Ahuja 2007

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 16

Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering

Emerald Article: An evaluation of TPM implementation initiatives in an


Indian manufacturing enterprise
I.P.S. Ahuja, J.S. Khamba

Article information:
To cite this document: I.P.S. Ahuja, J.S. Khamba, (2007),"An evaluation of TPM implementation initiatives in an Indian
manufacturing enterprise", Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 13 Iss: 4 pp. 338 - 352
Permanent link to this document:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13552510710829443
Downloaded on: 04-01-2013
References: This document contains references to 22 other documents
Citations: This document has been cited by 6 other documents
To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com
This document has been downloaded 1820 times since 2007. *

Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: *


I.P.S. Ahuja, J.S. Khamba, (2007),"An evaluation of TPM implementation initiatives in an Indian manufacturing enterprise",
Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 13 Iss: 4 pp. 338 - 352
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13552510710829443

I.P.S. Ahuja, J.S. Khamba, (2007),"An evaluation of TPM implementation initiatives in an Indian manufacturing enterprise",
Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 13 Iss: 4 pp. 338 - 352
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13552510710829443

I.P.S. Ahuja, J.S. Khamba, (2007),"An evaluation of TPM implementation initiatives in an Indian manufacturing enterprise",
Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 13 Iss: 4 pp. 338 - 352
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13552510710829443

Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

For Authors:
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service.
Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit
www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information.
About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com
With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in
business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as
well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is
a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive
preservation.
*Related content and download information correct at time of download.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1355-2511.htm

JQME
13,4 An evaluation of TPM
implementation initiatives in an
Indian manufacturing enterprise
338
I.P.S. Ahuja and J.S. Khamba
University College of Engineering, Punjabi University, Patiala, India

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify maintenance-related losses for ascertaining and
addressing the performance losses, and affecting improvements in the manufacturing performance in
an organization through strategic total productive maintenance (TPM) initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach – In this paper TPM initiatives in the steel manufacturing plant
have been elaborated to ascertain the tangible and intangible benefits accrued as a result of successful
TPM implementation. The approach has been directed toward justification of TPM implementation
for its support to competitive manufacturing in the context of Indian manufacturing industries.
Findings – The paper establishes the long-term effects of TPM on organizational performance in the
Indian context. TPM implementation initiatives have shown marked improvements in the equipment
efficiency and effectiveness, and have also brought about appreciable improvements in other
manufacturing functions in the organization. It has been observed that systematic interventions
regarding TPM deployment have significantly contributed toward improving the manufacturing
system productivity, quality, safety, morale and besides ensuring the cost effectiveness of the
manufacturing function within the organization. The case study reveals that holistic TPM
implementation has lead to establishment of strategic proactive maintenance practices in the
organization for avoiding future system and equipment-related losses, and has marshaled the
organization toward capability building for sustained competitiveness in the global marketplace.
Practical implications – This paper highlights the contributions of maintenance function to ensure
enhanced equipment reliability, thereby affecting improvements in the manufacturing system
performance. In this study the TPM implications in a steel manufacturing plant have been highlighted,
which may be implemented in other manufacturing plants to improve their performance.
Originality/value – The present study encompasses systematic identification of
maintenance-related losses, setting up of targets regarding maintenance performance improvements
and developing guidelines for achieving enhanced manufacturing system performance through
strategic TPM initiatives in the steel manufacturing plant, which can also be important to all
concerned with maintenance and safety in various manufacturing enterprises.
Keywords Productive maintenance, Production equipment, India, Manufacturing systems,
Total quality management
Paper type Case study

