Implementing TPM

4Implementation Stage of TPM

In the implementation stage TPM moves from planning to on-the-floor activities to improve equipment performance. In Japanese plants, this stage typically unfolds over a two and one-half to four year time period. Obviously management commitment is critical to sustaining such long-term activities. North American companies face a special challenge here, in their tendency to frequently rotate or promote managers. This flux in organizational structures and management personnel endangers long-term improvement processes such as TPM, even when replacement personnel are committed to maintaining the same philosophy.

Several North American companies have built sustained commitment to their improvement processes. The Q1 ...