TPM stands for "Total Profit Management"

To an organization to be successful in the current competitive world and with highly competitive industrial norms, it should be able to sustain in the market with a continual growth and meanwhile increase their profits to run the business smoothly and to develop itself. Nowadays with the high inflation, all the general public try to reduce their expenses hence this make all businesses to control the market prices of their products or services in spite of the thriving prices of resources, raw materials and over heads. 

With many competitors in the market for the same product or service, it is almost impossible to make profits with just increasing the sales prices. To increase profits of a business, the company shall improve their sales pitches, increase or maintain the good quality of the product or service, reduce operational costs, improve delivery methods and options, and take more actions to make profits meanwhile being sustained in the business.

TPM is now a blooming concept in the industrial world with various concepts come in to one system to improve the productivity, efficiencies and other profitable factors of an organization.

(Nakajima, 1988) the father of TPM considered this as “profitable TPM” as reducing the cost of maintenance delivers automated increment in profits. (Yamashina, 2000) Concluded that TPM could be a principal source of profitability of a manufacturing organization. 

TPM technically abbreviated as “Total Productive Maintenance” or “Total Productivity Management”. But with the work carried out in the TPM concept finally give an organization a considerable increase in their profits as this will reduce all types of operational costs and operational losses by a considerable fraction including, sales, marketing, repair and maintenance, downtimes, defects and rework, consumables, motions, logistics, etc.

There are 3 major resultants which could be gained upon successful implementation of TPM, which are “Zero Breakdowns”, “Zero Defects” and “Zero Accidents”.

A general definition of TPM is “carrying out maintenance at the optimum cost”. An organization shall carry out its maintenance at zero cost, a.k.a. does not carry out any maintenance. And also, an organization may carry out its maintenance at any cost a.k.a. carry out maintenance activities which are not required and which are not with the machine manufacturer stated guidelines.

Both the systems will make the organization loose a huge sum of money at the end as both those methods will fail the machinery at the end or waste money which should not be expended.

Therefore, with the proper implementation of TPM concept in failure prevention and machine maintenance activities, wasting of money can be totally eliminated.

In TPM, a repair or a maintenance activity of a machine should be carried out while the machine is at its running condition and or with the shortest downtime possible. These are addressed in the “Planned Maintenance Pillar” which is one of the eight pillars of TPM and which is an essential pillar. In Planned maintenance, all deteriorations are identified and the most appropriate maintenance method for each deterioration method is identified. The maintenance activities are segregated in to two parts which one will sustain the best possible condition of the machine and the other will improve the machine with kaizens.

All these maintenance activities done at the right time, with right materials and equipment and with right expertise will reduce all types of issues of the machines, resulting less or zero downtimes. Also, it will eliminate any type of chronic losses and reduce the possibilities of creating any sporadic losses in the machines.

These methods will also create space for programmable management of the stocks of spare parts of machinery as the planned maintenance can predict the spare part requirements and also will reduce the spare parts consumptions.

Finally, proper planned maintenance will assist to create an environment with “Zero Breakdowns”, “Zero Defects” and “Zero Accidents” which are the 3 major resultants of TPM. A planned maintenance will reduce any abnormal and exceptional costs of machine repairs and maintenances with relate to spare parts, man hours, machine availability, defective production and also any kind of accidents which will directly affect the operational cost of the production process.

 There is another indicator which is used to define the effects of TPM in a production process which is in short named as “PQCDSM” which denotes the words Productivity, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Safety and Morale of a system.

TPM methodology is a very effective strategy for improving productivity and overall plant efficiency. The lost production output due to material productivity, manpower productivity, and tools productivity will be reduced and there will be a 1.5 to 3 times increment of OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) and/or productivity with TPM implementations.  All losses from the 16 losses which affect productivity are answered in TPM implementation and with the elimination of those losses, the productivity and efficiency of a system will improve which will give many ways of financial benefits to an organization.

Quality has been considered as one of the utmost capable parameters for creating the brand image. To make the product a “good quality product”, the product must cater the customer requirement and should not have any kinds of defects where the defect may cause the product to not to cater the customer requirement during the indented operations.

