Overview

Benjamin Franklin says: Beware of little expenses. A small leak can sink a great ship.

TPM is a shift in attitude for almost all plants. On the surface (and the item most advertised) it is claimed that TPM uses the operators, in autonomous groups to perform all the routine maintenance including cleaning, bolting, routine adjustments, lubrication, taking readings, start-up/shut-down and other periodic activities. The maintenance department people become specialists in major maintenance, major problems, and problems that span several work areas, and trainers and operations become the specialists in machinery health.

Most TPM tasks are also PM tasks when they are being done by maintenance personnel. There's a lot of PM that can be done by operations, if they know what they are looking for and how to report what they see. The Leanness comes from having the right person do the right tasks, and the reduction of non-productive time (such as travel). Moving the maintenance effort to the section of operations that is located on or near the asset will be Lean.

For many of these activities connected with training, operations is the right resource for the job. The advantages from TPM flow from higher productivity, and from the effects of the shifts in attitude. The higher productivity comes from having the operator do basic maintenance. The operators are already at the asset, already have custody, and already have a job assignment. No additional travel is needed for the operator. The improvements in attitude come from the shift...