Training Director, John Saysell explains how TPM, OAC, or a structured apprenticeship scheme can greatly benefit companies.

In my late teenage years, I really loved cars and car maintenance. Encouraged by my dad, I had a succession of old bangers, mainly Minis and Vauxhall Vivas.

Back in the 80s there was no limit to what I was prepared to take on:

New clutch, new brake shoes and pads, bleeding brakes and swapping engines. Don’t even get me started on the sound systems.

I’d worked really hard on one car, respraying it Bachelor Blue. It went nicely with the black vinyl roof. Then my dad, much to my horror, told me I needed to give it to my sister who was at university. Caroline needed to take great care of this Vauxhall Viva. I taught her all of the basics such as oil, water and brake fluid checks. Tyre pressures etc. This noise means you need to do such and such.

Caroline was the driver, not the mechanic, but the car spent less time off the road because she could spot the early warning signs and drop it back at the family home for me or my dad to fix it.

Why should operators leave their brains at the factory gate?

The factory floor is no different. Operators spend days by their machine. They know how it should sound, feel and smell. Many more serious stoppages have been averted because the operator has told the technician about a fluid leak or strange noise. Companies can save many millions of pounds if operators are engaged and carry out routine, low-risk maintenance tasks like Cleaning, Inspection, Lubrication and Tightening (CILT). Other tasks might include replacing filters and aligning sensors.

So, I hear you ask, does every factory involve the operators in first-line maintenance? Not according to MCP’s AMIS assessment*. 80% have no operator involvement in maintenance. 45% have no formal maintenance training programme.

Many engineering managers have real worries about the age profile of their maintenance workforce and reliance on external contractors.

Greater operator involvement in high frequency-low risk maintenance tasks can free up valuable maintenance resource time as can training operators to operate their machines more effectively. In some factories, maintenance technicians spend a large proportion of their day hand-holding operators.

If we look at the graphic below, we can see the contribution of operation, design and maintenance towards operational excellence. We can see that optimising operations has the biggest impact.

Some factories have experienced accidents through staff not having the correct skills and knowledge to carry out tasks competently*. In my recent experience, in separate incidents, staff have lost sight in one eye, have broken teeth and lost use of a hand. In addition to damaged staff, I have recently witnessed the lid of a £50,000 centrifuge being tightened by being clubbed by a baseball bat-sized stainless steel bar. The mechanical damage to the centrifuge was significant. A simple redesign of the tooling to give more leverage would take away this need for violent physical assault.

*Definition of competence: Complete the task safely, in a reasonable length of time and to the right standard.

As employers, we have a moral obligation to ensure that our staff are competent to carry out the tasks we want them to do.

We need to train staff off line and assess their underpinning knowledge. Then we need to have a structure of coaches and assessors in place to deliver on-job training and then sign them off as being competent to do selected tasks in the workplace. And then robust records need to be kept. There may also need to be an expiration date on the assessed task.

Instead of training operators to do maintenance tasks, some companies have taken a different approach and put skilled technicians on the production line. When there is a problem or planned maintenance then the technician carries out these tasks. The remainder of the time the skilled technician is a member of the production team. This approach generally works well for a number of years. The technician either gets bored and leaves or becomes de-skilled and needs re-training.

To embed technical operator training in the culture of a company we need a strategic approach like Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Autonomous Maintenance (AM) part of TPM), Operator Asset Care, or a focused operator apprenticeship scheme.

Total Productive Maintenance

TPM was originally developed in Japan. It strives to achieve a continuous production cycle without any breakdowns by maintaining and improving the production and quality systems. Engaging all departments in planning, production, quality and maintenance are the main aims.

TPM affects all departments. It may lead to major organisational realignment. There will be a large investment in training, factory floor resources and support staff; it is a huge challenge. It is at least a five-year journey. It can become a high-level top-down programme. Many companies decide that this elephant is too big to eat. Others choose to work with a consultancy to guide them through this process.

Autonomous Maintenance

Autonomous Maintenance is a pillar of TPM. An operator trained in AM will practice

Efficient machine operation
Initial inspection and cleaning
Removal of the cause of contamination and improvement of access
Against standards for lubrication
Inspection and monitoring of machine performance
Standardisation of visual maintenance
Continuous improvement

The factory floor-based teams become more autonomous with less supervision. Operations and maintenance share continuous improvement, asset care and maintenance activities.

Through the work of improvement teams, maintenance activity moves from reactive through preventive bringing stability to the manufacturing process.

The responsibility for manufacturing output or OEE* is shared between production and maintenance.

*A great measure of manufacturing output is OEE or Overall Equipment Effectiveness. OEE is calculated by multiplying Availability, Performance and Quality. OEE encompasses all losses, resulting in a measure of truly productive manufacturing time.

Does teamwork in your company look like this?

Operator Asset Care

MCP is also working with companies to make better use of their operators’ abilities without the onerous, all-pervading constraints of TPM or AM.

What is Operator Asset Care?

An essential part of the ‘world class’ approach to maximising the effectiveness of operational assets and processes within the company
A joint venture between production and maintenance which offers a structured approach to achieving and sustaining World Class Operating Performance

OAC facilitates effective utilisation of the operators’ latent capabilities, time and work habits to improve asset condition and reliability. It equips operators with the knowledge and understanding to participate in asset care activities to deliver sustainable improvements in equipment reliability.

Just like AM, process activities and maintenance tasks are integrated. There is shared responsibility for asset condition, reliability and performance.

Unlike TPM and AM, it need not be part of a company-wide change programme. It can be piloted in a discrete area. The learnings can be reviewed before rolling out the programme wider.

When should OAC be applied?

It should be applied when customers want to involve their operators in maintenance without the encumbrances of TPM and AM. Although it is limited, it still requires the same wholehearted backing of senior management. It is the scale that is different which makes it more attractive to customers.

An OAC programme requires less investment than TPM or AM. It also reduces risk. At the start of the programme we will take time to understand the culture of the company before the initial training is pitched to sell the concept to the operators and technicians. Towards the end of the initial input, we will get the operators and technicians to articulate what the business needs to do to improve. If the main thrust of the improvement activity comes from the operational and maintenance staff, endorsed by MCP and the management of the company then it is much easier to get the commitment.

Skills are developed to enable operators to undertake maintenance and process improvement tasks. There is support and a regulatory framework.

A good place to start is a department or line with lots of opportunities for improvement. Plants that have embraced OAC with management backing and investment have seen an increase in quality output within six to eight months. One company achieved an OEE improvement of 10% within this timeframe. Previously that department was not a popular place to work. Now there are lots of applicants for vacancies in that department.

In summary, TPM, OAC or a structured apprenticeship scheme can greatly benefit companies. They are all rewarding journeys for individuals, shifts, departments and companies. TPM is the longest and most arduous journey. The results can be hugely significant. However, most businesses are not prepared to wait three to five years to see a return on investment. If you want a more pragmatic approach and a quicker return on investment, then OAC is the path for your business. A vision, resources, skills, plan, commitment, incentives and measurements are essential to yield great results, regardless of the approach you choose.

The graphic below describes what can happen if any of these elements are missing.