Total Productive Maintenance and Continuous Improvement

Introduction and Context

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is an integrated approach for improving the effectiveness of production assets through the combined participation of maintenance personnel, operators, engineers, supervisors and managers. It extends maintenance beyond the traditional function of repairing failed equipment. TPM seeks to prevent losses, develop operator capability, improve equipment reliability, protect people and the environment, and create a culture in which every employee contributes to operational excellence.

In production management, equipment performance directly influences delivery reliability, product quality, operating cost, safety and workforce morale. A technically sophisticated maintenance department cannot compensate for poor operating practices, contamination, delayed defect reporting, weak standards or inadequate management decisions. TPM addresses this interdependence by combining maintenance engineering with daily workplace discipline and continuous improvement.

The central performance logic is that production losses arise from interactions among equipment, methods, materials, people and the operating environment. Therefore, improvement must be systematic rather than limited to emergency repair. TPM is particularly important in high-volume, automated and asset-intensive operations, but its principles are also applicable to process industries, utilities, warehouses, healthcare facilities and service operations.

Learning Objectives

After studying this chapter, the learner should be able to:

1. Explain the purpose, principles and pillars of TPM.
2. Distinguish autonomous maintenance from planned and corrective maintenance.
3. Apply 5S, visual management, standard work and kaizen in production areas.
4. Calculate and interpret Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
5. Integrate safety, quality, productivity and maintenance improvement.
6. Design a practical TPM implementation sequence and select appropriate indicators.
7. Evaluate the limitations, risks and governance requirements of TPM programmes.

1. Foundations of TPM

1.1 From breakdown maintenance to productive maintenance

Maintenance strategies have developed progressively:

• Breakdown maintenance: equipment is repaired after failure. It may be appropriate for low-cost, non-critical assets where failure has little consequence, but it creates uncertainty and emergency work.
• Preventive maintenance: inspections, servicing or replacement occur at planned intervals, often based on calendar time or operating hours.
• Predictive or condition-based maintenance: intervention is triggered by evidence of deteriorating condition, such as vibration, temperature, oil debris or electrical signatures.
• Reliability-centred maintenance: maintenance tasks are selected according to failure consequences, functions, failure modes and risk.
• Total Productive Maintenance: equipment effectiveness is improved through organisation-wide participation, prevention of losses and development of operator and technical capability.

TPM does not eliminate corrective maintenance. Corrective work remains necessary, but TPM aims to reduce avoidable failures, improve the quality of repairs and ensure that maintenance decisions are risk-based.

1.2 Core principles

The principal ideas of TPM are:

• equipment should be designed, installed and operated for maximum practical effectiveness;
• failures and defects should be prevented rather than merely corrected;
• abnormal conditions should be detected and reported early;
• operators should perform basic care and inspection;
• maintenance specialists should concentrate on technical tasks, reliability improvement and difficult failure modes;
• improvement should be based on facts, not assumptions;
• safety, quality and environmental protection are conditions of productivity, not competing objectives.

The term “total” has three related meanings: total participation, total life-cycle involvement and total effectiveness. It involves all departments, from product and process design to purchasing, production, quality, safety and maintenance.

2. The TPM Framework and Its Pillars

Different organisations describe TPM using slightly different pillar structures. A widely used framework includes the following eight pillars.

The pillars are mutually dependent. For example, autonomous maintenance cannot be sustained if operators lack training; planned maintenance cannot be effective if equipment history is inaccurate; and productivity improvement is unacceptable if it increases exposure to hazards.

2.1 Focused improvement

Focused improvement uses small, cross-functional teams to address measurable losses. A team may select a bottleneck machine, define the loss, collect evidence, identify root causes and verify countermeasures. Common tools include Pareto charts, process mapping, five-whys analysis, cause-and-effect diagrams, stratification, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), and Plan–Do–Check–Act (PDCA).

A useful distinction is between a symptom, such as repeated stoppage, and a mechanism, such as sensor contamination, poor alignment or an unstable control parameter. Replacing a failed component may restore production without removing the mechanism. Focused improvement therefore requires evidence of recurrence, not simply successful restart.

2.2 Autonomous maintenance

Autonomous maintenance (AM) transfers selected routine care activities to trained operators. It does not mean that operators become maintenance technicians or undertake hazardous work without authorisation. Typical operator responsibilities include:

• cleaning and inspection;
• lubrication at defined points, where safe and appropriate;
• tightening accessible fasteners;
• checking guards, leaks, abnormal noise, temperature and vibration;
• identifying and tagging abnormalities;
• restoring basic operating conditions;
• following start-up, shutdown and changeover standards.

