Topic X Total

Productive
7 Maintenance
(TPM)
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the topic, you should be able to:
1. Explain Total Productive Maintenance (TPM);
2. Describe the eight pillars of TPM;
3. Summarise eight major losses;
4. Review the strategies for implementing the five pillars of TPM; and
5. Describe the three stages of TPM implementation.

X INTRODUCTION

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) can be considered as the medical science of

machines, just like the cartoon above. It is a maintenance programme that
involves a newly defined concept for maintaining equipments and plants. The
ultimate goal of the TPM programme is to increase production while increasing
82 X TOPIC 7 TOTAL PRODUCTIVE MAINTENANCE (TPM)

employee morale and job satisfaction. You will discover more about TPM as you
go through this topic. We will look at the definition of TPM, the eight pillars of
TPM, eight major losses, strategies for implementing the five pillars of TPM and
lastly, the three stages of TPM implementation. Enjoy your reading!

7.1 WHAT IS TOTAL PRODUCTIVE

MAINTENANCE (TPM)?
Have you ever heard of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)? What should you
know about it?

Figure 7.1 shows you how TPM evolved throughout the years. Productive
Maintenance includes equipment operatorsÊ participation and Predictive
Maintenance in Preventive Maintenance (PM).

Figure 7.1: Evolution of TPM

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The birth of TPM resulted with the inclusion of small-group activities in

productive maintenance. Do you know that both preventive maintenance and
productive maintenance were concepts imported from United States to Japan?

Like Total Quality Control (TQC), which is a companywide total quality control,
TPM is equipment maintenance performed on a companywide basis. The term
TPM is defined to include the following:

(a) Maximise equipment effectiveness (improve overall efficiency);

(b) Develop a system to productive maintenance for the life of the
equipment;
(c) Involve all departments that plan, design, use or maintain equipment
in implementing TPM (engineering and design, production and
maintenance);
(d) Actively involve all employees  from top management to shop-floor
workers; and
(e) Promote TPM through motivation management: autonomous small
group activities.

Do you know that the word „total‰ in „ttotal productive maintenance‰ has three
meanings related to three important features of TPM? Let us look at them one by
one in Figure 7.2.

Figure 7.2: Three meanings of „total‰ in TPM

What are the goals of TPM? Well, apart from zero accidents, the other two goals
of TPM are zero breakdowns and zero defects. What happens when breakdowns
and defects are eliminated? When breakdowns and defects are eliminated,
equipment operation rates improve, costs are reduced, inventory can be
minimised and as a consequence, labour productivity increases.
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SELF-CHECK 7.1

Between the three meanings of „total‰ in TPM, which do you think

is the hardest to achieve and why?

7.2 PILLARS OF TPM

Let us look at the pillars of TPM. TPM is a plant-wide activity related to
production equipment. The programme ensures that the operation and
maintenance department work in small groups to sustain the overall
effectiveness of equipment throughout its life cycle. In other words, both
production and maintenance departments take overall responsibility for the
effective operation of the equipment. This is contrary to the conventional way of
looking at the equipment by the production and departments, that is:

The following are the eight pillars of TPM (see Figure 7.3). The first five, which
are (a) to (e), relate to effective equipment management which will be covered in
detail later in this topic.
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Figure 7.3: Eight pillars of TPM

The first five pillars of TPM activities are similar to those of bringing up a
neglected child to its prime health. The illustration in Table 7.1 outlines the
similarities.

Table 7.1: The Similarities between TPM and Bringing Up a Neglected Child to
Its Prime Health

Child TPM
Elimination of Chronic Sickness Elimination of Major Losses
Daily Health Care Activities Autonomous Maintenance
Periodic Medical Checkups Schedule Maintenance
Education on Health Care Activities Training
Pre Natal Care Early Equipment Management

From the explanation in Table 7.1, it can be observed that the activities associated
with the pillars of TPM are essential for a holistic approach to maintenance
management. In the next section, we will look in detail at the first five pillars of
TPM.
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7.2.1 Eight Major Losses

The following describes the eight major losses that impede or obstruct equipment
efficiency (see Table 7.2).

Table 7.2: Eight Major Losses

Loss Explanation
Shutdown Loss x Equipment stoppage for:
 Maintenance; and
 Inspection.
x Schedule shutdown for legal inspection.
Production Adjustment Loss x Set-up changes shutdown for subsequent
production  time spent in „adjustment‰.
Equipment Failure Loss/Repair Parts x Shutdown for replacing worn out parts.
Change Loss
Process Failure Loss x Equipment shutdown resulting from:
 Function stoppage  stoppage occurs
unexpectedly.
 Function Deterioration  decrease of
equipment function.
Normal Production Loss/Start-up Loss x Total time spent to start-up, running in and
operating condition of the equipment to
stabilise or production.
x Total time spent to gradually shut-down
equipment or production.
Abnormal Production Loss/Minor x Machine stoppage or idling due to
Stoppages and Idling Loss temporary trouble (minor trouble):
 Clogging;
 Sensor defects; and
 Non-conforming products.
Quality Defect Loss x Defects that are considered waste.
Reprocessing Loss x Reprocessed products need wasted time
and manpower.

