TPM Fundamentals - The Solution for Business Environment Pressures

Why is TPM Needed?

The current global business environment is highly competitive, with companies facing increasing pressures and demands from various stakeholders. TPM (Total Productive Management/Maintenance) is one of the various improvement methodologies that exist to deal with these necessities. TPM deals with all aspects of a company, hence the "Total."

Fig. 1 - The Harsh Business Environment and the Need for TPM

Improvement steps usually focus on efficiency, quality and profitability but to these we can also add consumer needs and demands, corporate image and environmental goals. The best way to deal with all the above is to eliminate waste. Waste - in all its forms: wasted resources, wasted time, defects etc. must be eliminated. By eliminating losses and waste (see here for a brief explanation: 16 Losses), you eliminate its various associated costs and improve your financial position.

Fig. 2 - The 16 Big (Major) Losses as they are defined in TPM

In addition to the above, most manufacturing companies in the world today work with multi-product lines that necessitate simple changeovers to meet client/consumer demands. With sustained TPM implementation and a comprehensive internal training program, changeover times can be - depending on the industry - reduced from hours to minutes.

All of this and more can be addressed through the application of TPM and its associated tools. The journey is multi-goal oriented and focuses on much more than improving efficiency.