(Feigenbaum, 1991) have clearly indicated that a TPM programme can result in better product quality, improved manufacturing flow, and reduction in operational expenses & losses, etc. TPM also aims at continual and lifelong improvements in productivity & performance and therefore it results in improving the monetary output of an organization in terms of market segment and profits.

Therefore, to improve the quality of the product and reach zero customer complaints and reworks, the product shall be with Zero Defects. This can be done by eliminating rejection/rework, by avoiding mistakes in the preparation of product, machines, methods, man power and also documentations. In broader times, it means by meeting customer expectations so that there should be no return of customer in any means. Customer complaints can be reduced significantly and ultimately reach zero after the implementation of TPM initiatives.

The “Quality Maintenance Pillar” in TPM acts as the major constituent to control the quality of the product with various control points in the processes, by identifying the Quality components of each and every machine and their effects to the product quality, etc. will create the requirement of fulfilling countermeasures for identified issues related to deteriorations, cleaning, lubrication, inspection, tightening, and repairing the machine and parts which may create problems to the machine and the production process. Quality Maintenance Pillar will decide the countermeasures which should be taken to answer all issues and give required training to the machine operatives and technicians to eliminate issues which could be created with each Q component.

Therefore, as stated before, improving not only the quality of the product, but also quality of other 3Ms which are Man, Materials and Machines will directly affect the revenue of the company hence increase the profitability of the organization.

TPM has been a very fruitful in terms of improving operational performance of organizations. TPM claims to have an optimistic influence on cost indicator as per (Feigenbaum, 1991). It is because all eight big losses are monitored thoroughly to improve the OEE and this expressively increases the manufacturing yield within the same time interval. Also, the average operational cost will come down with higher manufacturing yield with the same inputs.

There are many costs involved in a product which finally decide the production unit cost and the sales price of a product, which ultimately decide the profit created from the product. TPM concept helps to reduce the manufacturing cost by 30% to 50% through reducing operational and maintenance cost, inventory carrying cost and cost of communication, etc.

Delay or imprecise deliveries will have a negative impact on customer satisfaction and also the organization’s brand image. CCFOT (Customer Cases Fill On Time) or the Fill Rate is a parameter which the customers look for in a good product, secondly to the price and quality. To make the customers happy and content, they need a precise, faster and a timely delivery method of any product.

There can be various reasons for the delivery delays such as delay in production processes, supplier inconsistencies, delay in payments to suppliers, delay in packing, delay in procurement process, delay in information transfers, which ultimately cause the delays in logistics and then the final delivery. Other than those, external delays like customs formalities, government inspections, and system failures can also affect the on-time delivery.

TPM helps to deliver 100% goods on time to the customer. It can be achieved by minimizing the delays in production processes, logistic activities, delivery methods, and any of the support functions as stated above. A proper delivery is an activity which will increase the customer satisfaction and hence increase the loyalty of the customers.

There are several losses defined in TPM 16 losses structure which will affect the delays in delivery. They are breakdown losses, adjustment losses, quality and defects losses, yield losses, management losses, logistics losses and line organization losses. Eliminating these losses will create an in-time production output hence eliminate delays in product deliveries.

Product inventory is also an additional cost to an organization in relate to maintaining the stocks in good conditions, the stores space consumed by the inventories and the depreciation of goods. TPM will be able to reduce the product inventory at least by 50% which will reduce the operational costs relate to product inventory handling which will also improve the delivery which reduce the costs incur.

Safety is one of the major factors considered in TPM with targeting a Zero Accidents environment inside an organization. TPM concept will create an accident-free zone area by ensuring safety while working on machines, safety in material handling, safety in packaging, safety in transportation, and safety in almost everything.

Inside an organization, the 4Ms which are Man, machines, Methods and Materials are contributing to the safety of the activities, health of the humans and pollution of the environment. Almost all the accidents happen due to unsafe acts and unsafe conditions of humans and activities. Incorrect workplace designs, operator’s carelessness, unsuitable design of the equipment and tools, damaged utensils, lack of effective protection guards for equipment, lack of fire preventive systems, hostile working conditions such as high noise and air pollution are some of the instances for unsafe acts and unsafe conditions.

