Overview of TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) in Process Industries.

TPM or Total productive Maintenance introduced by the Japanese.  Japan’s process industries introduced preventive maintenance (PM) relatively early because production output and rate, quality, safety, and the environment depend almost entirely on the state of plant and equipment. The preventive and productive maintenance systems introduced by the Japanese process industries played a major role in improving product quality and productivity. They contributed significantly to overall progress in maintenance management and expertise in such areas as setting up specialized maintenance organizations, creating equipment management systems, improving equipment technology, and raising maintenance productivity.

Origin & Development Of TPM (Total Productive Maintenance)

While the process industries focused on preventive and productive maintenance, the fabrication and assembly industries invested heavily in new equipment in an effort to become less labor-intensive. The equipment used by these industries has become increasingly automated and sophisticated, and Japan is now the world leader in the use of industrial robots. This trend toward automation, combined with the trend toward just-in-time production, stimulated interest in improving maintenance management in the fabrication and assembly industries. This gave birth to a uniquely Japanese approach called total productive maintenance, a form of productive maintenance involving all employees.

The Spread of TPM

TPM first took root in the automobile industry and rapidly became part Of the corporate culture in companies such as Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda, end their suppliers and affiliates. It has also been introduced by other industries, such as consumer appliances, microelectronics, machine tools, plastics, film, and many others. Having introduced preventive maintenance, the process industries then began to implement TPM. An increasing number of process plants have introduced TPM over the past few years in industries such as food, rubber, oil refining, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, gas, cement, paper making, iron and steel, and printing. Initially, corporate TPM activities were limited to departments directly involved with equipment, such as production. However, administrative and support departments, while actively supporting TPM in production, are now applying tpm to enhance the effectiveness of their own activities.

TPM improvement methods and activities are also being adopted in product development and sales departments. This last trend underlines the increasing tendency to consider production processes and equipment at the product development stage in an effort to simplify production, improve quality assurance, and enhance and reduce the startup period for new production. These issues are of particular concern in process industries today as product diversification continues and product life cycles shorten. Interest in TPM outside Japan has also expanded in recent years Many companies in the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America are planning to or are actively pursuing tpm.

Why ls TPM So Popular?

There are three main reasons why TPM(Total Productive Maintenance) has spread so rapidly throughout the Japanese industry and why companies outside Japan are becoming interested. It guarantees dramatic results, visibly transforms the workplace, and raises the level of knowledge and skill in production and maintenance workers.

Significant Tangible Results

Companies practicing TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) invariably achieve startling results, particularly in reducing equipment breakdowns, minimizing idling and minor stops (indispensable in unmanned plants), lessening quality defects and claims, boosting productivity, trimming labor and costs, shrinking inventory, cutting accidents, and promoting employee involvement (as shown by increased submission of improvement suggestions).

Transforming the Plant Environment

Through tpm (Total Productive Maintenance), a filthy, rusty plant covered in oil and grease, leaking fluids, and spilled powders can be reborn as a pleasant, safe working environment. Customers and other visitors are impressed by these changes, and their confidence in the plant’s products increases.

Transforming the Plant Workers

As tpm activities begin to yield concrete results (improving the working environment, minimizing breakdowns, improving quality, reducing change over time, and so on), workers become motivated, involvement increases, and improvement suggestions proliferate. People begin to think of TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) as part of their job.

TPM helps operators understand their equipment and widens the range of maintenance and other tasks they can handle. It enables them to make new discoveries, acquire fresh knowledge, and enjoy new experiences. It strengthens motivation, engenders interest in and concern for equipment, and fosters the desire to maintain equipment in peak condition.

Special Features of Process Industries

Certain Unique features and Concerns distinguish process industries from the fabrication and assembly industries where TPM was born.

Diverse Production Systems – The term “Process Industry” Covers a Wide Variety of Industries including Oil refining, Petrochemicals, general Chemicals, Iron and steel. Power generation, gas, paper making, cement, food, pharmaceuticals, and textiles. Process plants in these industries employ a mixture of different production regimes, ranging from completely continuously integrated.

Production to pure batch production. Also, the trend toward increased product diversification and high-variety, small-lot production have led in many cases to both process and fabrication/ assembly production in the same plant.

Diverse equipment. In process industries, production processes consist of a combination of unit operations such as pulverization, dissolution, reaction, filtration, adsorption, concentration, crystallization, separation, molding, drying, cooling, and screening, together with the handling and transportation of various substances. Equipment includes static units such as columns, tanks, heat exchangers, kettles, and furnaces; rotating machinery such as pumps, compressors, motors, and turbines; and the piping, electrical, and instrumentation systems that connect them.

Use of static equipment. Static equipment is a particularly noteworthy feature of process industries. The special nature of such equipment requires TPM activities that focus on the relationship between process conditions and product quality and include techniques for diagnosing corrosion, cracking, burning, blocks, leaks, and so on.