A common AM progression is:

1. initial cleaning and identification of abnormalities;
2. elimination of contamination sources and difficult-to-access areas;
3. development of cleaning, inspection and lubrication standards;
4. general inspection and operator skill development;
5. autonomous inspection using standard checklists;
6. workplace organisation and visual control;
7. continuous improvement and self-management.

The principle is not simply “operators clean machines.” Cleaning is a form of inspection because it exposes looseness, leakage, wear, cracks, overheating and unsafe conditions. However, cleaning must be conducted under appropriate isolation and risk controls.

2.3 Planned maintenance

Planned maintenance aligns maintenance resources with asset criticality, failure behaviour, production requirements and risk. It includes:

• preventive maintenance based on time or usage;
• predictive maintenance based on condition;
• corrective maintenance that improves an asset after a detected weakness;
• shutdown and turnaround planning;
• spare-parts control;
• maintenance scheduling and backlog management.

A maintenance plan should specify the asset, task, frequency or condition trigger, method, required competence, safety controls, estimated duration, parts and acceptance criteria. Frequencies should not be copied mechanically from manufacturers. They should be reviewed using operating conditions, failure history, inspection results and consequences of failure.

A useful maintenance strategy classifies assets by criticality. A criticality assessment can consider safety, environmental impact, quality, production loss, repair lead time, redundancy and legal requirements. High-criticality assets normally require stronger preventive or predictive controls, while low-criticality assets may justify run-to-failure if the risk is acceptable.

2.4 Quality maintenance

Quality maintenance prevents defects by controlling equipment conditions that influence product characteristics. It asks: which machine conditions must be maintained for the process to produce conforming output? Examples include temperature, pressure, torque, alignment, tool wear, flow, speed and calibration.

Quality maintenance is strengthened by control plans, process capability studies, mistake-proofing, calibration systems and reaction plans. A machine may be available and fast but still ineffective if it produces defective output. Quality must therefore be connected to maintenance work orders and failure analysis.

2.5 Early equipment management

Lessons from operations and maintenance should influence the design and acquisition of new equipment. Design reviews should examine accessibility, guarding, lubrication points, diagnostic capability, maintainability, standard components, energy use, cleaning requirements, spare parts, ergonomics and safe isolation.

The objective is to avoid purchasing an asset that meets nominal output requirements but is difficult to inspect, unsafe to maintain or highly sensitive to contamination. Commissioning should include capability verification, documentation, training, baseline measurements and acceptance of safety functions.

2.6 Training and education

TPM requires competence at several levels. Operators need knowledge of normal conditions, abnormalities, safe basic care and escalation. Maintainers need technical diagnosis, planning, precision maintenance and data interpretation. Supervisors need coaching, standard management and problem-solving skills. Managers need to remove organisational barriers and protect improvement time.

A skills matrix should identify required competencies, current capability, training methods and re-assessment dates. Training should be demonstrated practically, not assumed from attendance alone.

2.7 Safety, health and environment

The safety pillar integrates hazard identification into every TPM activity. It includes machine guarding, lockout/tagout or an equivalent energy-isolation system, permit-to-work controls, confined-space procedures, electrical safety, chemical management, ergonomics, emergency response and incident learning.

A production target must never justify bypassing a guard, defeating an interlock or performing cleaning while hazardous motion is possible. TPM maturity is demonstrated not by output alone but by stable production without injury, exposure or environmental harm.

2.8 TPM in administration

Administrative losses include inaccurate bills of material, delayed purchase orders, poor work-order descriptions, unavailable drawings, incorrect spare-part records and slow approval flows. These can cause production interruptions just as physical equipment failures do. Applying 5S, visual workflow, standard forms and data-quality checks to support processes increases the effectiveness of the technical pillars.

3. 5S, Visual Management and Standard Work

3.1 5S as a foundation

5S is a workplace-management method comprising:

1. Sort: remove unnecessary items.
2. Set in order: arrange necessary items for easy identification and retrieval.
3. Shine: clean while inspecting for abnormalities.
4. Standardise: establish repeatable conditions and methods.
5. Sustain: maintain discipline through leadership, auditing and improvement.

5S is not merely housekeeping. It reduces search time, prevents mix-ups, exposes leaks and damage, improves access and makes abnormal conditions visible. Effective 5S uses agreed locations, labels, shadow boards, floor markings, cleaning standards and audit criteria. Audits should support learning rather than become a cosmetic scoring exercise.

