Successful Total Productive Maintenance

Successful production companies no longer regard maintenance as a pure cost factor, but rather as an important building block for more efficient value creation. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) combines production and maintenance activities to reduce unexpected downtime while continuously improving productivity. However, the best initiatives are only as good as the employees who can integrate them into their daily work. With loop, you support the central success factor so that you really achieve your TPM goals: the factory worker.

The problem

Especially in companies with high efficiency pressure, TPM is very challenging for the individual employees. On the one hand, machine operators alternately look after several machines at the same time; on the other hand, in addition to production tasks, they are now also responsible for the care, maintenance and repair activities that have to be carried out on a regular basis. Since many systems in the production facilities are truly custom-built, a great deal of know-how and expert knowledge is required to perform the tasks correctly. Furthermore, the reporting of the individual TPM activities and the possible documentation of defects must be integrated into the work process without interruption in order for downtimes to be of the shortest possible duration so that production can continue quickly.

Preferably in such a way that it allows production management and maintenance to have a correct overview of the current status of inspection tasks, to perform detailed data analyses and to be able to adjust TPM tasks if necessary.

The solution

loop's unique context technology ensures that operators always have appropriate access to the relevant inspection tasks defined by them for the machine. The scan of a marker or simply being in the vicinity of a plant is sufficient for all relevant TPM tasks to be directly accessible in loop's Knowledge Feed.

In addition to detailed activity descriptions, the tasks also contain videos to ensure that the checks are carried out correctly and, above all, are easy to follow. Recurring tasks are automatically assigned at the beginning of each shift, ensuring a continuous TPM process.

After the tasks have been performed, TPM tasks are marked as completed directly in loop. Defects are documented with a short description, a photo or a video. At the push of a button, the results are forwarded to the central maintenance management.

With loop, the time required for the entire inspection process is thus reduced to a minimum for the operators. The always comprehensible task description together with the simple user guidance also maximizes TPM process reliability and work quality.

In line with the lean approach of TPM, loop enables the adaptation of existing or the creation of new TPM tasks directly at the machine. Either by qualified operators or the responsible maintenance staff. Just as intuitive and effortless as the execution of the tasks themselves. In this way, the information channel for continuous improvement between operators and maintenance, which is so important for TPM, is established and maintained.

The data that is important for further processing, such as task status or processing duration, is sent to business intelligence or maintenance solutions via interfaces. By virtue of the now more valid data future TPM tasks can thus be better planned and allow for better, data-based decisions.

The result: With loop, you strengthen the "last meter" to the employees, where many investments in production optimization otherwise fail. You get a continuously optimizing production process with as much maintenance as necessary to reduce downtime but as little as possible so as not to interrupt value creation unnecessarily.

The closing

The constant optimization of production processes is central to the TPM approach. This can only be optimally achieved using digital tools. The employees on the shop floor are the guarantors for the success of your TPM measures, as they form the central interface between the digital solutions on the one hand and the real value creation on the other. Companies will only be able to realize the desired benefits of digital transformation if their employees experience the benefits of digitalization as positive in their everyday work and can integrate them seamlessly into their workflows. This is what we stand for as a company with 20+ years of experience in the environment of Digital Adoption Solutions.

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