Why TPM is seen as 'Maintenance'

Is TPM the same as (AUTONOMOUS) MAINTENANCE?

Many speak about TPM, but mean Autonomous Maintenance. How come? Why is TPM primarily seen and used as a maintenance module? Is it a lack of information?

In my experience there are 3 main reasons for this mis-understanding:

1. Total Productive Maintenance can easily be understood (in this translation) as a maintenance issue; Maintenance here should be translated as To Maintain so: To Maintain the Total Productivity of the equipment. Of course before you can maintain it, you have to get there…. Here comes the second misunderstanding:

2. Many start implementing TPM with the 7 steps of Autonomous Maintenance, the second pillar. Since most equipment had a lack of focus before TPM, a variety of maintenance related issues will pop-up. Most companies I know keep playing around in this pillar a long time, thus leaving an impression of TPM being ‘something around maintenance’. It is not unusual that companies somewhere in the 7 steps also start to include another pillar: preventive maintenance, which asks for heavy involvement of the maintenance department. If there is a lak of understanding about the real meaning of TPM, this is usually the point where TPM start losing its value, where it will become a ‘flavour of the month’ program.

3. And yes, it is certainly an ‘Informationsdefizit’; although not in the traditional meaning of the word. It is merely a lack of true understanding. Can I explain an Alien what ‘love’ is? I think so. But will he really understand what it is to fall in love, to love your child, to love your spouse? This is the real difficulty with TPM… Only a few really understand its deeper meaning; that it is not a program where you apply 7 pillars and follow some steps. Those are just guidelines, like the 10 commandments. To understand the real implications and the beauty of TPM even with a good ‘sensei’ (coach-teacher) it can take considerable time!

In the years, I have been reading Nakajima-san’s book about TPM 3 times, and every time I discovered new insights….answers only come when you have a question!

The lack of true understanding of the meaning of TPM, in my opinion, is the reason of many stalled TPM implementations…

Arno Koch