(a) Overall Effectiveness of Equipment (OEE)

To distinguish and quantify losses that impede or obstruct the effectiveness,
it is helpful to identify the structure of losses that occur in a plant.
Figure 7.4 outlines the structure of the eight major losses and provides
the formula for calculating overall equipment/plant effectiveness (OEE).
 TOPIC 7 TOTAL PRODUCTIVE MAINTENANCE (TPM) W 87

Figure 7.4: Eight major losses and OEE

This loss structure was devised by considering the eight losses from the aspect of
time. There are nine aspects to be considered as listed in Figure 7.5.

Figure 7.5: Nine aspects of time in considering the eight losses

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Now, let us look at these aspects.

(a) Calendar Time

First, here is the definition:

Calendar time is the number of hours on the calendar, which are:

365 u 24 8,760 hours in a year

30 u 24 720 hours in a 30-day month

(b) Working Time

What is „working time‰? How would you define it?

How do we calculate working time? To calculate working time, subtract

from the calendar time where the time lost is the result of closing the
equipment or plant for production adjustment or periodic servicing such as
shutdown maintenance.

(c) Operating Time

How about operating time?

How do we calculate this? To calculate operating time, subtract from the

working time the time an equipment or plant loses when it shuts down as a
result of equipment and process failures.
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(d) Net Operating Time

Let us look at the step to calculate it. To calculate net operating time,
subtract performance time losses from the operating time. Performance
time losses consist of normal production losses (production rate reductions
due to start-up, shutdown and changeover) and abnormal production
losses (production rate reductions due to abnormalities).

(e) Valuable Operating Time

What is the meaning of valuable operating time?

To calculate valuable operating time, add the time wasted reprocessing and
producing rejectable products and then subtract the result from the net
operating time.

(f) Availability

Availability is the operating time expressed as a percentage of the calendar

time.

To calculate availability, subtract from calendar time the time lost during
shutdown (for planned maintenance and production adjustments) and the
time lost in major stoppages (equipment and process failures). Then, divide
the result by calendar time and multiply by 100 just like the equations.

Availability [{Calendar time  (shutdown loss 

major stoppage loss)} y (Calendar time)] u 100 (%)
(C/A) u 100 (%)
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Shutdown loss shutdown maintenance loss  production adjustment loss

Major stoppage loss equipment failure loss  process failure loss

where C Calendar time  (shutdown loss + major stoppage loss)

A Calendar time

(g) Performance Rate

What does performance rate express to us?

How about standard production rate?

The standard production rate is equivalent to the equipmentÊs or plantÊs

design capacity and is the intrinsic capacity of the equipment or plant.

It can be expressed as production (in tonne) per hour (t/h) or per day
(t/day). The actual production rate is expressed as an average. To calculate
it, divide the actual production (t) by the operating time.

Performance rate {(Average actual production rate, t/h) y

(Standard production rate, t/h)} u 100 (%)
(D/C) u 100 (%)

Average actual production rate (t/h) = Actual production (t) y

Operating time (h)

where D Average actual production, t/h

C Standard production rate, t/h
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(h) Quality Rate

Now, we come to learn about quality rate. What does it express?

The quality rate expresses the amount of acceptable product (total

production less downgraded product, scrap and reprocessed product) as a
percentage of total production.

The quality rate is equivalent to the straight-through rate in a

fabrication/assembly plant.

Quality Rate [{(Production quantity)  (quality defect loss 

reprocessing loss)} y {Total production}] u 100%
(E/D) u 100 (%)

where E = Production quality  (quality defect loss + reprocessing loss)

D = Total production

(i) Overall Equipment or Plant Effectiveness (OEE)

Lastly, let us look at OEE.

It is a comprehensive indicator of an equipmentÊs or plantÊs condition that takes

into account operating time, performance and quality. It can be used to judge the
effectiveness with which an equipment or plant is being used to add value.

OEE (%) (Availability u Performance rate u Quality rate)

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7.2.2 Autonomous Maintenance Programme

Do you know that operators are the backbone of the production where they
operate/manage the equipment in daily production? Let us look at some
important points of this pillar below.

The aim of this pillar is to develop operators to be able to take care of small
maintenance tasks, thus freeing up the skilled maintenance people to spend
time on more value added activities and technical repairs.

