Abstract
Maintenance has traditionally been viewed as a separate entity
outside the manufacturing process. Total Productive Maintenance
(TPM) is a maintenance philosophy designed to integrate
equipment maintenance into the manufacturing process [1], [2],
[3]. TPM is based on proactive and preventative maintenance and
places a strong emphasis on empowering operators to help
maintain their equipment, thus reducing to a minimum the small
stops, product defects, equipment breakdowns and work related
accidents. Total Production Maintenance (TPM) is a necessary
part of any successful business, where down time for
maintenance is an integral part of the manufacturing process [4],
[5], [6].
The maintenance process evolved over the years passing through
several phases before reaching the highly efficient TPM phase.
The TPM program closely resembles the Total Quality
Management (TQM) program [2], [4] where several of the tools
used in TQM such as employee empowerment, benchmarking,
documentation, etc. are used to implement and optimize TPM.
However, there are some essential differences making the TPM
process human friendly by shifting the means of attaining the
final goal from management systematization and software
orientation in TQM, to employees participation and hardware
orientation in TPM. This process in highly adequate for plant
maintenance in developing countries, where work force is
generally under qualified.