3.2 Visual management

Visual management makes the status of a process understandable quickly and without relying on memory. Examples include:

• machine status indicators;
• production and quality boards;
• colour-coded lubrication points;
• standard photographs of acceptable conditions;
• red-tag areas;
• escalation lights or andon systems;
• marked pedestrian and material routes;
• overdue-maintenance displays;
• safety signage and energy-isolation labels.

A visual control is useful only if someone is responsible for responding to the signal. An alarm without a defined reaction plan becomes background noise.

3.3 Standard work

Standard work defines the safest and most effective known method under current conditions. It normally specifies work sequence, takt or expected cycle, work-in-process limits, quality points, safety controls and abnormality responses. Standards are not permanent restrictions; they are the baseline from which improvement is measured.

A strong standard is clear, accessible, observable and periodically reviewed. If operators repeatedly work around a standard, management should investigate whether the standard is unrealistic, poorly communicated, unsafe or inconsistent with actual process conditions.

4. Kaizen and the PDCA Improvement Cycle

Kaizen means continuous, incremental improvement involving people who perform and support the work. It may address a small recurring inconvenience or a major bottleneck. Kaizen should be disciplined: define the current condition, establish a measurable target, analyse causes, test a countermeasure, verify results and standardise the successful method.

The PDCA cycle is:

• Plan: understand the problem, collect baseline data and propose a countermeasure.
• Do: implement on a controlled basis.
• Check: compare actual results with the target and check for unintended effects.
• Act: standardise, expand, revise or abandon the countermeasure.

A3 reports are often used to document this logic on one page. The format is less important than the quality of thinking. Kaizen should not be confused with asking employees to work harder, accept unsafe conditions or compensate permanently for an inadequate process.

5. Overall Equipment Effectiveness

OEE combines three dimensions of equipment performance: availability, performance and quality.

The usual definitions are:

Where:

• Planned Production Time is the scheduled time during which production is expected, excluding agreed planned stoppages such as scheduled breaks where the organisation’s OEE convention excludes them.
• Operating Time is planned production time minus unplanned downtime.
• Ideal Cycle Time is the theoretical minimum time per unit under specified conditions.
• Total Count includes good and defective units.
• Good Count is the number meeting requirements without rework, according to the defined convention.

The units must be consistent. If ideal cycle time is in minutes per unit, operating time must be in minutes and total count in units. Each factor is normally expressed as a decimal or percentage, but the same form must be used in multiplication.

OEE is a diagnostic measure, not a complete measure of manufacturing excellence. Its value depends on transparent definitions, reliable data and consistent treatment of planned losses, minor stops, speed losses, rework and start-up rejects. Comparing OEE values across plants without aligning definitions can produce misleading conclusions.

Worked example: OEE calculation

An eight-hour shift contains a 30-minute planned break. Planned production time is therefore 450 minutes. The machine experiences 45 minutes of unplanned downtime, produces 760 units, and has an ideal cycle time of 0.5 minutes per unit. Of the 760 units, 730 are good.

Operating time = 450 − 45 = 405 minutes.

The result indicates that the largest opportunity cannot be identified from OEE alone. The team should examine the loss tree: downtime categories, speed losses, minor stops, defects and rework. A high OEE value also does not prove that the process is safe, profitable or capable of meeting customer demand.

OEE and loss analysis

The traditional six major losses are:

1. equipment failure;
2. setup and adjustment;
3. idling and minor stoppages;
4. reduced speed;
5. process defects and rework;
6. start-up losses.

These categories connect the metric to action. For example, low availability suggests downtime reduction; low performance suggests speed or minor-stop investigation; low quality suggests process-condition or start-up control.

6. Integrating Safety, Quality, Productivity and Maintenance

A mature improvement programme treats the four dimensions as a system:

• Safety: the process is controlled without unacceptable risk.
• Quality: output conforms consistently to requirements.
• Productivity: resources are converted into output efficiently.
• Maintenance: equipment capability is preserved and restored.

Trade-offs must be examined explicitly. Increasing machine speed may improve nominal output but increase wear, defects and exposure to noise. Extending a maintenance interval may reduce short-term cost but increase failure risk. A good decision considers total life-cycle consequences.

A practical daily management system can combine safety observations, quality defects, OEE losses, maintenance abnormalities, overdue actions and escalation status on one team board. The board should distinguish leading indicators—such as completion of inspections and safety-critical action closure—from lagging indicators such as injuries, failures and customer complaints.

