Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering

You may need RCM to enhance TPM implementation

Mohamed Ben-Daya
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Mohamed Ben-Daya, (2000),"You may need RCM to enhance TPM implementation", Journal of Quality in
Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 6 Iss 2 pp. 82 - 85
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Jonas Hansson, Fredrik Backlund, Liselott Lycke, (2003),"Managing commitment: increasing the odds
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Fang Lee Cooke, (2000),"Implementing TPM in plant maintenance: some organisational barriers",
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F. Ireland, B.G. Dale, (2001),"A study of total productive maintenance implementation", Journal of Quality in
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JQME
6,2
82
Downloaded by Chinese University of Hong Kong At 23:20 13 February 2016 (PT)
Journal of Quality in Maintenance
Engineering, Vol. 6 No. 2, 2000,
pp. 82-85. # MCB University
Press, 1355-2511
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
http://www.emerald-library.com
You may need RCM to enhance
TPM implementation
Mohamed Ben-Daya
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran,
Saudi Arabia
Keywords Total productive maintenance, Reliability, Maintenance
Abstract A brief article considering the nature of total productive maintenance (TPM) and
reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) and the relationship between the two. Notes equipment
management and empowerment of employees as key features of TPM. Sees the development of
an effective preventive maintenance program as essential to effective equipment management
and suggests that RCM is central to the development of such a program. Points out that, if
implemented within the framework of TPM, RCM can help achieve better results from the TPM
implementation.
What is total productive maintenance (TPM)? What is reliability-centered
maintenance (RCM)? Is there a relationship between the two? By defining TPM
and RCM and explaining their role in modern maintenance practices, it
becomes clear that RCM can play a vital role in a successful TPM
implementation.
TPM is an extremely effective strategy for increasing industrial
effectiveness. The development of TPM began in Japan in the 1970s where it
proved to be very successful in enhancing the effectiveness and profitability of
several Japanese companies. TPM is now well accepted by Japanese
industrialists and is attracting the interest of industrialists in several countries
around the world.
Nakajima (1988) defines TPM as ``productive maintenance involving total
participation'' that includes the following elements:
. TPM aims to maximize equipment effectiveness.
. TPM establishes a thorough system of preventive maintenance (PM) for
the equipment's entire life span.
. TPM is implemented by various departments (engineering, operations,
and maintenance).
. TPM involves every single employee, from top management to workers
on the floor.
. TPM is based on the promotion of PM through motivation and
management of autonomous small group activities.
The last two elements are common Japanese concepts in line with total quality
management and total employee involvement. Most companies in other
 countries are organized with maintenance and operations as two separate You may need
entities. Consequently, the implementation of TPM in non-Japanese companies RCM to enhance
shifts the attention from ``the total involvement of every employee'' to the TPM
effectiveness of equipment. Hartman (1992), who introduced TPM to several US
companies, states that TPM permanently improves the overall effectiveness of
equipment, with the active involvement of operators.
From these definitions, there are basically two features that define and 83
characterize TPM. The most important of these two features is equipment
management. Production equipment is one of a manufacturing company's
largest assets. Asset utilization is widely used as a measure of return on assets.
In many cases, equipment utilization is very low. Consequently, a sound
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equipment management program aimed at improving asset utilization is a

must for the competitiveness and profitability of any organization.
This is why equipment management is the focus of TPM. The second major
feature of TPM is the empowerment of employees. The organizational line
between maintenance, production, and engineering is often a source of
inefficiency, higher costs, and lower productivity. With TPM, operators and
mechanics must realize that they both have the same goal and consequently
must co-operate and have a teamwork spirit.
The goals of TPM include, but are not limited to, the following:
. improve product quality;
. reduce waste;
. improve the state of maintenance; and
. empower employees.
These goals are achieved through a careful implementation of the concepts of
employee empowerment and sound equipment management.
The involvement of the operators in the success of TPM cannot be
overemphasized. A pragmatic way of achieving this is by using a systematic
approach to skill under which an operator who has been properly trained and
certified can perform a mechanical task, and vice versa. This partnership
between operations and maintenance has many benefits:
. operators and mechanics become multi-skilled, leading to job
enrichment and improved flexibility of workers;
. the involvement of operators in routine maintenance builds a sense of
responsibility, pride, and ownership;
. delay times are reduced and productivity is increased; and
. promotion of teamwork between operations and maintenance.
Equipment is the focus of TPM. This effort starts by identifying the major
losses with regard to equipment. The following six losses limit equipment
effectiveness (Nakajima, 1988):
 JQME (1) equipment failure (breakdown);
6,2 (2) setup and adjustment downtime;
(3) idling and minor stoppages;
(4) reduced speed;
84 (5) process defects; and
(6) reduced yield.
The ultimate goal of TPM, with respect to equipment, is to increase its
effectiveness to its highest potential and to maintain it at that level. This can be
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achieved by understanding the above losses and devising means of eliminating

them. This requires the development of an effective preventive maintenance
(PM) program that keeps the equipment at a high level of overall effectiveness.
RCM can play a vital role in developing such a PM program. First, what is
RCM?
RCM is a systematic approach used to optimize preventive maintenance
(PM) strategies. In many companies, PM tasks are either unnecessary, because
they have little impact on plant operations, or very conservative, in the sense
that PM activities are performed more frequently than actually needed. The
focus of RCM is on maintaining system function rather than restoring
equipment to an ideal condition. The RCM methodology proved to be extremely
effective to the airline and nuclear industries. Recently, there has been a great
deal of interest in RCM development in fossil power plants, oil refineries, and
railroads, among other industries.
In order to maintain system function in a cost-effective way, RCM is
characterized by the following features (Smith, 1993):
. The primary objective of RCM is to preserve system function. This is
quite a departure from traditional thinking.
. The failure modes that cause functional failure need to be identified.
. The failure modes need to be prioritized to reflect their importance to the
system function.
. The PM actions that are applicable, in the sense that if they are
performed they achieve the goal of PM mentioned above, and cost
effectiveness must be identified.
RCM methodology is a systematic approach that can be used to implement the
above four features (Smith, 1993). The resulting process provides a rational
justification of PM tasks for each piece of equipment as to why these tasks were
selected. The identification of various PM tasks is directed towards preserving
system function and is based on a comprehensive knowledge of equipment
failure modes. This process ensures that the most applicable and cost-effective
tasks are selected.
 Clearly RCM offers a sound framework for optimizing the maintenance You may need
effort and getting the maximum out of the resources committed to the PM RCM to enhance
program. This is by no means restricted to the airline industry or nuclear TPM
plants but offers tremendous opportunities in other areas as well. If
implemented within the framework of TPM, RCM can help achieve better
results from TPM implementation. RCM methodology will definitely be
beneficial to the overall efficiency of the organization since it enhances the area 85
of PM so crucial for TPM success.
References
Hartman (1992), Successfully Installing TPM in a Non-Japanese Plant, TPM Press.
Downloaded by Chinese University of Hong Kong At 23:20 13 February 2016 (PT)

Nakajima, S. (1988), Introduction to TPM, Productivity Press, Portland, OR.

Smith, A.M. (1993), Reliability Centered Maintenance, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
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