Manufacturing companies continuously seek ways to increase their production and efficiency in today’s fast-paced business world. Equipment downtime and unforeseen maintenance are one of the most significant problems that manufacturers face. Unplanned maintenance can seriously disrupt operations, raising expenses, lowering output, and lowering customer satisfaction. In the last three years, 82% of companies experienced at least one unplanned downtime incident. Additionally, businesses must take action to reduce any hazards to their workers and the environment because these issues are growing more and more significant.
In response to these difficulties, many firms are implementing Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) to enhance equipment dependability and increase production effectiveness. But what really is TPM, and how can it assist businesses in overcoming these difficulties?
The meaning of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
Total Productive Maintenance – TPM process is a strategy for maintaining and enhancing the performance of equipment that involves all employees. It seeks to boost overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) through less downtime, increased productivity, and providing employees with a safer environment. TPM promotes a culture of continuous improvement by involving all staff members in identifying issues, dealing with them, and suggesting solutions. Optimizing equipment performance and lowering maintenance and production downtime costs are the two primary objectives of TPM pillars.
What are the four main objectives of TPM?
- Boosting productivity and decreasing breakdowns to improve equipment performance.
- Encouraging participation from all staff members in the maintenance and improvement of the equipment, including operators and maintenance personnel.
- Putting safety first by spotting and eliminating any dangers
- Encouraging staff members to suggest fixes and enhancements will help to promote a culture of continual improvement.
Total Productive Maintenance is built upon eight pillars to accomplish these objectives. Let’s take a look at them.
8 Pillars of TPM (Total Productive Maintenance)
Total Productive Maintenance’s (TPM) eight pillars are:
1. Focused Improvement
This TPM pillar concentrates on locating and addressing certain flaws or difficulties within the production process in order to boost overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). The employee must be proactive, willing to try out new methods, and eager to find solutions.
2. Autonomy
This pillar encourages all employees, including operators and maintenance personnel, to take responsibility for the maintenance and improvement of the equipment. This ensures that every piece of equipment is maintained properly, improves early failure detection, and frees up maintenance staff to perform more difficult tasks.
According to Statista report, the Global predictive maintenance market is expected to grow from 4.5 Billion U.S. Dollars to 64.3 Billion U.S. dollars in 2030.
3. Quality Maintenance
The major goal of TPM’s quality maintenance programme is to generate zero defective items, which undoubtedly has an impact on customer satisfaction.
4. Planned maintenance
The best way to avoid problems and downtime is planned maintenance. The best time for any planned maintenance, which necessitates the machinery being turned off, is during regular business hours. After business hours, maintenance saves manufacturers time, and it also doesn’t impact any productions.
Here are some of the statistics of average downtime cost across multiple industries. Automotive manufacturers incur the highest loss due to downtime.
5. Early Equipment Maintenance
When buying new equipment or producing new products, early experiences make a huge difference and make the maintenance process easier. This might be as simple as choosing wall paint that can be easily cleaned or as complex as choosing a robot that can diagnose problems on its own (which improves production).
6. Training and Education
For TPM, investing money in training and education is essential. It is essential to understand the basics of asset maintenance. Continuous training is the only way to ensure that professionals are up to date on new technology and industry best practices. Just-in-time learning can play a significant role in this pillar of TPM.
7. Safety, Health, and Environment
Other TPM objective is in the areas of safety, health, and the environment, which includes zero work accidents, zero pollution, and zero burnout. In addition to ensuring the health and safety of every employee, effective maintenance management helps to avoid accidents from happening while doing maintenance duties.
8. Office TPM
This means that rather than relying solely on the workers, managers and administrative personnel should also engage. Everyone must be proactive and dedicated to making improvements, from scheduling to logistics.
What are the benefits of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)?
1. Less Unplanned Maintenance Time
One of the main advantages of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is that it cuts down on unplanned maintenance time by spotting and fixing possible equipment issues before they grow into significant problems. Routine checks, maintenance, cleaning, and repairs, as well as planned downtime for maintenance, can help accomplish this. TPM reduces downtime and boosts productivity by preventing equipment failure and breakdowns.
2. Safer Working Environment
A safer working environment is achieved via TPM, which focuses on identifying and removing potential dangers while also prioritizing worker safety and environmental protection. This involves putting safety procedures in place to guarantee that workers are doing so in a secure environment, which can lower the likelihood of accidents and injuries.
3. Increased Output Quality
TPM also contributes to raising the standard of the goods or services that are produced. This is accomplished by making sure that all equipment is running at peak efficiency, which can lower the number of defective goods produced and raise customer satisfaction.
4. Proven Impact
It has been demonstrated that TPM has a beneficial impact on a company’s overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and bottom line. This effect can be measured in terms of cost savings from decreased maintenance and downtime expenses, as well as through improvements in productivity and efficiency. Companies that use TPM can see a considerable return on their investment in the form of better equipment reliability, higher output, and decreased maintenance and downtime expenses.
5. Increased employee empowerment and engagement
TPM involves all employees, including operators and maintenance staff, in the maintenance and improvement of equipment. This promotes employee ownership of their work and the tools they use, which boosts engagement and empowers workers, ultimately leading to more productivity and higher-quality output.
6. Increased Flexibility and Adaptability
The TPM approach to maintenance is flexible and adaptive. It enables businesses to immediately respond to any issues or problems that may develop as well as adapt to changes in manufacturing processes and equipment. Companies that are flexible and adaptable can stay competitive in a market that is constantly evolving.
Conclusion
To sum up, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a thorough maintenance approach that engages all staff members in preserving and enhancing the functionality of the equipment.
With TPM education, manufacturers can provide their workforce with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively use AR technology in repair and maintenance procedures, resulting in a more efficient and streamlined process. Additionally, TPM training can help employees identify areas of improvement in their maintenance practices, which can be further enhanced with AR technology. By combining TPM training and AR technology, manufacturers can reduce downtime, increase productivity, and improve overall maintenance operations.
When the eight pillars are combined with AR technology, employees will be able to understand the equipment and its maintenance requirements better, and real-time information will be provided to support them in swiftly recognizing and resolving faults. This will result in higher production productivity, better overall equipment performance, and lower maintenance and downtime expenses. The addition of AR to TPM can also improve staff training by making it more engaging and efficient. Manufacturers may stay ahead of the curve and boost their competitiveness in the current fast-paced business environment by introducing AR into TPM. Check out how Plutomen’s AR solutions can benefit your organization in regard to TPM.