The TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) arose in Japan thanks to the efforts of the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance (JIPM) as a system destined to achieve the elimination of the six great losses of the equipment, in order to make production feasible " Just in Time ”, whose primary objectives are the systematic elimination of waste.
These six major losses are directly or indirectly related to equipment, leading to reductions in the efficiency of the production system in three fundamental aspects:
- Downtime or stoppage of the production system Operation at a speed lower than the capacity of the equipment Defective products or malfunction of operations in a team.
TPM is currently one of the fundamental systems to achieve total efficiency, based on which it is feasible to achieve total competitiveness. The current trend to increasingly improve competitiveness involves raising in unison and to a maximum degree the efficiency in quality, time and cost of production and involves the company in the TPM together with the TQM.
The traditional industrial company is usually equipped with management systems based on the production of long series with little variety of products and long preparation times, with also long delivery times, workers with highly specified training and quality control based on the product inspection. When said company has needed to migrate from this system to other more agile and less expensive, it has needed to improve delivery times, costs and quality simultaneously, that is, competitiveness, which has led to entering into the opposite management dynamics How much we have mentioned: short series, of multiple products, in times of short operations, with multipurpose workers and quality based on processes that reach their results in "the first".
Thus, among the systems on which the application of Kaizen is based, it is in a special place is TPM, which in turn makes the other system that supports the practice of Kaizen viable, which is the "Just in Time" system.
The final result that is pursued with the implementation of Total Productive Maintenance is to achieve a more efficient set of equipment and production facilities, a reduction in the necessary investments in them and an increase in the flexibility of the production system.
Concepts and definitions
The objective of the maintenance of machines and equipment can be defined as achieving a certain level of production availability in conditions of required quality, at the minimum cost and with the maximum safety for the personnel who use and maintain them.
By availability we mean the proportion of time in which it is ready for production with respect to the total time. This availability depends on two critical factors:
1. the frequency of failures, and
2. the time required to repair them.
The first of these factors is called reliability, it is an index of the quality of the facilities and their state of conservation, and is measured by the mean time between failures.
The second factor called maintainability is represented on the one hand by the goodness of the design of the facilities and on the other hand by the efficiency of the maintenance service. It is calculated as the inverse of the average time to repair a fault.
Consequently, an adequate level of availability will be achieved with optimum levels of reliability and maintainability. That is to say, in plain language, that few breakdowns occur and that they are quickly repaired.
Evolution of Maintenance Management
To get to Total Productive Maintenance, it was necessary to go through three previous phases. The first one being Repair Maintenance (or Reactive), which is based exclusively on the repair of breakdowns. Maintenance work was only carried out upon detection of a fault or breakdown and, once the repair was carried out, everything was left there.
Subsequently and as a second development phase, what was called Preventive Maintenance took place. With this work methodology, the highest economic profitability based on maximum production is sought above all things, establishing maintenance functions aimed at detecting and / or preventing possible failures before they take place.
In the sixties the appearance of Productive Maintenance took place, which constitutes the third phase of development before reaching the TPM. The Productive Maintenance includes the principles of preventive maintenance, but adds a maintenance plan for the whole, more work life of the equipment and indices allocate to improve reliability and maintainability.
Finally we come to the TPM which began to be implemented in Japan during the sixties. It incorporates a series of new concepts to those developed to the previous methods, among which the Autonomous Maintenance should be highlighted, which is executed by the production operators themselves, the active participation of all employees, from senior positions to senior managers. plant operators. It also adds to previously developed concepts such as Preventive Maintenance, new tools such as Maintainability Improvements, Maintenance Prevention and Corrective Maintenance.
The TPM adopts as a philosophy the principle of continuous improvement from the point of view of maintenance and equipment management. Total Productive Maintenance has also included the concepts related to Time Based Maintenance (MBT) and Condition Based Maintenance (MBC).
The MBT tries to plan the maintenance activities of the equipment on a regular basis, replacing the expected parts of said equipment at the appropriate time, to ensure its proper functioning. While the MBC tries to plan the control to be exercised over the equipment and its parts, in order to ensure that they meet the necessary conditions for correct operation and that possible breakdowns or anomalies of any kind can be prevented.
The TPM constitutes a new concept in terms of maintenance, based on the following five fundamental principles:
- Participation of all staff, from senior management to plant operators. Including each and every one of them allows to guarantee the success of the objective.Creating a corporate culture aimed at obtaining maximum efficiency in the production and management system of equipment and machinery. In this way, it is about reaching Global Efficiency. Implementation of a management system of production plants such that the elimination of losses is facilitated before they occur and objectives are achieved. Implementation of preventive maintenance as a basic means for achieve the goal of zero losses through integrated activities in small work groups and supported by the support provided by autonomous maintenance Application of management systems in all aspects of production,including design and development, sales and management.
The application of the TPM guarantees companies results in terms of improving the productivity of teams, corporate improvements, greater training of personnel and transformation of the job.
Among the main and fundamental objectives of the TPM are:
- Reduction of equipment breakdowns Reduction of waiting time and equipment preparation Effective use of existing equipment Control of the precision of tools and equipment Promotion and conservation of natural resources and energy savings Training and staff training.
Changes (loss or waste) of equipment
- On the one hand, there are breakdowns and set-up times that cause idle or vacuum times, secondly we have operation at reduced speed and idle times, all of which generate process speed losses, and finally we have losses for defective products and processes caused by quality defects and rework.
These losses must be eliminated or reduced to a minimum.