The element Man is the most complicated factor in maintaining safety and wellbeing in an organization. The equipment and materials can be made safer to a favorable extent with various controls like safety sensors, Poka Yoke, safety SOPs (Standard Operational Procedures) or Guidelines. The human aspect must be mainly supposed in the incident and accident prevention.

Training will be done in the TPM implementation related to safety, health, operational knowledge, etc simultaneously along with the other training while moving towards Zero accidents concept. Fundamental principles of TPM include guaranteeing equipment reliability, maintainability, preventing human and eliminating accidents and environmental pollution.

Therefore, when the Safety and good health of the organization and the people inside are considered, “Safety, Health and Environment Pillar” in TPM 8 pillars structure plays the major role in keeping the level of safety. In the SHE pillar, all hazards related to occupational safety & health and aspects related to environmental pollution are identified and counter actions are taken to eliminate or reduce them. Safety related trainings are planned and carried out to all employees within the organization through the SHE pillar activities and ensure that all employees are knowledgeable in safety protocols in the organization and all the employees carry out their work according to the given SOPs and safety instructions.

The ultimate outcome of those activities will be zero environment, safety and health related incidents / accidents which will eliminate or reduce any costs incur for solving issues related to environmental impacts and compensating for accidents occurred inside the organization or any health issues created during the activities in the organization which will reduce the company expenses at the end.

A successful organization will increase the morale of employees which will boost up the organizational activities. TPM helps to boost up the employees of the organization by making them participate in contributing a number of kaizens, one-point lesson (OPL). The increased morale of employees will increase the number of improvement suggestions by employees them selves by 5 to 10 times.

If the employees are extremely motivated and contented with the work culture, they are more productive and engaged. If they are not motivated, there is a more tendency of they are being less productive in the organization. For inspiration and preserving the enthusiasm with optimistic focus over the period, morale is an important TPM indicator.

Laying banners, publishing TPM newsletters, posting TPM posters at specified locations, designing TPM slogans and displaying them can create a constructive atmosphere and encourage employees to create a healthy workforce culture. To improve the morale of the employees, giving motivation awards to contributing employees in organizational events or meetings can be carried out. The increased morale of employees will create a much better results in production processes and improvement suggestions hence increase the profitability of the organization as employees tends to work better and give better results.

It is very important to measure and understand the method of measurements of losses in the manufacturing process (Eswaramurthi, 2013). Losses can be divided into two categories named as “chronic losses and sporadic losses”.

Chronic losses are usually small, hard to identify and complicated since they are results of several simultaneous causes. Sporadic losses are more noticeable since the deviations from the normal state are large.

Sporadic losses occur irregularly and their effects are considered to lead to serious problems with regard to large downtimes, high percentage of defects and maybe also accidents. But there are chronic losses that result in the equipment frequently but with smaller deviations from the normal state. With the time, those maybe considered as normal and maybe neglected also. Although they are small, they make large costs due to the fact that they occur repeatedly and continuously.

The calculation of OEE can identify these losses whereby can be used to find solutions for those losses hence reduce the operational costs. The major contributing eight losses in the 16 losses structure can be identified in the OEE calculation and all related chronic and sporadic losses should be answered giving solutions to them with the TPM initiatives. This will increase the productivity, efficiency and quality of the production process hence affect the PQCDSM in a positive manner where again gives various kinds of financial gains to the organization.

The whole concept of TPM structure is based upon the 5S principle where TPM defines a new concept of 7S principle. Other than the Seiri (Sort), Seiton (Set Locations), Seiso (Shine), Seiketsu (Standardize) and Shitsuke (sustain), 7S is giving additional provisions to Safety and Stretch (Improvements).  The traditional 5S principle again have developed in to “Advanced 5S principle” where the final objective becomes profit, not discipline.

The advanced 5S principle is supporting all the concepts of TPM and nevertheless advanced 5S can cater the requirements of TQM (Total Quality Management) and Lean (waste minimization) also. It is a cultural changing tool and a standardizing tool which can target threes zeros defined in TPM which are zero breakdowns, zero defects and zero accidents. it also can directly involve to improve the PQCDSM in an organization. This will also give an effective solution to the elimination of seven wastes which are excess transportation, excess inventory, useless motions, higher waiting time, over production, over processing and defective products. All these wastes are financially loose points and elimination of those will reduce the costs of an organization in a considerable way.