Introduction
In the contemporary dynamic globalized world economy, manufacturing organizations
are faced with stiff cut-throat competition. The global competition characterized by the
rapid technological innovations and ever-changing market demands is putting
Journal of Quality in Maintenance enormous pressure on manufacturing organizations across the globe. The
Engineering contemporary manufacturing organizations endeavor to achieve world-class
Vol. 13 No. 4, 2007
pp. 338-352 performance through continuous improvement in the production systems and
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1355-2511
development of world-class products and services, to satisfy the peculiar and rapidly
DOI 10.1108/13552510710829443 changing customer requirements. The manufacturing sector globally has witnessed
drastic changes in the later part of the twentieth century. These changes have left their TPM
unmistakable marks on the different facets of the manufacturing organizations (Gomes implementation
et al., 2006). The challenges of stiff competition and the drive for profits are forcing the
organizations to implement various productivity improvement efforts to meet the initiatives
challenges posed by ever-changing market demands (Samuel et al., 2002).
In the dynamic and highly challenging environment, reliable manufacturing
equipment is regarded as the major contributor to the performance and profitability of 339
manufacturing systems (Kutucuoglu et al., 2001). Its importance is rather increasing in
the growing advanced manufacturing technology application stages (Maggard and
Rhyne, 1992); therefore, equipment maintenance is an indispensable function in a
manufacturing enterprise (Ahmed et al., 2005). The intense competitive pressure on the
organizations is triggering the top management of these enterprises to look at the
performance of each and every business function, including manufacturing or
maintenance for achieving competitive advantage (Pintelon et al., 2006). In the highly
competitive globalized scenario the maintenance function is being looked on by
manufacturing organizations as a potential source of cost savings and competitive
advantage. The effective integration of maintenance function with engineering and
other manufacturing functions in the organization can help to save huge amounts of
time, money and other useful resources in dealing with reliability, availability,
maintainability and performance issues (Moubray, 2003). This has provided the
impetus to the leading organizations worldwide to adopt effective and efficient
maintenance strategies such as condition-based maintenance (CBM),
reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) and total productive maintenance (TPM),
over the traditional firefighting reactive maintenance approaches (Sharma et al., 2005).
The objective of this paper is to study the effectiveness and implementation of the
TPM program for a steel manufacturing unit, and highlight the contributions made by
strategic TPM initiatives in a typical Indian manufacturing organization. The
approach has been directed toward justification of TPM implementation for its support
to competitive manufacturing in the context of Indian manufacturing industries.
Through a case study of implementing TPM in an Indian manufacturing enterprise,
the TPM implementation issues, roadmap and strategies adopted toward successful
TPM implementation, assessment of performance losses in the production facilities,
contributions of TPM initiatives in improving the organizational performance are
discussed and analyzed. Moreover, the critical success factors in implementing TPM
are also elaborated based on the learning from the study. The study reveals that
holistic TPM implementation has lead to realization of significant enhancement in
manufacturing capabilities in the organization.

TPM
In order to remain competitive in today’s highly challenging and rapidly changing
business environment, a keen understanding of the intricate dynamics of the
production facility is required to be able to manage the organizational resources
effectively to meet the organization’s sustainability efforts. The success in highly
challenging contemporary manufacturing scenario depends on the implementation of
multiple complimentary and proven strategies. While just-in-time (JIT) and total
quality management (TQM) programs have been around for a while, manufacturing
JQME organizations of late, have been putting enough confidence in the latest strategic
quality maintenance tool, TPM.
13,4 TPM as the name suggests consists of three words:
(1) Total. This signifies to consider every aspect and involving everybody from top
to bottom.
(2) Productive. Emphasis on trying to do it while production goes on and minimize
340 troubles for production.
(3) Maintenance. Means keeping equipment autonomously by production
operators in good condition – repair, clean, grease, and accept to spend
necessary time on it.

Nakajima (1989), a major contributor of TPM, has defined TPM as an innovative


approach to maintenance that optimizes equipment effectiveness, eliminates
breakdowns, and promotes autonomous maintenance by operators through
day-to-day activities involving the total workforce. TPM is not a maintenance-
specific policy, it is a culture, a philosophy and a new attitude toward maintenance.
According to Chaneski (2002), TPM is a maintenance management program with the
objective of eliminating equipment downtime. Lawrence (1999) describes TPM as the
general movement on the part of businesses to try to do more with fewer resources.
According to Besterfield et al. (1999), TPM helps to maintain the current plant and
equipment at its highest productive level through the cooperation of all functional
areas of an organization. TPM is a partnership between maintenance and production
functions in the organization to improve product quality, reduce waste, reduce
manufacturing cost, increase equipment availability, and improve the company’s state
of maintenance (Rhyne, 1990).
According to Blanchard (1997), TPM is an integrated life-cycle approach to factory
maintenance. TPM can be effectively deployed in an organization to develop employee
involvement at every step of the manufacturing process and facilitate maintenance in
order to streamline production flow, increase product quality and reduce operating
costs. Total employee involvement, autonomous maintenance by operators, small
group activities to improve equipment reliability, maintainability, productivity, and
continuous improvement (kaizen) are the principles embraced by TPM. TPM achieves
lower operating costs through ongoing changes in behavior, work procedures and
attitudes. TPM initiatives in production help in streamlining the manufacturing and
other business functions, and garnering sustained profits. TPM also facilitates the
organizations to achieve higher levels of productivity, improved customer service,
morale, and profits. TPM initiatives, as suggested by the Japan Institute of Plant
Maintenance (JIPM), involve an eight pillar implementation plan that results in
substantial increase in labor productivity through controlled maintenance, reduction in
maintenance costs, and reduced production stoppages and downtimes. The JIPM eight
pillar TPM implementation plan is depicted in Figure 1. Figure 2 shows detailed
maintenance and organizational improvement initiatives and activities associated with
the respective TPM pillars.

