Operators
The second group that has to be sold on the project is the operator group. Superficially, TPM looks like extra work. Their first reaction might be that “they are trying to get more work from us without more pay.” In fact the work is different, rather than more. Operators are still there for their whole shift. The only difference is that they will be taking a larger role in their job and in the success of their company. Ultimately, TPM is more satisfying for the operator.
Benefits of TPM for Operators
• Increased decision-making regarding equipment and processes
• Operators become more valuable to company
• Higher morale from improved job satisfaction and job security
• Operators receive additional training
• More cooperative work environment from team work experience
• Higher level of expertise in production
• Increased self esteem from better performance
• Multi-skilled operators in higher demand
• Ability to address issues that plagued operations
• Better equipment availability and reliability
• Better relationships with maintenance
• More appreciation from maintenance of complexity of the production job
At a recent installation for TPM, Paul Wilson, the Managing Director of Aster Training, described the real benefits for the operators.
• Operators no longer had to wait for maintenance technicians to fix trivial problems. The maintenance guys were no longer required to complete tasks that they considered mundane.
• Maintenance technicians, relieved to be rid of their mundane tasks, are given specific projects working with the production staff to cut out some of the biggest loss areas.
• The machine set-up routines were looked at; new purpose-made jigs were constructed to allow production to carry out changeovers without the need for all of the “tweaks” and alignment problems that had previously plagued this process.
• The major parts of the machines prone to wear and tear were put onto a predictive maintenance schedule and their spares managed on a statistical inventory control basis. In fact, one company was even able to sell back some spares to the machine manufacturers which had been previously been bought as insurance.
• The cleanliness and reliability of machines improved significantly as operators took on a series of daily, weekly, and monthly fitness checks. We encouraged the operators to feel a sense of ownership toward their machines and to treat them as their own, something that would have been an alien concept only six months before.
Supervisors and Managers
Related to the operators are their supervisors and managers. This stakeholder group may be significantly harder to convince about TPM. The key to this group is to be sure to incentivize TPM achievements. If the old incentives are kept in place, then the middle managers will be convinced that top management really wants the old outputs. Without that change, TPM looks like icing and not the cake itself.
Benefits of TPM for Operations Supervisorsand Managers
• Higher-skilled operators
• Smoother production
• Easier to meet goals when everyone is pulling the same direction
• Higher worker morale from improved job satisfaction and job security
• More cooperative work environment from team work
• Better relationships with maintenance
• More challenge and more fun
Maintenance Department
The maintenance department can be a great asset in TPM or an anchor to old ways of working. They are now team members lending specific expertise to the TPM team. They are relieved from having to do basic (boring) maintenance and PM. They can concentrate on higher level issues. We also have to address the fears that this kind of change brings on in maintenance workers.
The obvious linkage is between the transfer of workload and near-term layoffs of expensive maintenance workers. This is a real fear that must be addressed. If there are going to be layoffs, please hold off on your TPM adoption until the labor situation settles down. In fact, the workload might increase after TPM is even partially operational because maintenance will be working on projects geared toward improvements of various kinds.
Benefits of TPM for Maintenance Personnel
• Crafts people receive additional training
• More time available for high level Preventive and Predictive Maintenance, projects, and analytics.
• Higher level of expertise in maintenance
• Better relationships with production people
• Crafts people become more valuable to the company
• More cooperative work environment from teamwork
• More fun because of new relationships and sharing problem solving
• Less routine work for lubrication, cleaning, adjustments, inspection, and minor repairs
• Greater ability to troubleshoot and given time get to the root cause
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