Six Sigma Blog: Maintaining Total Productivity

Maintaining Total Productivity

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) focuses on the continuous maintenance of the plant and machinery used in the manufacturing to minimize the occurrence of downtime that leads to extra costs and less productivity. The concept of TPM assigns responsibility for the maintenance of machinery to the operators who man them, thus including them in the overall quality and productivity process. They are in charge of autonomous maintenance tasks (preventive maintenance) while maintenance staff concentrated on improving the reliability of the machines (productive maintenance).

Preventive maintenance includes daily tasks like cleaning, inspecting, oiling and re-tightening that will prevent deterioration as much as possible, and measure the rate of deterioration. TPM concentrates on the ongoing process of maintenance rather than repairing machines after they break down or are on the verge of breakdown. Among the advantages of TPM are:

• Minimal wastage
• High quality products with zero defects
• Reduced costs