Competitive manufacturing through total productive maintenance

The implementation of total productive maintenance (TPM) in component manufacturing at Intel Corporation is described. TPM originates from the fact that productivity, cost, inventory, production output, safety, and quality all depend on equipment performance. The goal of TPM is to eliminate equipment breakdowns and defects caused by the production process. TPM is aimed at increasing the overall effectiveness of the equipment through the lifetime of the equipment. It integrates all the departments and people in the factory and promotes preventive maintenance through autonomous small group activities. The Intel approach was aimed at applying the concepts of teamwork and participation without focusing on trying to restructure basic job functions. A key element in the program was the use of data driven decision making (D³M) methods; D³M methods stress that all activities can be quantified; that is, the benefit or cost of any particular program can be measured. It is concluded that the effect of the performance teams was outstanding