The operators are responsible for the upkeep of their equipment to prevent it
from deteriorating.

7.2.3 Planned Maintenance Programme

This pillar aims to have trouble free equipment that produce defect free products
for total customer satisfaction. We can divide this maintenance into four groups
which were defined in the earlier topics. Can you still recall them? Let us look at
these four groups in Figure 7.6.

Figure 7.6: Four groups of planned maintenance programme

The planned maintenance will transform all our efforts from a reactive to a
proactive method and uses trained maintenance staff to help train the operators
to better maintain their equipment.
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7.2.4 Education and Training

As stated earlier, operators are the backbone of production. Hence, it is
vital/important to have multi-skilled and multi-tasked employees whose morale
are high and who are eager to work and perform all the required functions
effectively and independently.

Continuous education is given to employees in the form of training to upgrade

their skills. It is not sufficient to know only „Know-How‰ but they should also
learn „Know-Why‰. Through the experiences that they gain, „Know-How‰ can
be used to overcome a problem by implementing what is to be done. Amazingly,
they can do this without knowing the root cause of the problem and why they
are doing so. Hence, it becomes necessary to train them adequately on knowing
„Know-Why‰.

7.2.5 Early Equipment Management

Let us look at the ultimate purpose of this pillar.

The ultimate purpose of this pillar is to reduce the amount of maintenance

required by the equipment through experience over time.

For example, let us look at the difference in the maintenance requirements for a
car built in the 1970s compared to a car built in 2006. The 1970s car was tuned up
every 5,000km. The 2006 car is guaranteed for the first 50,000km. This change
was not brought about by accident or luck. The engineers carefully studied the
maintenance and engineering data, allowing changes to be made in the
automobile that reduced the amount of maintenance. The same can be true of
equipments in the production facility.
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Unfortunately, many companies do not keep the data that is necessary to make
these changes, either internally or through the Original Equipment Manufacturer
(OEM). As a result, unnecessary maintenance is performed on the equipment,
raising the overall maintenance cost.

7.3 STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTING THE

FIVE PILLARS OF TPM
In this section, we will go through the strategies to implement the five pillars of
TPM effectively and efficiently. You can look at the following table which
describes these strategies.

Pillar 1: Elimination of Major Losses to Improve Equipment Effectiveness

Objective Approach Tools Result

To eliminate Through team work x 7 QC tools x Increases OEE.
chronic consisting members x QC story x Experience gained
problems from: x FMEA/FTA can be used for other
x Engineering/ activities.
Maintenance; x Hands-on experience
x Process; for process and
x Supervisor; and maintenance.
x Operators. x Proves the
effectiveness of TPM.
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Pillar 2: Establish an Autonomous Maintenance (AM) Programme for Operators

Objective Approach Tools Result

To establish x Use the seven steps x Maintenance x Stops the acceleration
a daily of AM programme. and operation of the deterioration of
maintenance x Use lesson learnt in manuals. equipment.
programme pillar 1. x Check list. x Maintenance
for x Assistance from personnel are
operators maintenance relieved of 15% to
department. 20 % of minor
x Use of specifications maintenance work.
stated by supplier as Saved time can be
a guide. used for more value
added technical
assignment,
x Good housekeeping,
x Operators get a feel of
self-responsibility
towards the
equipment.

Pillar 3: Set Up a Schedule Maintenance Programme for the Maintenance Department

Objective Approach Tools Result

To eliminate x Data collected x Suppliers manual. x Reduced number
accidental from operators. x One-point lesson of or no unplanned
breakdown x Lessons learnt in learnt. breakdowns.
implementing x Maintenance x Maintenance
pillar 1. formats. activities lesson
x Successful and more time can
companies be used for
footstep. upgrading
equipment.
x Lessons learnt can
be used to
implement pillar 5.
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Pillar 4: Establish a Systematic Training Programme

Objective Approach Tools Result

To improve x Divide training x Training need x Operators will
operation syllabus into the analysis. know how to deal
and following: x Suppliers manual. with unusual
maintenance  Learning basic x Audio and visual situations or a
skills  for low rank aids. crisis because they
and new know how to
workers. handle simple
 Mastering skills repairs.
 for top and x Maintenance team
middle rank will know how to
workers. keep the condition
 Testing skills  of the equipment
for experienced in excellent
workers. condition.
 Advanced
management/
x Get internal or
external help.
x Approach T&D
department.

Pillar 5: An Initial Equipment Management Programme

Objective Approach Tools Result

To eliminate or x Lessons learnt x Training x Nearly a
avoid maintenance in all the above manuals. maintenance
in potential four pillars. x One-point free equipment.
equipment x Follow the life lesson learnt.
cycle cost curve.