Centralized control and few operators. Unlike in fabrication and assembly industries, control in process industries is centralized. Many process industries employ continuous, integrated production with centralized control of large equipment complexes. A wide range of equipment is often controlled by a handful of operators.

Diverse equipment-related problems. In addition to blocks, leaks, and other process problems process industry equipment is often plagued by faults such as cracking, rupture, corrosion, seizure, fatigue, slack, parts falling off wear, distortion, burning, short-circuiting, faulty insulation, wire breaks, misoperation, current leaks, and overheating. The most common problems, however, are corrosion, leaks, and blocks.

High energy consumption. Man processes in process industries, such as dissolution, reaction, crystallization baking, and drying, are energy-intensive and consume large amounts of electrical power, fuel, water, and so on.

High accident and pollution risk. Some processes handle hazardous or poisonous substances and are operated at high temperatures and pressures, risking the explosion and pollution of the plant and its surroundings. This makes strict plant management essential, as well as careful adherence to various statutory regulations.

Poor working environment. Intermediate and final products handled in process industries usually consist of bulk powders, liquids, or solids. While it is considered inevitable that the working environment will become dirty as a result of these being scattered, overflowing, leaking, and so on, such conditions frequently cause equipment problems.

Shutdown maintenance. Shutdown maintenance is a major feature of process industries. Carefully planned, systematically implemented shutdown maintenance is considered the most effective way of preventing breakdowns. However, since shutdown maintenance is time-consuming and labor-intensive, it is also expensive. Finding the most effective way of performing shutdown maintenance in view of its cost and the losses it incurs is, therefore, a perennial concern in process industries.

DEFINITION OF TPM

Because early TPM activities were targeted at production departments TPM was originally defined by the Iapan Institute of Plant Maintenance (JIPM) to include the following five strategies:

1. Maximize overall equipment effectiveness.
2. Establish a comprehensive PM system covering the life of the equipment.
3. Involve all departments that plan, use, and maintain equipment.
4. Involve all employees from top management to front-line workers.
5. Promote PM through motivation management ie autonomous small-
6. group activities.

Now, however, TPM is applied throughout many organizations – in many Pre-Production and product development departments as well as administrative and sales departments. To reflect this trend, JIPM introduced a new definition of TPM in 1989, with the following strategic Components;

TPM strategic component

1. Build a corporate constitution that will maximize the effectiveness of production systems.
2. Using a shop-floor approach, build an organization that prevents every type of loss (by ensuring zero accidents, zero defects, and zero failures) for the life of the production system.
3. Involve all departments in implementing TPM, including development, sales, and administration.
4. Involve everyone — from top management to shop-floor workers.
5. Conduct zero-loss activity through overlapping small-group activities.

Equipment Management in Process Industries.

Equipment management in process industries has three aspects.

The first involves planning for the entire life cycle of the equipment. The technology-cost trade-off must be pursued throughout the engineering and maintenance phases from the time a piece of equipment is first planned until it is finally replaced.

The second aspect concerns the type of maintenance to be performed, that is, the approach (preventive, corrective, predictive, and so on) and its frequency (whether scheduled or unscheduled). To eliminate failures, companies must skillfully combine these different maintenance approaches.

The third aspect involves allocating responsibility for maintenance, which is’ deciding whether tasks will be performed autonomously by production operation or by maintenance specialists. At present, maintenance and production departments tackle some maintenance tasks independently and some in collaboration. The boundary is likely to shift, however, as equipment becomes increasingly automated and requires less human intervention. The type of equipment being managed must also be considered. The combination of strategies adopted to achieve zero breakdowns, zero defects, and zero accidents Will vary depending on the particular category of equipment, such as columns, tanks, heat exchangers, piping, rotating machinery, electrical systems, instrumentation, and furnaces.

TPM Development

TPM is normally implemented in four phases (preparation, introduction, implementation, and consolidation), which can be broken down into twelve steps.

Preparation Phase

It is vital to lay the foundation for a TPM program carefully and thoroughly. If planning is slipshod, repeated modifications and corrections will be needed during implementation. The preparation phase starts with top management’s announcement of its decision to introduce TPM and is complete when the TPM development master plan has been formulated.

Step 1: Top Management Announces Its Decision to Introduce TPM

All employees must understand why their company is introducing TPM and be fully aware of its necessity. Rising raw and intermediate material costs, falling product prices and other upheavals in the business environment are forcing the industry to organize itself more effectively. Many companies are adopting TPM as a way of solving their complex internal problems and riding out the economic storm. Needless to say, top management must consider these points carefully before announcing its decision to introduce TPM. When top management does make this commitment, however, it should declare the intention to see the TPM program through to the end. This informs all employees and interested outside parties that management understands the long-term value of TPM and will provide the physical and organizational support needed to solve the various problems that are likely to surface during implementation. Preparation for TPM begins formally when this announcement is made.

