TPM in Danish – development of production for smaller and medium-sized companies, based on the principles of Total Productive Maintenance

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) became a recognized concept in the Western world at the end of the 1980?s and by mid 1990?s, more and more large Western companies had begun to express an interest in TPM. There are now approximately 1200 companies world-wide which have received a TPM Award, which is an expression of effective production at the World Class level. At present, no Danish companies have either received or sought the TPM Award. Characteristic of the companies which have developed World Class production following the TPM concept is a goal-oriented development process spanning 5-6 years and which the key parameters have been: ? systematic methods for elimination of waste factors on the shop floor level ? tested methods for continuous improvement in effective work teams ? management of the development by central facilitator(s) and process developer(s) ? marked visibility and monitoring of methods and results The objective of the project is to develop processes aimed at improving the utilization of production-based procedures and methods being used for optimization of equipment efficiency and elimination of waste factors in manufacturing. The application-oriented objective for the project includes the following major points: ? with consideration for the development of a Danish-oriented approach, to select elements for implementation and to develop implementation guide-lines in order to optimize equipment efficiency and elimination of waste on the shop floor (i.e., the TPM-concept). ? to develop and describe the content of the role of facilitator for the development of production, particularly in relationship to small and medium-sized companies in which TPM implementation will, to a high degree, most likely rest on one individual. In this instance, the facilitator is viewed as fulfilling a leader role, with responsibility for conducting and maintaining the development process, and as a liaison between top ? and ? production management and the individual work teams, or groups of employees. ? to develop a structure for follow-up (assessment/evaluation), including identification and specification of relevant goals, which simply and practically demonstrate the effect of the TPM project in terms of both relevant production data and key financial figures. This follow-up could possibly be supported by an IT tool the production employees could use themselves for further development of production. The research related objective for the project is to contribute to the methods and theories concerning the implementation of ?program driven? change processes in small and medium-sized Danish companies. This objective is closely linked to the objectives of the human resource/organizational change research area at CIP. Four small and medium-sized companies will participate as case companies in the project; two companies will participate from the second quarter, 2002: PUMAC, Inc. (Svenstrup) and EUROPARTS, Inc. (Viborg); and 2 will participate from the third quarter (not yet selected). Further, a number of other companies will participate in an inspiration forum in which the results and experiences from the project will be discussed. Project contact persons: Frank Gertsen, Mads Andreasen, CIP, Aalborg University Participating institutions/organizations: ? Center for Industrial Production, Aalborg University ? Department of Mechanical Engineering ? Technical University of Denmark Project duration: August 2001 ? August 2003.