ABSTRACT
One of the main characteristics of total productive maintenance (TPM) is its aggressive pursuit of absolute goals, such as zero breakdowns and zero defects. In TPM, prevention is based on the following three principles: Maintenance of Normal Conditions, Early Discovery of Abnormalities, and Prompt Response. The two main goals of TPM are to develop optimal conditions for the workshop as a human-machine system and to improve the overall quality of the workplace. Every workshop consists of a particular combination of two components: people (operators) and machines (equipment). The role of equipment operators also involves checking how well the functions of the equipment are being used and applying the results to get better use of it. Developing optimal conditions for the workshop as a human-machine system means finding the best combination of human and machine conditions. For the machine side, that means getting the equipment into shape to prevent the six big losses and establishing its optimal availability.