Means of improving maintenance
- Faults
Eliminate the causes
Anticipate - preventive maintenance
- Spare parts
Rational management
- Workforce
Make work easier
Improve media utilization
Utilization of operational personnel
Stages of implementation
The implementation is made up of a total of five phases, which comprise a series of phases, which are summarized below
|
Phase |
Stage |
|
Preparation |
Decision to apply the TPM in the company
Information campaign Committee formation Analysis of existing conditions Diagnosis Planning |
|
Implantation |
Training
Implementation of the 3 Ys: Motivation Competition and Work Environment. Implementation of the CEP for monitoring Determination and calculation of ratios and indicators Pilot experience Autonomous maintenance application Implementation of the 5 "S" Maintenance application |
|
Evaluation |
Analysis of results obtained |
|
Standardization |
The results obtained are standardized and then a new continuous process of improvement in terms of reliability and durability begins. |
Core activities
- Autonomous Maintenance. It includes the active participation by the operators in the prevention process in order to avoid breakdowns and deterioration in machines and equipment. The practical application of the Five "S" is especially important. A basic characteristic of the TPM is that the production operators themselves want to carry out the autonomous maintenance, also called first-level maintenance. Some of the fundamental tasks are: cleaning, inspection, lubrication, tightening and adjustments. Increased equipment effectiveness by eliminating breakdowns and faults. It is carried out through prevention measures via redesign-improvement or establishment of guidelines so that they do not occur. Planned Maintenance. It involves generating a maintenance program by the maintenance department. It constitutes the systematic set of activities programmed in order to progressively bring the production plant closer to the objectives of: zero breakdowns, zero defects, zero waste, zero accidents and zero pollution. This set of tasks will be carried out by specialized maintenance personnel. Maintenance Prevention. Through the engineering development of the equipment, with the aim of reducing the probability of breakdowns, facilitating and reducing maintenance costs. It is therefore about optimizing the management of equipment maintenance from their conception and design, trying to detect errors and operating problems that may occur as a result of conception, design, development and construction failures of the equipment, installation and tests of the same until the establishment of its normal operation with regular production is achieved. The objective is to achieve an equipment that is easy to operate and maintain, as well as reducing the period between the design phase and the stable operation of the equipment and raising the levels of reliability, economy and safety, reducing the levels and risks of contamination.Predictive Maintenance. Consisting of the detection and diagnosis of faults before they occur. In this way, stoppages for repairs can be scheduled at the right times. The philosophy of this type of maintenance is based on the fact that normally failures do not appear suddenly, but rather have an evolution. Thus, Predictive Maintenance is based on detecting these defects in advance to correct them and avoid unscheduled stoppages, major breakdowns and accidents. Among the benefits of its application we have:
a) Reduction of stoppages
b) Savings in maintenance costs
c) Extension of equipment life
d) Reduction of damage caused by breakdowns
e) Reduction in the number of accidents
f) More efficiency and quality in the operation of the plant
g) Improvements in customer relations, by reducing or eliminating delays.
Among the technologies used for predictive monitoring we have:
- Vibration analysis Lubricant sample analysis Thermography Acoustic response analysis.
Conclusions
The search for a more effective and efficient use of machines and equipment requires both planning and staff training, but for this it is essential that managers first become aware of all that is at stake behind an excellent system of maintenance. Whether at an industrial level or services, both costs, productivity, quality, safety, customer satisfaction and meeting deadlines depend to a great extent on not only the proper functioning of the equipment but also on the very good functioning that from them can be obtained. How in the case of quality control, increasing costs in preventive matters ends up generating not only a lower total cost of maintenance, but also a lower total cost.
The remarkable importance of the TPM in the elimination of waste gives it a special place in both the Kaizen System and the Just in Time System. Still a multitude of small and medium-sized companies have not been able to take into due consideration the great importance that the implementation of systems destined to improve equipment maintenance, rapid tool change, reduction of costs has for the improvement of their economic results. preparation times, improvement of the layout in the plant and offices, improvement in quality levels, control and reduction in energy consumption, greater participation of employees through quality control circles, productivity increase circles and suggestion systems among others.There are many weapons available to small and medium-sized companies, and the results they can obtain from them are remarkable.
Better maintenance implies not only reducing repair costs and downtime costs due to downtime, but also eliminates the need to have inventories of in-process and finished products intended to serve as a “cushion” for breakdowns that occur. By improving services to customers and consumers, it reduces their turnover and reduces the cost of obtaining new customers, facilitating the sales of goods and services on a repetitive basis. Of course, better maintenance extends the useful life of the equipment, as well as a better resale price. The better functioning of the machines not only avoids the generation of faulty products, it also avoids environmental pollution, eliminates the risks of accidents and with them reduces insurance costs,It reduces or eliminates the levels of contamination and the consequent fines, increases the levels of productivity, and therefore the costs of production. All of these are more than enough reasons to seriously consider implantation.
One might ask the question why, since there are such significant instruments or methodologies to improve the performance of companies, they are not used? The reasons are numerous and exposing them leads to the need for other investigations and expositions, but among the main ones we have: a short-term vision in which the obtaining of immediate profits is privileged as opposed to the sustained generation of benefits in the medium and long term, a second factor has to do with the survival of the Taylorian and Fordist paradigms typical of another era of the productive economic process. And a third and final factor to mention how important is the traditional resistance to change.
Annex - Autonomous Maintenance
Bibliography
- Maintenance Engineering - Rabelo - New Library - 1997 Maintenance of Electrical Machines - Orrego - Paraninfo - 2002 Integral Maintenance Management - Navarro - Marcombo - 1997 Maintenance. Source of benefits - Souris - Díaz de Santos - 1992
