TPM Concept and Implementation Approach

When I moved into the civilian world of continuous process manufacturing in the USA, I saw no reason to change my methods or philosophy when it came to ensuring we had a mission like focus to ensuring our plant and machinery had maximum availability, to run at maximum speed and to produce first quality product ‘right first time every time.  Thus, for me, mission focus turned into the three elements of business focus described in Overall Equipment Efficiency OEE, i.e. availability, quality and speed.

The global climate crisis has brought the harmful practices of different industries into the spotlight, and one sector that’s received its fair share of scrutiny is mining. While the mining industry is essential for so many different aspects of modern life, it’s also responsible for some pretty significant environmental damage due to issues including mine waste. 

The way we see maintenance work being done, you have preventive maintenance which is done is to prevent a failure or to detect a failure early. Continuous improvement, you may have some those, those are the things to be done from redesigns. I can see you doing that in two cases...one is if you have a root cause and you see whatever you have a problem on you have a piece of equipment that is not working right...you may have to redesign it.

You need to read this article on maintenance management of PLCs. Why? Because the PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) are the brains of your operation. When the PLC is not functioning properly, lines shut down, plants shutdown, even city bridges and water stations could cease to operate. Thousands to millions could be lost by one little PLC in an electrical panel that you never even knew existed. But most importantly, damage to machine and personnel could result from improper maintenance management of your company’s PLCs.

When temperatures drop and winter weather hits, having the right heating solution is key for both businesses and homeowners. But no one wants to start their HVAC unit only to realize it’s not providing hot air or has completely malfunctioned. That’s why it’s important to have a plan in place that prioritizes preventative maintenance.

Industry experts have for many years pointed to the low productivity levels in maintenance departments of most companies around the world. They cite anywhere from 30% to 50% as an average for “wrench time,” the productive time technicians spend actually repairing or replacing equipment, as opposed to walking to the job, receiving instructions, waiting for parts and other productive or non-productive activities. Do you know the average wrench time for your maintenance department and how it compares to others within and outside your industry?