Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Consulting Services From TXM Lean Solutions

Technology enabled approach

Are you getting the most out of your factory? As industry 4.0 technology sweeps the world, factories become more complex, more interconnected and reliability becomes even more critical. The failure of one element of an automated production line can bring production to a halt.

“Preventing breakdowns” is not enough to achieve the levels of performance you need. TXM goes beyond reliability takes a holistic approach to asset performance with our practical, effective, technology enabled approach to Total Productive Maintenance (TPM).

• What is TPM?

The Problem with Traditional Approaches to TPM

Many businesses have tried to implement TPM, and few genuinely succeed. Studies have shown that around 70% of companies fail to sustain TPM in their operations. We think that this is as much about the approach taken for implementation as it is about the companies themselves.

Typical TPM approaches are too complex, too bureaucratic and rather than leveraging the technology available, seems to have an aversion to technology. TPM is built on eight pillars, but some advocates increase this to as many as eleven pillars, adding to the complexity. Its little surprise that many companies become overwhelmed with all the paperwork and checklists involved in traditional TPM approaches and give up.

We have created the Total Productive Maintenance self-assessment, try it out today.

Why the TXM Approach to TPM is Different

At TXM we take a practical approach, emphasising the key TPM pillars of Focused Improvement, Autonomous Maintenance, Preventative and Predictive Maintenance and problem solving. We believe that autonomous maintenance, and therefore TPM will fail if employees are not highly engaged. Therefore, we build autonomous maintenance and TPM on strong Lean foundations of Practical 5S® and Lean Leadership.

Asset Performance Goes Beyond Preventing and Fixing Breakdowns

Traditional reliability approaches focus on implementing preventative and predictive maintenance to move away from reactive maintenance (breakdowns) to planned maintenance. However, improving the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), the key measure of asset performance is about more than preventing breakdowns. At TXM we look at all aspects of OEE including startups, changeovers, centrelining, crewing, material logistics, and scheduling. 

Embracing Industry 4.0 Technology in TPM

At TXM we look to leverage technology in the quest to improve asset performance. Whether it is computerised maintenance management systems (CMMS) managing maintenance resources, manufacturing execution systems (MES) tracking and reporting operational performance or advanced IoT sensors providing early warning of problems, TXM understands and leverages these systems to track and drive improvement. 

The challenge is to make sense of all the data being provided to manufacturing leaders and determine what information matters – that is our skill.

Focused Improvement Delivers Results

At TXM we will work with you to highlight the critical assets in your business and develop a specific plan to deliver breakthrough performance improvements. We take a deep dive in to your data to understand every aspect of the performance of the asset and work with you to develop actions that will deliver measurable and sustainable improvements in performance on the machines that matter most. 

Autonomous Maintenance the Key to Achieving Exceptional Performance

Autonomous Maintenance engages front line operators in caring for machines. Operators spend the most time with your machines and often understand their problems and performance better than anyone else. At TXM we tap in to this knowledge, engaging operators in deep cleaning, inspection, centrelining and where appropriate and safe, tightening and lubricating key assets. Operators become the eyes and ears of the reliability effort. 

The Difference between Autonomous Maintenance and “Operator Maintenance”

How Autonomous Maintenance Compares to Caring for Your Car

Are You Getting the Best Return on your Maintenance Spend?

In highly automated manufacturing, engineering and maintenance is becoming a growing share of your cost base. However, are you getting the best return for this investment. At TXM we will work with your team to analyse how you use your maintenance resources, ensuring that time and money is directed to the areas that will have the biggest impact on asset performance. Over time, our approach to TPM has helped companies half their maintenance spend, while improving asset performance and asset life.

TPM Built on Lean Foundations

TPM “specialists” will often promote TPM as an alternative to Lean. Some even suggest it as a total solution for operational excellence and “Total Productive Maintenance” becomes “Total Productive Manufacturing”.

At TXM we see TPM for what it is, which is an effective approach to maximise asset performance through maximising OEE.

We think for TPM to be effective it has to be built on Lean foundations. For that reason our TPM projects usually start with establishing Lean foundation tools:

• Practical 5S® provides the foundation for autonomous maintenance by setting a standard for the cleaning and presentation of equipment and starting the conversation about machine care.
• Lean Daily Leadership Process® focuses operational and engineering teams on improving the key metrics such as OEE and setup times and provides constant feedback on the success of TPM efforts.
• Solving Problems Every Day® gives operational and engineering teams to learn from the things that go wrong and improve. This can mean finding the real root cause of breakdowns and poor performance.

As well we leverage our skills in Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED), Every Part Every Interval scheduling and other key Lean techniques to drive improved OEE.