Overall equipment effectiveness


TPM is a production-driven improvement methodology that is designed to optimize
equipment reliability and ensure efficient management of plant assets (Robinson and
TPM
implementation
initiatives

341

Figure 1.
Eight pillars of TPM
implementation plan
(suggested by JIPM)

Ginder, 1995). The successful implementation of TPM results in the dramatic reduction
of wastage and performance losses associated with production facility. TPM focuses
upon cutting down various organizational performance losses as a strategy toward
affecting manufacturing performance improvements. The various manufacturing and
production losses tackled by TPM include:
.
equipment losses (failure/breakdowns losses, start up losses, product change
over/set up losses, tool changeover losses, minor interruption loss, speed loss,
defects and rework losses, shut down loss);
.
manpower losses (production stoppage losses, line organization losses,
measuring and adjustment loss, management losses, operation motion-related
losses); and
.
material losses (yield losses, consumables i.e. die-jig-tool losses, energy losses).
TPM employs overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) as a quantitative metric for
measuring the performance of a productive system. OEE is the core metric for
measuring the success of TPM implementation program (Jeong and Phillips, 2001).
This metric has become widely accepted as a quantitative tool essential for
measurement of productivity in manufacturing operations (Samuel et al., 2002). The
role of OEE goes far beyond the task of just monitoring and controlling the
manufacturing system performance. The OEE measure is central to the formulation
and execution of a TPM improvement strategy (Ljungberg, 1998). It provides a
systematic method for establishing production targets, and incorporates practical
management tools and techniques in order to achieve a balanced view of process
availability, performance efficiency and rate of quality (Bulent et al., 2000). OEE is
calculated by obtaining the product of availability of the equipment, performance
efficiency of the process and rate of quality products:

OEE ¼ Availability ð AÞ £ Performance Efficiency ðP Þ £ Rate of Quality ðQÞ ð1Þ


JQME
13,4

342

Figure 2.
Organization structure for
TPM implementation
where: TPM
Loading Time 2 Downtime implementation
Availability ð AÞ ¼ £ 100: ð2Þ initiatives
Loading Time

Processed Amount 343


Performance Efficiency ðP Þ ¼ £ 100: ð3Þ
Operating Time=Theoretical Cycle Time

Processed Amount 2 Defect Amount


Rate of Quality ðQÞ ¼ £ 100: ð4Þ
Processed Amount
TPM seeks to improve the OEE, which is an important indicator, deployed to measure
success of TPM program in an organization. TPM has the standards of 90 percent
availability, 95 percent performance efficiency and 99 percent rate of quality (Levitt,
1996). An overall 85 percent benchmark OEE is considered as world-class performance
(Blanchard, 1997; McKone et al., 1999). The OEE measure provides a strong impetus
for introducing a pilot and subsequently company-wide TPM program.