Useful indicators include:

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) is commonly calculated as operating time divided by the number of failures during that period. Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) is commonly calculated as repair time divided by the number of repairs. These indicators require consistent definitions; for example, organisations must decide whether minor stops, planned interventions and administrative waiting time are included.

7. Implementation Road Map

TPM should be implemented as a management system rather than launched as a slogan. A practical sequence is:

Stage 1: Establish purpose and governance

Define why TPM is needed, identify strategic risks, appoint accountable leaders and establish a cross-functional steering group. Connect the programme to safety, quality, delivery, cost and employee-development objectives.

Stage 2: Select a pilot area

Choose a line or asset with visible losses, committed supervision and sufficient data. Avoid selecting a pilot solely because it is the easiest area; it should demonstrate meaningful learning while remaining manageable.

Stage 3: Establish baseline conditions

Document equipment condition, safety risks, losses, OEE definitions, maintenance backlog, quality defects and current standards. Photographs, defect tags and process maps are useful evidence.

Stage 4: Restore basic conditions

Conduct controlled initial cleaning, correct obvious leaks and looseness, improve access, restore guards and establish safe inspection points. Every abnormality should have an owner and due date.

Stage 5: Develop AM and planned-maintenance standards

Create operator standards for routine care and maintenance plans based on criticality and failure evidence. Clarify escalation boundaries: what operators may do, what requires a maintainer and what requires isolation or specialist approval.

Stage 6: Attack major losses

Use Pareto analysis and focused-improvement teams. Verify causes through observation and data. Test countermeasures and confirm that gains do not create new safety or quality risks.

Stage 7: Standardise and expand

Update standard work, training, spare-parts records, work-order instructions and design requirements. Replicate proven practices selectively rather than copying them without checking local conditions.

Stage 8: Audit maturity and sustain

Use layered audits, coaching and periodic review. Mature TPM is visible in stable conditions, fast abnormality response, accurate data, competent employees and reduced recurrence—not merely in the number of completed forms.

8. Illustrative Case: Packaging Line Reliability Improvement

Background

The following is a fictional illustrative case. A food-packaging plant operated a high-speed filling and sealing line. The line frequently stopped because of sensor contamination, film tracking errors and lengthy changeovers. Operators waited for maintenance to diagnose basic abnormalities. Product defects increased after temporary adjustments, and cleaning activities were sometimes performed near moving components without sufficiently clear isolation rules.

Problem and analysis

A cross-functional team established common OEE definitions and reviewed four weeks of data. The line had 480 minutes of planned production time per shift. Average unplanned downtime was 54 minutes, minor stops were frequent, and quality losses were concentrated during start-up. Observation showed that sensors were difficult to access, cleaning tools were stored away from the line, and the inspection checklist did not identify the normal sensor condition.

The team separated symptoms from causes. “Sensor failure” was often contamination or misalignment rather than electronic failure. “Slow changeover” involved searching for tools, unclear sequence and late availability of verified film settings.

Approach and solution

The team introduced:

• a safe, documented isolation procedure for cleaning and adjustment;
• labelled cleaning and inspection points;
• operator training in normal and abnormal sensor conditions;
• a visual standard showing acceptable alignment and contamination limits;
• a changeover cart with identified tools and materials;
• a pre-changeover checklist and parallel preparation tasks;
• planned inspection of sensor mounts and film-guidance components;
• a daily review of downtime and defect causes.

Maintenance redesigned one sensor bracket to improve access and installed a more robust protective arrangement after a formal design and safety review. The change was not accepted merely because it reduced stops; guarding and cleaning access were verified before release.

Outcome

After eight weeks, average unplanned downtime fell, start-up defects declined and operators reported abnormalities earlier. The exact numerical improvement is less important than the mechanism: basic conditions were restored, detection moved closer to the source, maintenance effort was directed at recurring causes, and standards were updated. The plant continued monitoring the line to ensure that the improvement did not shift losses to another process or increase operator exposure.

Learning points

1. OEE identified an opportunity but did not identify the root cause.
2. Autonomous maintenance required training, safe boundaries and visual standards.
3. A design change was evaluated for maintainability and safety, not only output.
4. Changeover improvement depended on both equipment condition and work organisation.
5. Sustained gains required updated standards, data and management follow-up.

9. Challenges, Limitations and Governance

9.1 Common implementation failures

TPM programmes may fail when they are reduced to cleaning campaigns, audit scores or isolated OEE targets. Other causes include weak leadership, excessive paperwork, unreliable data, lack of protected improvement time, unclear operator–maintenance responsibilities and failure to address design weaknesses.

