Page 13 - TPM A Route to World-Class Performance

x Preface

and maintainers of our equipment’. Whilst this may be a longer definition, it
is also a more comprehensive and relevant description. Hence it is now more
appropriate to think of TPM as Total Productive Manufacturing.
Over the last few years, certainly since the advent of the 1990s, a growing
number of Western companies have, with varying degrees of success, adopted
the Japanese TPM philosophy. The companies who have been successful in
using TPM in their operations have recognized and applied some key success
factors, including:
You must enrol and secure the commitment of senior managers from
the start.
0 TPM is led by manufacturing.
0 TPM is a practical application of total quality and teamwork.
TPM is an empowerment process to give shared responsibility and
ownership.
0 The TPM philosophy is like a heart transplant: if you don’t match it to
the patient, you will get rejection. You must, therefore, treat each company
or recipient as unique and adapt the principles of TPM to suit the local
plant-specific issues without corrupting the well-founded and proven
principles of TPM.
Total Productive Maintenance, an original Japanese management protocol
developed to alleviate production losses caused by machine breakdowns,
has moved on. Through TPM, more companies now accept the concept of
zero breakdowns as achievable. From the foundation of striving for zero
breakdowns, world-class plants are able to run for complete shifts without
the need for intervention. TPM is still pushing back the boundaries of what
was thought possible. This does not mean that people are no longer needed.
On the contrary, it is the ingenuity of operators, maintainers, engineers and
management, working as full members of the company team, which makes
such progress possible, often working as a positive ’partnership for change’.
Based on our experience of working with world-class companies, this book
provides a practical guide to delivering TPM benefits within cultures where
professional cynics have had years to practise their craft. Based on the proven
principles of TPM, the book emphasizes the need to build on existing good
practices and to win commitment by delivering results. It is based on the
author’s first-hand experience of seeing TPM in Japan and then adapting
those principles to suit the strategic needs of companies across four continents.
It builds on Peter’s earlier book TPM the Western Way, updating the scope of
applications and tools. It includes more detail on the ‘life after pilot’ as well
as the application of TPM to equipment design, administration and non-
manufacturing areas. The TPM route map is updated to include the journey
to zero breakdowns and beyond. It also provides a systematic structure to
evolve from the classic Total Productive Maintenance towards Total Productive
Manufacturing and, hence, deliver a Totally Productive Operation capable of
world-leading performance.
Peter Willmott
Dennis McCarthy