What does TPM system implementation mean? For people associated with production, it is a complete transfer of machines condition responsibility to the technical department. Then you often hear statements from representatives of the production department: “They will finally get down to work!”, “From now on, maintenance is responsible for the technical condition of the machines”. Of course, thinking this way is wrong.

When we make the decision to implement Total Productive Maintenance, not only the maintenance department, but also the production area must prepare for a lot of work. A large part of the responsibility is then transferred to production, of course in cooperation with maintenance.

One of the main goals of the TPM concept is to eliminate the “invisible barrier” between the departments. Another goal is to answer the question: “Can production get along with maintenance?” First of all, it is necessary to reject the stereotypical thinking “I produce, and you fix”. The goal of implementing the Total Productive Maintenance concept is to achieve a state when everyone becomes one team and has a common goal – efficient production at minimum cost.

Effects of implementing the Total Productive Maintenance system

Producing efficiently at minimum cost. What does this mean in practice and what responsibilities does it entail? In the case of the production department, it is first and foremost an increase in awareness of how machinery works. Employees acquire skills that allow them to detect irregularities at an early stage and can perform simple maintenance on machines. The maintenance department’s task is to focus on preventive measures. Instead of “putting out fires” they will prevent them. So as to avoid costly failures and production downtime. During the implementation of the TPM system, a special communication system between the production department and maintenance is also introduced.

Effective communication system

So how can these two departments communicate effectively? The Red-Tag system is used here. This system consists of visualising any anomalies occurring on the machine using red cards. The red card, or so-called Red-Tag, consists of two parts. The first part should contain information such as: the tag number, the number of the production line which the problem concerns, the name of the device (machine), the date of fault identification, a description of the problem. The second part, on the other hand, should contain information about: the person who identified the problem, the location of the problem, the date the fault was identified, and a description of the fault.

Red-Tag System

When a production worker observes a fault or something disturbing in the functioning of a machine, he fills in both parts of a red card. Then he hangs one of them on a specially prepared Red-Tag board used to visualize the number of problems. If the board becomes more and more red it is a sign that we have a big problem with preventive measures. The other part goes to the spot right next to the machine where the problem occurs and stays there until the problem is fixed. If the machine is complex, large and hanging cards directly at the place of the fault is troublesome, then you can mark the location of the problem on the machine layout. The layout of the production hall and work areas should also be available on the Red-Tag board. In this way, everyone can easily and quickly see the number and location of problems on the machine in question.

Red-Tag system management

In order to improve the management of the red cards that appear, it is also necessary to appoint a person responsible for managing and archiving them. Using an Excel file we can easily enter each card into a specially created table of anomalies. Each report should have a reporting person, date of report and assigned priority. The file to manage the Red-Tag system should be available to the public and regularly reviewed, for example during weekly production meetings, where representatives of the maintenance department are present. Reported defects are then discussed and closure dates for individual actions are set. The identified problems are broken down into those that can be fixed directly by the production staff within autonomous maintenance and those that will be fixed by the maintenance department. Production meetings, which are held regularly at a certain standard during which the Red-Tag system is discussed, are the basis for building good cooperation between departments.

Don’t be fooled

A decreasing number of red cards on the board will not necessarily mean that our organization is already at such good level that we have zero failures and problems. Such a situation may mean that employees’ vigilance has weakened and they have stopped noticing problems. It is worth remembering that the more anomalies and defects we identify, the more effectively we work. Effective problem solving allows to improve processes in the long run.