9.2 Metric manipulation and inappropriate targets

If teams are rewarded only for OEE, they may exclude losses from definitions, overproduce unnecessary inventory, delay maintenance or conceal defects. Metrics should be balanced with safety, quality, delivery, cost, employee capability and customer requirements. Target values should reflect the process and demand; an arbitrary benchmark is not a substitute for analysis.

9.3 Human factors and ethical issues

Operators should not be blamed for abnormalities caused by poor design, inadequate training or unrealistic production pressure. Suggestions should be credited fairly, and workers should be able to stop unsafe work without retaliation. Data from sensors and digital systems should be used to improve processes, not to create unfair surveillance or punish individuals without context.

9.4 Regulatory and environmental responsibilities

Legal requirements concerning machinery safety, electrical work, pressure systems, hazardous substances, waste, emissions, noise, lifting equipment and occupational exposure remain mandatory. TPM documentation does not replace statutory inspection or competent-person requirements. Environmental improvement may include reducing leaks, energy waste, lubricant consumption, scrap and unplanned releases.

10. Technology and Contemporary Developments

Industrial Internet of Things devices, computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS), enterprise resource planning systems, mobile inspections and condition-monitoring platforms can strengthen TPM. Sensors may support vibration, temperature, current, pressure or acoustic monitoring. Digital work instructions can improve consistency, while dashboards can connect equipment status with quality and production data.

Artificial intelligence can assist with anomaly detection, failure prediction, image-based inspection and maintenance-priority recommendations. However, AI outputs are only as reliable as the data, labels, sensor condition and operating context. A prediction is not a maintenance decision by itself. Human review, safety controls, cybersecurity, model validation, explainability and protection against data tampering are necessary.

Technology should solve a defined operational problem. Installing sensors without response procedures, competent users, data governance and maintenance of the digital system can create cost and false confidence. The fundamentals—clean equipment, reliable standards, accurate failure coding and disciplined response—remain essential.

Best-Practice Checklist

A production organisation applying TPM should be able to answer “yes” to most of the following questions:

• Are safety-critical risks identified before maintenance or cleaning?
• Are equipment normal conditions defined and visible?
• Can operators identify and escalate abnormalities safely?
• Are maintenance tasks based on asset criticality and evidence?
• Are repeat failures analysed rather than repeatedly repaired?
• Are OEE definitions consistent and understood?
• Are good count, scrap and rework recorded accurately?
• Are improvements verified and built into standard work?
• Are training and competence assessed in practice?
• Are digital tools supporting, rather than replacing, sound management?

Chapter Summary

Total Productive Maintenance is an organisation-wide system for maximising equipment effectiveness across the asset life cycle. Its pillars combine autonomous maintenance, planned maintenance, focused improvement, quality maintenance, early equipment management, training, safety and administrative improvement. Operators contribute routine care and early detection within clearly defined safe boundaries, while maintenance specialists provide technical diagnosis, planning, reliability improvement and controlled repair.

5S, visual management and standard work create the stable conditions needed for improvement. Kaizen and PDCA provide a disciplined method for removing causes and sustaining gains. OEE links availability, performance and quality, but it must be calculated consistently and interpreted with loss data rather than treated as a complete measure of success. A mature TPM system integrates safety, quality, productivity and maintenance, uses balanced indicators, respects legal and ethical requirements, and applies digital technology with appropriate human governance.

Key Terms

TPM: An organisation-wide approach to maximising equipment effectiveness through prevention, participation and continuous improvement.

Autonomous maintenance: Trained operator care, inspection and early abnormality detection.

Planned maintenance: Maintenance organised in advance using preventive, predictive and corrective tasks.

Focused improvement: Cross-functional action directed at specific measurable losses.

Quality maintenance: Control of equipment conditions that influence product conformity.

Early equipment management: Use of operational and maintenance knowledge in new equipment design and acquisition.

5S: Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardise and Sustain.

Visual management: Display of information so that status and abnormality are quickly understood.

Standard work: The safest and most effective currently known method for performing a task.

Kaizen: Continuous, incremental improvement involving people who perform the work.

PDCA: Plan–Do–Check–Act improvement cycle.

OEE: Overall Equipment Effectiveness, combining availability, performance and quality.

Availability: The proportion of planned production time during which equipment is operating.

Performance: The relationship between ideal output speed and actual output speed.