5S can make an organization a safe place and create work friendly working environment. With the elimination of 4Ds (Danger, Dark, Dirty and Difficulties), a workplace become safe to work with less cluttered environment and with less ergonomic issues. It will assist to achieve zero accidents and will improve the safety and morale of the employees. These two achievements will affect the productivity of the employees hence reduce any costs which may arise from unsafe work activities and accidents.

Elimination of useless things such as broken and unusable machines, expired or unwanted materials, obsolete documents will eliminate the risks of accidents relate to human safety, machine safety and process safety. Also, unwanted things will take up warehouse space which is also a cost and will be reduced with elimination of those expenses.

When the machines are clean enough and the level of cleaning is maintained, the problems of the machines can be easily identified and any improvements, modifications, corrections can be easily done. This will assist the zero-breakdown concept and furthermore, this will reduce any deteriorations hence reduce the costs for repairs and spare parts.

With implementation of visual management tools and visual controls with 5S, the organization becomes much neat and tidy. The activities which are carried out inside the organization would be much efficient and fast. For instance, with the visual controls, all abnormalities in all activities can be easily seen and identified where corrective/preventive actions could be taken in advance without causing any adverse events to product, machine or humans.

With the advanced 5S, people are motivated to give suggestions for improvements and kaizens through the suggestions for improvements system. The kaizens or suggestions will assist to improve the productivity or efficiency of the processes and machineries. Also, the suggestions will answer any kinds of sporadic or chronic losses inside the organization’s production processes. Upon implementation of these kaizen suggestions, the OEE of the processes will be increased creating a profitable condition for the organization.

5s can maximize the profits and increase sustainability of an organization by taking initiatives to enhance the productivity and efficiency.

Each and every company spend huge sum for giving training for their employees. In-house, external, local, foreign training is given to employees to improve their skills, capabilities, professional experience, etc. But in most cases those trainings are not effective and do not improve the organization's profitability. (Habarakada, 2018)

There are various reasons which employers raise regarding the training they give to their employees. Training is being used as a motivational tool and in some cases, employers want to improve the employee profiles of the organization. There are companies who give generic training to their employees without selecting the suitable set of people for a specific training.   The correct skills gaps are not identified by employers and the trainings are given blindly to selected employees irrespective of the requirements. (Habarakada, 2018)

With the TPM initiatives, the training will be highly targeted and the required training will be given to the required employees only. The skills gaps will be identified individually and the identified gap will be filled with giving required and targeted trainings.

The internationally know ETHOS process would be carried out on selection & identification, training and evaluation of deliverables on trainings.

The correct training needs required inside the organization is identified with the Loss Tree analysis and then with 4M analysis. Skill gaps of each and every employee is identified via a detailed skills matrix evaluation and a training needs identification system. The identified skill gap will be answered by the training given to the employee. And finally, the employee will be given target/project/KPI to improve, with the learnings he / she received. This will improve the organization’s OEE and KPIs which will result in reductions of costs, improvements in productivity and efficiency, etc.

With these all stated points, it is certain that TPM implementation will improve the productivity and efficiency of machines and processes, reduce all kinds of wastes in an organization, reduce costs of each and every process, etc.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the TPM concept will increase the profitability of an organization and hence, TPM can also be defined as “Total Profit Management”.

There are only few points were discussed here considering the above finally stated fact, and this can be continued further giving much more reasons establishing the phrase "TPM stands for Total Profit Management".

REFERENCES

Nakajima, S. (1988) Introduction to TPM: Total Productive Maintenance (preventative maintenance series).

Yamashina, H. (2000) Challenge to world‐class manufacturing, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 17 Issue: 2

Feigenbaum, A.V. (1991) Quality Control. 3rd Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York.

Eswaramurthi, K.G. (2013) Improvement of manufacturing performance measurement system and evaluation of overall resource effectiveness, American Journal of Applied Sciences.

Habarakada, M. (2018) “Training is a Waste. WHY?”, http://www.engineermadhawa.tk/2018/06/training-is-waste-why.html

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By, Eng. Madhawa Habarakada. (AMIE-SL, BSc. Eng. (Hons))

www.Madhawa.lk

http://engineermadhawa.blogspot.com/

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