Do you want to make sure you get your preventive maintenance done in a thorough manner?

Regular equipment maintenance is essential to the well-being of your business. When your equipment is out of commission, you’ll suffer big losses. Your workers might even get injured.

Total productive maintenance (TPM) can help you avoid these issues in your work environment. This model empowers your workers to identify and manage potential risks. As a result, you have a better ability to locate and fix potential pitfalls before they happen. You’ll also improve equipment efficiency.

Below, we’ll get into the benefits of total productive maintenance (TPM). Keep reading to learn more and perfect production processes!

What Is Total Productive Maintenance?

The goal of TPM is to help employers streamline the maintenance process. It also helps you improve your performance.

Malfunctioning equipment puts your business under strain. When your equipment doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, you experience a shortage in output.

Likewise, your employees might experience more stress and pressure. This is because they rely on the equipment to get their work done. 

Total productive maintenance also helps you get maintenance done sooner. As a result, you might catch problems before they become bigger deals than they need to be.

Understanding the Foundation of Total Productive Maintenance

The total productive maintenance approach rests on the 5S model. This model helps company owners keep their workplaces organized and clean. This stands for the following:

• Sort
• Systemize
• Shine
• Standardize 
• Sustain

How They Make Your Maintenance More Seamless

When you sort things in your office, you’ll need to figure out which items get used regularly. The items you use often should get placed nearby.

Systemization involves giving an item one home. You should tell your employees where each item goes and tell them they must put it away when they are finished.

Shine refers to your responsibility to keep your workplace clean. This involves regular dusting and scrubbing. It also involves not leaving items lying around. If you leave your items out, they might get damaged or cause hazardous conditions.

Standardizing involves the creation of policies and labels for your company. You should have specific procedures in place for the maintenance of your equipment. Likewise, everything needs to have an accurate label so your workers can find items.

Sustaining means you commit to each of these 5 steps every day. When you do this, your maintenance process will become more seamless. 

The Benefits of the 8 Pillars of TPM

There are 8 main pillars of TPM. These include: 

• Autonomous maintenance – operators take care of routine cleaning and basic upkeep
• Planned maintenance – scheduled maintenance takes place to prevent breakdown
• Quality management – quality defects are identified and handled
• Focused improvement – groups of employees identify areas for continuous improvement
• Early equipment management – uses practical knowledge to improve the equipment
• Training and education – operators receive the proper training to handle the equipment
• Safety, health, and environment – the safety of the workplace is safeguarded
• The model in administration – the TPM program gets applied to administrative situations

Each of these pillars contributes to the overall equipment effectiveness OEE. They also make sure tasks get delegated to specific people. Likewise, your workplace remains a safe and productive place.

The Model Gets Everyone Involved

Total productive maintenance models have the additional benefit of getting your whole team on board.

Instead, the total productive maintenance approach advises that everyone from top-level leaders to everyday equipment operators should participate in maintenance.

Top-Level Management

Your top-level management needs to get involved in the total productive maintenance model by promoting it as a company policy. They should have a thorough understanding of how it works.

They also need to have the ability to answer employee questions. 

Machine Operators

The machine operators take on the responsibility of keeping them working well. This means knowing about the daily upkeep and having the ability to recognize the first signs of trouble.

Make sure your workers all have training on how to operate the equipment in a safe manner. Tell them how they can report potential problems.

The Maintenance Team

Finally, your maintenance managers should train the operators in the proper care for the equipment. They should also perform more extensive maintenance tasks.

This might include making advanced repairs or performing other maintenance activities.

Boosting Your Equipment’s Effectiveness

One of the most tangible benefits to TPM is that you get more effective equipment. The overall equipment effectiveness OEE measurement demonstrates this fact.

OEE involves looking at how your equipment is performing. If it’s running slow or stopping when it shouldn’t, it’s not working as well as it should. 

Companies that implement TPM see lower amounts of equipment malfunctioning. When equipment starts to not work as well, it quickly gets repaired. As such, your OEE will increase as soon as you start using the total productive maintenance model.

Ready to Get More Out of Your Equipment?

If you find yourself struggling to keep your equipment maintained, the TPM model will serve you well.

When you implement the 5S’s and the 8 Pillars, you’ll find it easier to stay on top of your equipment’s problems. Your team will also have more knowledge about the devices. As such, you’ll have a safer, better-working company. 

If you want to increase the efficiency of your company, we can help. We specialize in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that make work easier and more productive.

Want to learn more about how we can help you? Request a demo today!