Quality: The proportion of total output that is accepted as good.

MTBF: Mean Time Between Failures, commonly operating time divided by failure count.

MTTR: Mean Time To Repair, commonly repair time divided by repair count.

Condition-based maintenance: Maintenance initiated by evidence of equipment condition.

Criticality: The relative consequence and risk associated with asset failure.

Visual standard: A photograph, marking or defined reference showing the required condition.

Review Questions

Short Answer Questions

1. What are the three components of OEE?
2. Explain why cleaning can be considered an inspection activity in autonomous maintenance.
3. List the five stages of 5S.
4. State two differences between preventive and predictive maintenance.
5. Why must OEE definitions be standardised before comparing departments?

Long Answer Questions

1. Explain the eight TPM pillars and discuss how they support one another.
2. Describe a practical implementation road map for introducing TPM in a production line.
3. Explain how standard work, visual management and kaizen contribute to sustained improvement.
4. Discuss how safety, quality, productivity and maintenance objectives can conflict and how management should resolve such conflicts.
5. Evaluate the benefits and limitations of using OEE as a production-management indicator.

Analytical / Application Questions

1. A machine has 420 minutes of planned production time, 36 minutes of unplanned downtime, an ideal cycle time of 0.4 minutes per unit, 900 total units and 855 good units. Calculate availability, performance, quality and OEE. State the main assumptions in your calculation.
2. A line has repeated stoppages attributed to “motor failure.” Design a focused-improvement investigation that distinguishes the immediate symptom from the underlying causes and includes appropriate safety controls.
3. Propose an autonomous-maintenance programme for a machine with frequent leakage, contamination and minor stops. Define operator tasks, maintenance responsibilities, visual controls, escalation rules and measures of success.

Multiple Choice Questions with Answers

Question 1

Which statement best describes Total Productive Maintenance?

A. A method in which only maintenance technicians repair failed equipment

B. An organisation-wide approach to preventing losses and improving equipment effectiveness

C. A system that eliminates all corrective maintenance

D. A financial technique for reducing spare-parts inventory

Correct Answer: B. An organisation-wide approach to preventing losses and improving equipment effectiveness

Question 2

Which activity is most characteristic of autonomous maintenance?

A. Designing a new production line

B. Replacing every component at fixed calendar intervals

C. Cleaning, inspecting and reporting abnormalities using defined standards

D. Approving annual capital expenditure

Correct Answer: C. Cleaning, inspecting and reporting abnormalities using defined standards

Question 3

The five elements of 5S include Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardise and which final element?

A. Simplify

B. Sustain

C. Schedule

D. Secure

Correct Answer: B. Sustain

Question 4

OEE is calculated as which combination?

A. Availability × Performance × Quality

B. Downtime × Scrap × Labour cost

C. Output ÷ Maintenance hours

D. Quality ÷ Availability × Performance

Correct Answer: A. Availability × Performance × Quality

Question 5

A machine has 500 minutes of planned production time and 50 minutes of unplanned downtime. What is its availability?

A. 80%

B. 85%

C. 90%

D. 95%

Correct Answer: C. 90%

Question 6

Which TPM pillar primarily develops operator ownership of routine care and early abnormality detection?

A. Autonomous maintenance

B. Early equipment management

C. TPM in administration

D. Quality maintenance

Correct Answer: A. Autonomous maintenance

Question 7

What is the main purpose of focused improvement?

A. To replace all planned maintenance with breakdown maintenance

B. To remove specific measurable losses using structured analysis

C. To increase inventory regardless of demand

D. To transfer all technical work to operators

Correct Answer: B. To remove specific measurable losses using structured analysis

Question 8

If a process produces 1,000 units, of which 960 are good, its quality rate is:

A. 94%

B. 95%

C. 96%

D. 98%

Correct Answer: C. 96%

Question 9

Which statement about OEE is most accurate?

A. A high OEE automatically proves that a process is safe

B. OEE is meaningful without consistent data definitions

C. OEE combines availability, performance and quality but does not measure every business risk

D. OEE includes only planned maintenance time

Correct Answer: C. OEE combines availability, performance and quality but does not measure every business risk

Question 10

What is the most appropriate response when an operator finds an abnormality requiring hazardous isolation?

A. Continue operating until the next scheduled shutdown

B. Attempt the repair without authorisation to avoid downtime

C. Follow the defined escalation and energy-isolation procedure

D. Remove the machine guard temporarily

Correct Answer: C. Follow the defined escalation and energy-isolation procedure