TPM (Total Productive Manufacturing) - Where to Start?

[E Wall]

Marc, I've already passed along your TPM.pdf to our Maintenance Supervisor, Manager and Plant Manager. I'm encouraging them to use the 'cove' since I've found it so helpful.

Do you have any special recomendations for implementation approaches? (including reading material references)

The Maint Supv recently went to training for this and I'm trying to offer some information support without stepping on his toes (so to speak, of course).

Any recommendations would be great.
Eileen

[Marc]

I appologise for the late response. I missed this one.

The only thing I can really recommend is that you look at internal projects and see if any fit with your TPM project so you're not overlapping.

I will say that effective implementation is more dependent upon upper management and their support than ISO. To some degree success may be dependent upon the company's 'personality'. However, that said, few companies look at TPM unless they are serious and have that 'personality'. It's not an ISO (popularity / requirement) type of project.

Let us know how your project progresses.

The initial effort can be expensive in peoples time, etc. I highly recommend that you follow a defined process. By this I mean it should be addressed as a project rather seat-of-the-pants. Even if Excel is used instead of professional project management software (and, of course, there's MickeySoft's MS Project which I admit I use a lot because many companies have at least 1 copy floating around somewhere), plan and monitor the plan.

My only real exposure to TPM being implemented (with 5-S) was at a Motorola semiconductor facility in Guadalajara. I was really impressed. It takes a lot of team work, with emphasis on the word team and a focus on technicians / line employees. Over the 8 months I was visiting, I was over and over again impressed with the results. The presentation you have is from there - from that project. It will be available to Cove Premium members (I hope to have it up and running by next Monday - 6 August) in the PowerPoint format (rather than the pdf file).

Sorry I can't help any more than this.