TPM implementation case study


The past decade has witnessed drastic cultural and attitudinal changes in Indian
manufacturing organizations, due to the ever-increasing challenges to survival of the
organizations (Chandra and Krishna, 1998). Thus, Indian manufacturing organizations
have been forced to look out for proactive strategic TPM initiatives for harnessing
manufacturing competencies (Ahuja et al., 2006). The present study records the
implementation and evaluation of TPM exploits in the manufacturing environment of
an Indian enterprise. The case study serves the purpose of scrutinizing the TPM
implementation practices adopted in the Indian industry and to highlighting the
achievements of Indian enterprise through strategic TPM initiatives. The study
explores the ways in which Indian manufacturing industries can implement TPM as a
strategy and culture for improving the manufacturing performance.
The case study reported in this paper has been conducted at a steel manufacturing
unit, a Rs.1,500 Crore flagship company having ISO 9002 and ISO 14001 quality and
environmental systems, catering to approximately one-third market share of the
stainless steel production in the country. The plant, indigenously designed to
manufacture hot rolled coils, plates, blooms and slabs at the time of its inception, later
ventured into manufacturing of stainless steel flat products. Since then, the company
has forged ahead as the largest stainless steel flat producer in the country in its fully
modernized plant, and has subsequently added new facilities to improve the product
mix by setting-up stainless steel cold rolling mills. Further, the organization has taken
up major modernization and expansion plans, effectively catering to improvement in
quality, production capacity and reduction in cycle time, for sustaining its market
leadership and gaining international recognition in stainless steel manufacture. The
organization is carving a name in stainless steel, by production and supply of stainless
steel, cold rolled coils, cold rolled sheets, hot rolled coils, hot rolled plates and flats,
slabs, precision strips, blooms and round bars, as per the national and international
standards to meet the total quality requirements of customers.
JQME The basic motive behind TPM implementation at this plant has been acute
13,4 problems faced by the enterprise in the form of: low productivity; high losses and
wastages associated with the production system; high customer complaints, operating
costs, overheads and defective products; non-adherence to delivery times; low skill and
motivation levels of the worker-force; and high idle time at various lines due to
unplanned maintenance. Since the plant facilities and manufacturing processes were
344 extremely equipment intensive, even small improvements in equipment performance
could translate into major competitive advantage. Moreover, the data collection and
analysis process revealed that the total idle time for the critical process equipment was
observed to be extremely high at 35-40 percent, which was not at all acceptable under
the prevailing circumstances. Thus, the need for fostering an efficient TPM
implementation program was felt fundamentally necessary.
The TPM kick off for the organization was planned and the organization’s mission
and vision toward effective TPM implementation were carefully chalked out and
communicated to all the employees. The organization structure for TPM
implementation, involving personal from various inter-disciplinary activity areas
was appropriately evolved, as depicted in Figure 3. TPM organization structure, at the
enterprise, had been carefully evolved to plan, implement and support TPM initiatives
at all levels. The key point of TPM development had been formation of effective
problem solving and equipment improvement teams of front line operators at the
production floor. These teams comprised of small groups consisting of five to seven
workers lead by a supervisor performed preliminary TPM activities like autonomous
maintenance, focused maintenance and preventive maintenance, etc. Every
manufacturing line at plant had five to eight teams for effective implementation of
TPM activities. These teams worked under supervision of Foremen TPM promotion
committee that comprised leaders from these teams as illustrated in Figure 3. This
committee was headed by a line incharge. The foremen TPM promotion committee

