MaintenanceCircleTeam Page 1 March 9th 2009

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NEWSLETTER FOR MANUFACTURING COMMUNITY

Maintenance
Word for the day: TPM-PATH TO PROSPERITY

C ontinuing the journey of improving efficiency, a critical meeting has been scheduled in the shop floor to
discuss various options for improving productivity, reducing downtime, eliminating rejections and improve
the profit to survive in this intensely competitive global market.

By the way, I got lucky last week to travel abroad for attending a 15-day seminar to learn some new methods
on increasing organization’s productivity. But on my 8th day, as I was enjoying my hot cup of coffee sitting in
hotel balcony, I receive a message with “urgent” priority asking me to be present for the critical meeting at the
factory. It poured cold water on my plans of spending few more days in this beautiful foreign land!! Well, it is
important to be present for a meeting that is focusing on the very basics of making the shop floor more
productive.

Last minute planning did not get me direct flight to my hometown. I was booked to the nearest metro and
then to take an overnight train to hometown from there, to be just in time for the meeting.

It was a cold dark winter morning when I reached the airport. It took almost two hours to complete formalities
before I could board the aircraft. The feeling of leaving foreign land was washed out instantly by the
excitement of travelling on the brand new A380, world’s largest and heaviest passenger aircraft. It is a double-
decker aircraft weighing 560,000 kilograms (560 tons) (1234587 pounds) with house-full 500+ passengers and
flies at an astonishing speed of 1000 (621 Miles) Kilometers per hour at 12500 meters or 12.5 kilometers
(40,000 feet) height above ground level.

This technological masterpiece is powered by four turbo engines which rotate in excess of 12000 Revolutions
Per Minute (RPM). Hundreds of kilometers of various cables run thru the aircraft keeping all the devices in
working condition. Thousands of components are working in perfect synchronization to make my 9-hour
journey, a journey of the lifetime.

The flight landed perfectly and I had just thirty minutes to catch my train. In the platform, it took me few
minutes and lot of breathing to run to my coach that was located pretty far away. It is a 14-coach long and
150,000 kilograms (150 tons) (330963 pounds) heavy train coupled to a 6000 Horse Power (4475 Kilowatts) AC
locomotive which pulls all of us smoothly at 80 (50 Miles) kilometers per hour with 120 wheels on precise steel
track for a journey which I will probably spend dreaming in deep sleep.

It is impossible to even imagine the consequences of some component failing on both these technological
marvels. Decades of research, experiment, little failures, many successes followed by strict maintenance
procedures have gone into giving these marvels and many more machines one character: RELIABILITY

Reliability is nothing but the ability of a product or machine to perform its intended action over a longer
period of time. High reliability means high dependability and increased meantime between failures (MTBF).
Reliability need not be limited to a product or a machine alone. Even a process, procedure and entire shop
floor can be made reliable. (Don’t forget that we often use reliability while referring to some people as well!!)

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 MaintenanceCircleTeam Page 2 March 9th 2009

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NEWSLETTER FOR MANUFACTURING COMMUNITY

Maintenance
Increased reliability of a product or machine or process means increased effectiveness in performing its
intended action. Reliability need not only be achieved in design or producing stage. It can be achieved by
continuous improvements in production and process stage as well. For example, a high-tech and reliable
machine purchased for a fancy price can become unreliable without proper care and maintenance.

Although there are many discrete and scientific methods available to check and monitor reliability of a
product or machine, it is quite difficult to apply same techniques for entire operations. For instance, SPC
(Statistical Process Control) is one of the most successful methods of improving the reliability of quality
parameters. Similarly, ISO and other standards help increase reliability of the process implemented.

From many decades, there have been continuous efforts to improve the reliability of entire organization. TQM
(Total Quality Management) and 6-Sigma are some of the most popular methods that have evolved out of
years of research and experimentation. But these and other few techniques have few limitations: The
methodologies followed were bit complex for a shop-floor person (say an electrician or lathe turner) to
understand and implement. Secondly, the procedure did not address micro level problems that existed in shop
floor. Finally, these methodologies were expensive to implement, mostly with assistance of an external
consultant.

To fill this gap and make the process simpler & practical, many new techniques were created and practiced all
over the world. Some of the major developments took place in US & Japan – especially during rapid
industrialization after Second World War – to enable people at shop floor level to follow and implement the
techniques on their own. PM, 5S, Kanban, Kaizen and TPM were some of the outcome of this continued effort.
Of all the practices, probably TPM or Total Productive Maintenance can be considered as one of the easiest
and most practical practice that can be followed at shop floor for improving machine, process reliability and
beyond. Just because the word “maintenance” is used in TPM does not mean it will be limited to maintenance
department alone. TPM can be practiced by all departments and its benefits can be easily and practically
measured.

An overview presentation is attached to this introduction which will take you thru the basics of
TPM. The intention is to convey that TPM is a practical, achievable and measurable activity
that can be implemented across the organization, without huge financial investments.

Soon, we will be producing a series of case studies and articles on TPM. Readers are definitely welcome to
contribute their findings, experiences and knowledge with us to reach wider audience.

Interested to view few of our old publications? Click here and get to Google document store.

User ID: maintenance@maintenancecircle.com

Password: maintenancecircle

If you like to improvise this article or contribute or comment please mail us at: feedback@maintenancecircle.com
This document contains information for reference only. We assume no responsibility for its implication.
 MaintenanceCircleTeam Page 3 March 9th 2009

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NEWSLETTER FOR MANUFACTURING COMMUNITY

Maintenance
And by the way, here is this week’s Techuzzle to tease your brain power……….

2 3

5 6

EclipseCrossword.com
Across

2. An important conducting material

4. A very precious metal
5. Heaviest metal, density is high
8. Used in batteries

Down

1. Used for coating electrical contacts

3. A good lubricating metal composite
6. Material with superior conductivity, better than Aluminum
7. Extensively used metal

If you like to improvise this article or contribute or comment please mail us at: feedback@maintenancecircle.com
This document contains information for reference only. We assume no responsibility for its implication.