7.4 ORGANISING FOR TPM

IMPLEMENTATION
Before we end this topic, let us look at how to organise TPM implementation.
You should know that by just knowing the essence of TPM, it is insufficient to
achieve good results in maintenance management. Do you know that what
matters the most is the implementation? Table 7.3 illustrates the TPM
implementation steps.
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Table 7.3: TPM Implementation Steps

Stage Step Detail

Preparation 1. Announce top Statement at TPM lecture in
management decision to company; articles in company
introduce TPM newspaper.
2. Launch education and Managers: seminars/retreats
campaign to introduce according to level.
TPM General: slide presentation.
3. Create organisations to Form special committees at every
promote TPM level to promote TPM; establish
central headquarters and assign
staff.
4. Establish basic TPM Analyse existing conditions; set
policies and goals goals; predict results.
5. Formulate master plan for Prepare detail implementation
TPM development plans for the five foundational
activities.
Preliminary 6. Hold kick-off campaign Invite clients, affiliates and
Implementation subcontracting companies.
TPM 7. Improve the effectiveness Select model equipment; form
Implementation of each piece of project teams.
equipment
8. Develop an autonomous Promote the seven steps; build
maintenance programme diagnosis skills and establish
worker certification procedure.
9. Develop a scheduled Include periodic and predictive
maintenance programme maintenance and management of
for the maintenance spare parts, tools, blueprints and
department schedules.
10. Conduct training to Train leaders together; leaders
improve operation and share information with group
maintenance skills members.
11. Develop early equipment Maintenance prevention design;
management programme commissioning controls; Life Cycle
Cost (LCC) analysis.

You can visit this website, entitled „An Introduction to Total Productive
Maintenance (TPM)‰, to get extra information on TPM:

http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/tpm_intro.shtml
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ACTIVITY 7.1

1. Explain in what way the TPM approach is different from your

current equipment management programme or system.

2. With the aid of a flow-chart, describe the evolution of TPM.

3. The word „total‰ in „total productive maintenance‰ has three

meanings related to three important features of TPM. List and
briefly describe all of them.

4. List all the eight pillars of TPM. Describe briefly five pillars
that are related to effective equipment management.

5. Describe briefly eight major losses that impede equipment

efficiency

6. In a particular thirty-day month, a plant has three days (1st,

15th and 30th) of plant shutdown for maintenance. One full
day is required for each start-up and shut-down for stabilising
and stopping respectively. During these days, the production
is only 50% of the standard production rate of 1000t/day.

For five days (9th to 13th) during the particular month, the
plant operated only at 800t/day due to some equipment
failure. On the 8th day, 100t of product was rejected. Apart
from the 9th to 13th day, the plant was operating at its
standard production rate. Draw the production rate against
day graph of the production profile and calculate the
following:
(i) Availability
(ii) Total production
(iii) Actual production rate
(iv) Performance rate
(v) Quality rate
(vi) Overall plant effectiveness
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Well done! You have just finished Topic 7. What can you summarise about this
topic?

 TPM is equipment maintenance performed on a company wide basis.

 There are eight pillars of TPM:

 Eight major losses elimination to improve production system
effectiveness.
 An autonomous maintenance programme.
 A planned maintenance programme for maintenance department.
 Increasing skills of operations and maintenance (education and training).
 Early equipment management.
 Quality maintenance.
 TPM in administrative and support departments.
 Safety and environmental management.

 There are eight major losses that impede equipment efficiency:

 Shutdown Loss.
 Production Adjustment Loss.
 Equipment Failure Loss/Repair Parts Change Loss.
 Process Failure Loss.
 Normal Production Loss/Start-up Loss.
 Abnormal Production Loss/Minor Stoppages and Idling Loss.
 Quality Defect Loss.
 Reprocessing Loss.
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 The strategies for implementing the five pillars of TPM are:

 Pillar 1: Elimination of major losses to improve equipment effectiveness.
 Pillar 2: Establish an Autonomous Maintenance (AM) programme for
operators.
 Pillar 3: Set-up a schedule maintenance programme for the maintenance
department.
 Pillar 4: Establish a systematic training programme.
 Pillar 5: An initial equipment management programme.

 The three stages of TPM implementation are: preparation, preliminary

implementation and TPM implementation.

Autonomous maintenance Preventive maintenance

Maintenance improvement Schedule maintenance
Maintenance prevention Total productive maintenance (TPM)
Overall effectiveness of Equipment Total quality control (TQC)
(OEE)

Nakajima, S. (1989). TPM development program. Cambridge, MA: Productivity

Press.

Suzuki, T. (1993). New directions for TPM. Cambridge, MA: Productivity Press.