Figure 3.
TPM initiatives associated
with various pillars
used to control the line TPM promotion committee comprising of line incharges and TPM
headed by a section head TPM. implementation
A key feature of this organization structure was that there existed a significant
overlap between various groups indicating that there was complete synergy between initiatives
their operations. TPM Secretariat was responsible for effective administration of TPM
activities. It contained TPM plant level sub-committees for each pillar such as the
Autonomous Maintenance Sub-committee, Focused Improvement Sub-committee, etc. 345
These sub-committees comprised of technical personnel from various sections,
adequately trained in TPM techniques. These were concerned with monitoring the
progress of TPM activities, preparation of reports and presentation of developments
and guidance of TPM promotion teams at various levels of organization. The TPM
manager controlled the working of TPM Secretariat and Plant Level Steering
Committee, thus acting as a coordinator.
To begin with, the training needs of the operators, technicians, foremen, supervisors
and middle level management personnel were ascertained and adequate training and
knowledge was imparted to the employees to have proper understanding of the
underlying TPM principles and fundamentals. Further, plant visits were also organized
to various successful TPM implementing plants to motivate the employees by
demonstrating the potential of TPM initiatives in realizing manufacturing competencies.
The employees were also convinced and motivated about the achievements possible
through holistic TPM implementation, and the retardants addressed through counseling
and taking positive steps toward addressing the concerns of the employees.
TPM implementation started with the selection of key model machines from
different areas and initiation of four activities – autonomous maintenance, preventive
maintenance, focused improvement and quality maintenance at these critical
production facilities. The responsibility for implementation and follow up of TPM
activities at each of the machines was attached to supervisors and engineers concerned
with that particular production activity area. The small group activities (SGA), the
driving force behind the TPM implementation, were then introduced at various
manufacturing areas in the plant with the production operators and executives at the
various levels and related with the different organization functions encouraged to form
the small group kaizen teams.
The teams, comprising six to eight members at various hierarchical levels from
various organizational functions, were constituted to look into the areas of concern
addressing the key function areas. The objectives of the various teams were formulated
which included affecting focused improvement activities, institutionalizing autonomous
maintenance and predictive maintenance activities, motivating workers for suggesting
and implementing kaizen themes, development of one-point lessons for improving
worker knowledge and skills. The team leaders were selected on the basis of their
knowledge and interest in equipment improvement as well as the respect and authority
they commanded from their subordinates. A centralized TPM steering committee was
constituted for training the workers in different functional areas and for catering to
multi-skilling requirements in the various organizational areas. The initiatives regarding
measuring and maximizing OEE, the major thrust behind TPM implementation, were
initiated and the workers were trained and motivated to understand and record various
losses prevailing in the manufacturing systems. The initial benchmarking of equipment
performance helped in highlighting the gap between the existing performance levels
JQME prevailing in the organization and desired manufacturing excellence levels, thereby
13,4 providing a strong impetus for introducing focused company-wide maintenance
improvement strategies through deployment of eight pillar TPM implementation
philosophy across all the critical model equipment in the organization.
Figure 4 indicates the representative loss tree for a critical sample machine. It
clearly depicts the identification of various performance losses associated with the
346 sample machine. The data reveals significantly high total equipment losses (107
hours), manpower losses (195 hours) and material losses (Rs.0.45 lac.) at the start of the
TPM implementation program. Subsequently, the benchmarks and targets for various
losses for the sample machine were identified as shown in Figure 5, and the strategies
for controlling of the different losses were evolved and effectively deployed through
total employee involvement. The roadmap for addressing various performance losses
was evolved by holistic deployment of TPM initiatives. At this stage various
maintenance improvement initiatives were adopted which included implementation of
tracking root causes for the identified losses, failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA),
developing planned maintenance check sheets, putting into place predictive
maintenance initiatives at critical equipment, PM analysis, 5S implementation and
various other maintenance improvement initiatives.
These initiatives resulted in significant reduction in the performance losses over a
period of time as depicted by Figure 6. The trends in total equipment loss, manpower
loss and material loss reveal a significant improvement in the system performance
through drastic reduction in performance losses, and validated the extremely high
potential of TPM initiatives toward addressing equipment related losses. This resulted
in substantial increase in the total plant uptime as revealed from Figure 7.
Figure 8 depicts the trend in OEE of the critical sample machine over a period of
time. The results reveal a significant improvement in OEE as a result of strategic TPM

Figure 4.
Loss tree for a critical
sample machine
TPM
implementation
initiatives

347

Figure 5.
Bench mark and targets
for various losses

Figure 6.
Losses chart for a critical
sample machine

initiatives, from a meager 30.6 percent at the time of start of TPM implementation
program to 71.6 percent after the successful TPM implementation. This can be
attributed to focused improvement initiatives for identification and mitigation of the
factors contributing to low overall equipment effectiveness. The holistic TPM
implementation has also revealed drastic reduction in losses and significant
enhancement in total plant uptime for the manufacturing facility, as revealed in
Figure 9.
This was followed by horizontal deployment of TPM implementation initiatives to
all the production facilities at the plant. The benefits accrued by the enterprise through
strategic TPM implementation included productivity enhancement (P) by way of
JQME
13,4

348

Figure 7.
Total plant uptime

Figure 8.
Overall equipment
effectiveness evaluation
for critical machine

enhanced equipment, manpower and materials productivity; quality improvement (Q)


through reduced process defects, defective products, customer complaints and
improved conformance to specifications; cost reduction (C) through reduction in
manpower, maintenance cost, power consumption, breakdown, rework and operating
cost; improved delivery (D) through reduced inventories, dependable deliveries;
improved safety (S) through zero accidents and zero pollution; improved morale
through increased motivation, acceptance of improvement initiatives (kaizens), small
group activities; improved morale (M) through ownership and better familiarity with
the equipment, improved cooperation and coordination, free flow of information and
competitive advantages in the form of value addition and customer delight.
The present case study reveals that there has been significant improvement in
overall equipment effectiveness of all the production facilities as a result of TPM
initiatives. The benefits realized through effective TPM implementation program
included:
.
OEE improvement: 14-45 percent;
.
inventory reduction: 45-58 percent;
.
improvement in plant output: 22-41 percent;
TPM
implementation
initiatives

349

Figure 9.
Losses distribution for
manufacturing facility

.
reduction in customer rejections: 50-75 percent;
.
reduction in accidents: 90-98 percent;
.
reduction in maintenance cost: 18-45 percent;
.
reduction in defects and rework: 65-80 percent;
.
reduction in breakdowns: 65-78 percent;
.
reduction in energy costs: 8-27 percent;
.
increase in employee suggestions: 32-65 percent; and
.
total savings resulting from effective implementation of kaizen themes as a result
of significantly enhanced participation across the organization: Rs. 80 million.