Step 2: TPM Introductory Education

Before a TPM program can be implemented it must be understood To achieve this, some people attend outside seminars, and an in-house training program is planned and implemented.

Step 3: Create a TPM Promotion Organization

TPM is promoted through a structure of overlapping small groups. In this system leaders of small groups at each organizational level are members of small groups at the next higher level. Top management itself also constitutes a small group. This system is extremely effective for deploying top management policies and goals throughout an organization. Establish a TPM promotion office responsible for developing and promoting effective TPM promotion strategies. To be effective,  the office should be run by a permanent, full-time staff, assisted by various committees and sub-committees. Its functions include preparing the TPM master plan and coordinating its promotion, devising ways to keep the various TPM activities on track, spear-heading focused campaigns, disseminating information, and arranging publicity. The promotion office plays an especially important role in managing the implementation of autonomous maintenance and focused improvement activities.

Step 4: Establish Basic TPM Policy and Goals

A company’s basic TPM policy must be an integral part of its overall business policy and should indicate the goals and directions of the activities to be carried out. TPM goals should relate to the company’s long and mid-range business goals and should only be decided after thorough consultation among everyone involved, including top management. The TPM program lasts for the length of time required to attain these goals. Express goals numerically as far as possible. To set goals, start by establishing clear baselines. These should provide a snapshot of the existing situation and be expressed partly quantitatively and partly qualitative Setting a goal means aiming for a desirable level of attainment above a particular baseline. Deciding how far above the baseline to set the goal is always the most difficult question. Goals Should be very challenging, but also achievable.

Step 5: Draft a TPM Master Plan

To formulate a master plan for implementation, first decide what activities must be pursued to achieve the TPM goals. This is an important step because it makes people think about the most affluent ways of bridging the gap between baselines and goals.

The eight-core TPM activities are:

• Focused improvement
• Autonomous maintenance
• Planned maintenance
• Education and training
• Early management
• Quality maintenance
• Administrative and support department activities
• Safety and environmental management

Other important activities include:

• Diagnostics and predictive maintenance
• Equipment management
• Product development and equipment design and construction

These activities need budgets and must be properly supervised. A schedule should be drawn up for each activity and integrated into the master plan.

Introduction Phase -— Step 6: Kick-Off TPM Initiatives

Once the master plan has been approved, the TPM kick-off can take place. The kick-off should be designed to cultivate an atmosphere that raises morale and inspires dedication. In Japan, it is often a company-wide meeting to which client companies, affiliates, and subcontractors are invited. At the meeting, top management reconfirms their commitment to implementing TPM and report on the plans developed and the work accomplished during the preparation phase.

Implementation Phase (Steps 7-11)

During the implementation phase, selected activities designed to achieve the targets shown in the master plan are carried out. The order and timing of the activities in Steps 7-11 should be tailored to suit the particular characteristics of the company, division; or plant. Some activities may be carried out concurrently. The fundamental TPM activities are summarized below.

Consolidation Phase — Step 12: Sustain Levels and Refine 

In Japan’ the first Stage Of a TPM program ends when a company wins a  PM Prize.  However, the Company’s TPM activities must not stop there. Embed them firmly in the corporate culture and continue to make them more effective.

A company grows by continually pursuing higher and higher goals‘,-  goals that reflect-a vision of what the company believes it ought to become.  Businesses are struggling to map out their development plans for the fast-approaching twenty-first century. Their TPM programs must be able to support them in this.

Recently, more companies are realizing the importance of locking into place the improvements their initial TPM program brings. Such companies are introducing a further stage to their activities with the aim of winning the Special PM Prize.

FUNDAMENTAL TPM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES 

Companies must select and implement activities that will achieve the goals of TPM effectively and efficiently. Although different companies may choose slightly different activities, the eight described below are the most common. They have been shown to yield excellent results when properly pursued, and they are the foundation and support of any successful TPM development program.

The eight pillars of TPM

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a set of strategic initiatives focusing on maintaining and improving production and quality systems through the machines, equipment, processes and employees that add value to an organization.

TPM has eight pillars that are mainly aimed at proactively improving the reliability of machines.

People are at the center of this system and must be continuously trained to identify and eliminate waste.

Following are the list of 8 Pillars of TPM

Step 7-1: Focused Improvement
Step 7-2: Autonomous Maintenance
Step 7-3: Planned Maintenance
Step 7-4: Training
Step 8: Early Management
Step 9: Quality Maintenance
Step 10: TPM in Administrative and Support Department
Step 11: Safety and Environmental Management
Step 12: Sustaining TPM Implementation and Raising Levels