Abstract
M.Phil. (Engineering Management)
The study is based on A South African perspective in the implementation of manufacturing and
total productive Maintenance (TPM), methodologies and strategies in fast moving consumer
goods organizations in South Africa. Major developments have occurred recently in the
improvement of asset care systems in South Africa so that the manufacturing plants are operating
optimally and minimizing the cost of production. These asset care management philosophies and
systems are constantly being optimized, in the true spirit of continuous improvement.
The strive for optimum proactive maintenance through the use of just in- time (JIT) and total
quality-management (TQM) techniques gave rise to what is termed the total productivemaintenance
(TPM) approach and together these concepts have given rise to what is now
referred to as World class manufacturing (WCM). This study explores the ways in which South
African fast moving consumer goods manufacturing companies can implement WCM and TPM
concepts as an organization wide culture for improving its factory performance and reliability.
World class manufacturing and total productive manufacturing is a larger companywide program
compared to its predecessors. There is much more emphasis now by organizations on being a
low cost, demand driven, consumer focused and customer orientated supply chain. The WCM
and TPM tools are ways to engage the whole supply chain in clearly identifying problems, and
providing corrective and preventative actions to ensure higher levels of customer satisfaction are
attained. The major objectives are optimized processes, culture change, employee involvement
and proactive processes and these provide the organizations with the ability and flexibility to
reduce and eliminate all forms of waste within their supply chain systems.
Organizations need to instill a sense of ownership and mutual accountability to their staff,
through employee involvement and empowerment initiatives. High skills retention and
motivation levels can be achieved in this way and this can greatly reduce the employee turnover
rates. Employers need to develop employee suggestion schemes where they give and seek
feedback and respond with actions. The South African labor market has become very strike
prone and as a result a lot less competitive compared to their overseas counterparts, especially in
the mining sector. This has been witnessed in South Africa recently in the Platinum mining
sector which is the largest platinum producer in the world. These labor unrests and work
stoppages have resulted in some shareholders threatening to pull out, and loss of income by both
the mine employees and employers. This unfortunate state of affairs impacts negatively on the
South African economy, and greatly frustrates foreign direct investment which is needed to grow
the gross domestic product of the nation.
WCM implementation is not an overnight endeavor but rather a journey that takes years to
accomplish and requires additional training and development of the workforce. These concepts
and principles will be greatly explored at length in this research study to uncover the win-win
potential gains that might exist for the consumer, customer, employee and South African FMCG
companies.