Thus, TPM has proven to be a continuous improvement strategy that works.


Successful implementation of TPM requires at least three to four years of continuous
efforts to reach the world-class status. TPM can help an industrial organization in the
move toward world-class manufacturing (WCM) through achievement of distinctive
benefits as gain of productivity, quality, safety, cost-cutting, flexibility and morale.
JQME The need for TPM implementation must be addressed seriously in the Indian
13,4 industries in order to survive and excel in the global competition.

Critical success factors in TPM implementation


The case study has revealed that the success of TPM in a typical Indian manufacturing
organization is largely dependent on the organization’s endeavor to holistically
350 implement TPM initiatives. The successful implementation of TPM in the
manufacturing enterprise is a function of the ability of an enterprise to approach
and practice TPM holistically; demonstrating top management commitment, support
and involvement; developing a realistic TPM implementation plan by employing
project management principles; ensuring alignment to mission and existing
organization; providing empowerment and incentive, reward mechanisms in the
organization; ensuring synergy between various business functions; eliminating the
reactive maintenance culture; inculcating self-belief in the workforce; ensuring the
motivation of workforce toward participative management and continuous
improvement; promoting cross functionality and teamwork; instilling skills and
knowledge related to autonomous maintenance and equipment improvement;
developing and maintaining standard operating practices; allocating time and
resources for efficient TPM implementation practices; establishing and adhering to
laid out practices; putting in place relevant measures of performance, and continually
monitoring and publicizing benefits achieved in financial terms. In order to ensure the
successful implementation of TPM initiatives and practices in the challenging Indian
manufacturing scenario the organizations must be willing to foster a favorable and
motivating environment and support change in the workplace, and create support for
TPM concepts. Further, in order to ensure the alignment of employees toward the
organization’s goals and objectives toward a sustainable TPM implementation
program, an appropriate understanding of underlying TPM principles and strategies
must be provided to employees at all levels in the organization. Moreover, for
successful TPM implementation, the organizations must harness competencies for
improving the traditional maintenance performance in the organization, besides
holistically adopting proactive TPM initiatives. It becomes imperative for the Indian
organizations to evolve proactive strategies for indigenous TPM implementation
program capable of leading the organizations successfully in the competitive
environment. Thus there is an urgent need for establishing and holistically adopting
key enablers and success factors in the organizations to ensure the success of TPM
implementation program for garnering manufacturing competencies for meeting the
challenges posed by the global competition.

Conclusions
The study reported in this work has revealed that there is an emerging need for TPM
implementation in the Indian industry and the need to develop an indigenous action
plan to foster TPM implementation practices and procedures. TPM has proved to be a
means to supplement the concerted improvement efforts by addressing equipment and
other related problems that adversely affect the performance of the manufacturing
system. TPM implementation in the enterprise has demonstrated the effective
realization of optimized equipment effectiveness, breakdown elimination and
promotion of autonomous operator maintenance through day-to-day activities
involving the total workforce. TPM has helped the enterprise in improving the synergy TPM
between the maintenance department and rest of the manufacturing functions, implementation
resulting in elimination of defects, improved manufacturing process reliability and
OEE, affecting cost reductions thereby strengthening sustainability efforts of the initiatives
organization to meet cut-throat global competition for business excellence. TPM has
provided an excellent means to improve the overall efficiency of the manufacturing
system. Thus, in a highly competitive scenario, TPM might prove to be one among the 351
best of the proactive strategic initiatives that can lead the organizations to scale new
levels of achievements and could really make the difference between success and
failure of the organizations.

