Industry Forum

Key to TPM successWhat do we have to do to make sure our investment in TPM pays off? How can we ensure we reap the promised business benefits?

We can’t give you a magic wand that ensures instant results. But we can share with you these three vital activities practised by JIPM award winning companies, such as Coca-Cola Beverages, Panasonic and Tetra Pak.

You will notice a common denominator for all three; time. TPM is not something that can be implemented overnight. Organisations take five years and more to even become eligible for the first level of awards.

The good news is that it doesn’t take that long for the performance benefits to start accruing. The sooner you start your pilot activities the sooner you can see a difference and improve your bottom line.

 

1. Obtain commitment from the very top
It’s no coincidence that the very first step on the 12 step journey is called “Declaration by management”.

The senior management team must first understand the reasons their company is embarking on this journey. And then they must communicate their intention to the entire workforce.

 

12-steps

 

We have seen how companies who don’t start here take much longer to get results. Even the best efforts prove difficult to sustain and at worst the programme just fizzles out.

 

2. Integrate TPM activities into your company’s policy and strategy

Companies that are serious about using TPM to continuously improve their business performance, integrate it into their existing Policy Deployment plans. In fact this is the focus of the work in step 4 of the 12 step journey.

Think of it as a two pronged approach to support achievement of:

  • Daily performance targets derived from customer requirements.
  • Stretch goals derived from the annual policies.

Treating TPM as a set of activities additional to your short term or long term targets, dooms them to being side lined when the going gets tough.

You may have already experienced this scenario. You put a lot of time and effort into training your production associates in Autonomous Maintenance (AM). Once the production plan is complete the teams stop and move onto their AM work. Initially output and quality improve and unplanned downtime is reducing. AM works!

Then one Friday you haven’t met the plan, so you keep manufacturing. Maybe your order book is increasing or you had a particularly unusual and lengthy breakdown.

What we find is that if this happens regularly, the benefits of the TPM programme become forgotten and production output at all costs is the priority. The TPM activities cease over time, morale decreases and people become resistant to new initiatives.

Instead of treating TPM as a set of bolt on activities, integrate it. Specifically target use of the tools to prevent that breakdown happening again and to increase capacity over time.

The tools need to become part of daily working, not something scheduled for the end of the week. This applies at the shop floor as much as it does the boardroom.

 

3. Include every single person in the organisation

In a previous blog we learned that the main aim of TPM is to achieve zero losses. These losses can occur in every function and at every level within your business.

So to root out every loss you need to involve people from every function and at every level.

When only a proportion of the workforce are involved we always find losses and, of course, the costs associated with them.


  • If you want to find out more about the future of TPM, it’s integration with Industry 4.0 and how it can help your organisation reduce costs and improve quality then make sure book your place at Industry Forum’s TPM seminar.  This one-day event will allow you to learn from world-class, award winning manufacturers alongside speakers from the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance.

 

 

 

 

If you want to speak to a member of the team to find out more about TPM and how Industry Forum can support your TPM implementation give us a call on +44 (0)121 717 6600 complete our enquiry form or email us at enquiries@if.wearecoal.work

 

 

Team sky smallIf you are seeking leadership techniques to get the best from your team, look no further than Sir Dave Brailsford, Principal for Team Sky.

Team Sky crossed the finish line for the 2016 Tour de France with arms linked. Their 4th win in 5 years.

Prior to this Brailsford was performance director for the British Cycling Olympic team. They built their medal haul from 2 in 2004, to lead the 2008 table with 8 golds. They repeated this feat at the 2012 Olympics.

Between 2003 and 2013 British cyclists across disciplines as diverse as road, track, BMX and mountain bike racing won 59 World Championships.

When he said “Sport is about continuous improvement, it’s about getting better” I realised he would have some good lessons for those of us leading our own business improvement teams.

I’ve compiled these top 4 tips from interviews and articles about Brailsford’s leadership style.

1. Start with a clear vision and understand how to win

Is your vision and goal compelling? Is your stated goal to win or just finish the race, maybe in a better place than last year?

What effect will a wishy-washy goal have on your team? Will they be committed and accountable for their actions? Probably not.

Each of Brailsford’s cycling teams’ starts by defining what winning looks like. They then work back and create a plan to get them there. Everybody in the team, not just the cyclists, have a clear role and tasks to accomplish.

This is the crux of Policy Deployment, the technique we use in business to point everyone in the organisation in the same direction and navigate them to the desired end point. It’s also known as Hoshin Kanri.

2. Do the simple things excellently

On the rare occasions where Brailsford’s team have not been successful he has analysed what went wrong. After the 2010 Tour de France he is reported as saying they concentrated on the peas rather than the steak. By this he meant they focussed on the clever touches rather than the basics of performance.

This is just as true when leading improvement programmes. If you don’t concentrate on maintaining the basic standard created by deploying the foundation tools, you won’t have a stable base for the clever techniques to further enhance performance.

3. Behavioural change only comes from within

Brailsford believes that you can’t force change on an individual. He states that change in behaviour will usually only happen when either the suffering is great enough or the reward big enough!

That doesn’t mean you have to make people suffer to want to change. Remember the tale of the team and the newt. What he means is find what makes each individual want to improve and as leader, tailor your messages accordingly.

4. Give ownership and make people feel genuinely valued

By creating the right culture for individuals to flourish Brailsford believes you get 30% more. He uses a coaching style and gets teams to create their own rules. The opportunity to influence the group improves buy in and individual engagement.

These are just a few of the ways in which Brailsford prepares his team to win and continue winning. The good news is that they are all directly transferable to our teams at work. Examine your leadership techniques and see if you can benefit from a blend of Brailsford and business improvement techniques.

If you would like to know more about Leadership and management for manufacturers, why not check out our Leadership Development Programme?

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