methodology for helping clients move beyond
the TPM “tool” stage to the systems stage includes
these eight components:
Knowing the current state. We start
1.
by examining the production floor, the
maintenance department(s) and the equipment.
Area owners and operators provide input for an
assessment, which is a systems view of where
the factory is from a standpoint of maintenance
excellence. We use a progression benchmark,
often in the structure of bronze/silver/gold to
determine the level of lean progression. The
output provides parameters for priority and
scope, as well as a solid reference in structuring
a get-well plan.
Establishing a steering committee or
2.
ownership structure. While TPM can be
described as a “bottom-up” effort (meaning
without support from the top), it still requires a
team to set goals and identify good measures
for full implementation and sustainment.
These are set as the organization establishes
a “maintenance vision.” It’s remarkable that
most production departments have a vision
statement, but most maintenance organizations
do not.
3.
Identifying critical equipment. One of the
causes
of less-than-optimum TPM implementation
is the enormity of the scope—and therefore the
scarcity of—resources to get the work done.
Using a criticality matrix and numerical scoring
criteria, we take the “emotional noise” out of
the identification and let the data tell us what
equipment is truly critical. (Facilities equipment
must be taken into account during this process).
We can then focus on this list as priority No. 1
in our implementation.
Determining the condition each piece of
4.
critical equipment. Looking at each sub-system
on the equipment (hydraulics, pneumatics,
controls, etc.), we can code the condition of
based on the current state. This not only helps
with the planning of TPM improvement events,
but also helps organizations plan and prioritize
upgrades, overhauls, rebuilds and new
equipment purchases. It is a great advantage
to be able to effectively plan and predict
necessary capital expense.
Conducting a maintenance skills assessment,
5.
implementing a skills matrix. Gaps in skills
must be addressed. The first step is to identify
what basic skills are in need of enhancement
and what machine/process-specific expertise
needs to be upgraded. This is also a good time
to look at the structure of the department. Does
your operation require PM/PdM teams and
planners?
Creating a communications plan and
6. determining initial metrics/measures.
It is necessary that both maintenance and
production organizations know the why/
how/when, and that changes are in store
for everyone.
Prioritizing and planning workshops/
7.
events/training.
8.
Implementing, assessing and improving.
If maintenance skills are below par and spare
parts are not tracked or managed, preventive
maintenance likely takes too long and causes
significant equipment downtime.
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The benefits of this approach are that:
• You create a roadmap of what needs to be done.
As a result, you have a vehicle for enhancements,
course corrections and communication.
• You know how you are going to do it.
• You know how to measure the effects and returns.
Organizations that have their lean house otherwise
in order, are or will find themselves, up against
equipment effectiveness and machine capacity as
a barrier to bringing the benefits of operational
excellence to bear. This may be the result of less-thansuccessful
efforts in the past or simply the last part
of the puzzle to be put together. In either case, it’s
important to understand that the end goal is not TPM,
but maintenance excellence.
Gaps in skills must be addressed.
The first step is to identify what basic
skills are in need of enhancement
and what machine/process-specific
expertise needs to be upgraded.
Planning a TPM implementation and the systems/
measures that support it is critical. Following up on
the data and the implementation of countermeasures
are the daily requirements.
The function of Maintenance is not to fix broken
things. The function of Maintenance is to find,
preserve and expand manufacturing capacity.
About the Author
Doug Kiss is an experienced lean consultant with 28 years of manufacturing experience. He came to TBM in 2005
with a background leading lean in aerospace, commercial, and industrial environments. Trained in Japan in 3P, kaizen,
and TPM, Doug has focused on facilities and services, developing the application of lean tools for conservation and
energy reduction, and has led lean initiatives worldwide.
About TBM Consulting Group
TBM is a global operations management consulting firm that maximizes enterprise value and accelerates growth
by working with clients to leverage operational excellence. We work side-by-side with our clients to immediately
improve EBITDA, accelerate organic growth, integrate newly acquired businesses, and generate immediate and
long-term balance sheet improvements. Our subject-matter professionals average 10-25 years of operational,
management and executive experience, and none of them are career consultants. We leave behind a customized
framework and structure for lasting change using our proprietary LeanSigma ® approach, which has been
continuously improved since its introduction over 20 years ago.
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© 2012 TBM Consulting Group, Inc.
TBM Consulting Group, Inc.
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800.438.5535
www.tbmcg.com
07/2012