References
Ahmed, S., Hassan, M.H. and Taha, Z. (2005), “TPM can go beyond maintenance: excerpt from a
case implementation”, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 11 No. 1,
pp. 19-42.
Ahuja, I.P.S., Khamba, J.S. and Choudhary, R. (2006), “Improved organizational behavior through
strategic total productive maintenance implementation”, Proceedings of 2006 ASME
International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE-2006),
November 5-10, Chicago, Illinois, USA, pp. 1-8.
Besterfield, D.H., Besterfield-Michna, C., Besterfield, G.H. and Besterfield-Sacre, M. (1999), Total
Quality Management, 2nd ed., Prentice-Hall International, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Blanchard, B.S. (1997), “An enhanced approach for implementing total productive maintenance
in the manufacturing environment”, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 3
No. 2, pp. 69-80.
Bulent, D., Tugwell, P. and Greatbanks, R. (2000), “Overall equipment effectiveness as a measure
of operational improvement – a practical analysis”, International Journal of Operations &
Production Management, Vol. 20 No. 12, pp. 1488-502.
Chandra, S. and Krishna, M.G. (1998), “Total productive maintenance – implementation in Indian
industry”, Indian Management Journal, Vol. 37 No. 11, pp. 49-58.
Chaneski, W.S. (2002), “Total productive maintenance – an effective technique”, Modern Machine
Shop, Vol. 75 No. 2, pp. 46-8.
Gomes, C.F., Yasin, M.M. and Lisboa, J.V. (2006), “Performance measurement practices in
manufacturing firms: an empirical investigation”, Journal of Manufacturing Technology
Management, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 144-67.
Jeong, K-Y. and Phillips, D.T. (2001), “Operational efficiency and effectiveness measurement”,
International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 21 No. 11, pp. 1404-16.
Kutucuoglu, K.Y., Hamali, J., Irani, Z. and Sharp, J.M. (2001), “A framework for managing
maintenance using performance measurement systems”, International Journal of
Operations & Production Management, Vol. 21 Nos 1/2, pp. 173-94.
Lawrence, J.L. (1999), “Use mathematical modeling to give your TPM implementation effort an
extra boost”, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 62-9.
Levitt, J. (1996), Managing Factory Maintenance, Industrial Press, New York, NY.
Ljungberg, O. (1998), “Measurement of overall equipment effectiveness as a basis for TPM
activities”, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 18 No. 5,
pp. 495-507.
McKone, K.E., Roger, G.S. and Kristy, O.C. (1999), “Total productive maintenance: a contextual
view”, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 123-44.
JQME Maggard, B.N. and Rhyne, D.M. (1992), “Total productive maintenance: a timely integration of
production and maintenance”, Production and Inventory Management Journal, Vol. 33
13,4 No. 4, pp. 6-10.
Moubray, J. (2003), 21st Century Maintenance Organization: Part I – The Asset Management
Model, Maintenance Technology, Applied Technology Publications, Barrington, IL.
Nakajima, S. (1989), TPM Development Program: Implementing Total Productive Maintenance,
352 Productivity Press, Portland, OR.
Pintelon, L., Pinjala, S.K. and Vereecke, A. (2006), “Evaluating the effectiveness of maintenance
strategies”, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering;, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 7-20.
Rhyne, D.M. (1990), “Total plant performance advantages through total productive
maintenance”, Conference Proceedings, APICS, Birmingham, pp. 683-6.
Robinson, C.J. and Ginder, A.P. (1995), Implementing TPM: The North American Experience,
Productivity Press, Portland, OR.
Samuel, H.H., John, P.D., Shi, J. and Qi, S. (2002), “Manufacturing system modeling for
productivity improvement”, Journal of Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 249-60.
Sharma, R.K., Kumar, D. and Kumar, P. (2005), “FLM to select suitable maintenance strategy in
process industries using MISO model”, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering,
Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 359-74.

About the authors


I.P.S. Ahuja holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Master’s Degree in
Industrial Engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab,
India. Presently, he is working as Reader in Mechanical Engineering at University College of
Engineering, Punjabi University, Patiala (India). His main research area is Total Productive
Maintenance. I.P.S. Ahuja is the corresponding author and can be contacted at:
ahujaips@yahoo.co.in
J.S. Khamba holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Master’s Degree in
Industrial Engineering and PhD in Technology Management from Thapar Institute of
Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab, India. Presently, he is working as Professor in
Mechanical Engineering at University College of Engineering, Punjabi University, Patiala
(India). His main research areas are Technology Management, Non Traditional Machining and
Total Productive Maintenance.

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com


Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints

You might also like