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Manager’s Model and Pilot Teams

A common approach to proliferating Autonomous Maintenance is through the Manager’s Model and Pilot Teams. The Manager’s Model and Pilot Teams develop individual Autonomous Maintenance skills, train leaders for Autonomous Maintenance teams, and demonstrate the effectiveness of Autonomous Maintenance implementation, and refine the Autonomous Maintenance implementation process. Wilmott describes objectives for the Manager’s Model. (Willmott 1994)

1. Change employee attitudes (foster positive attitudes) about TPM.
2. Demonstrate the power of TPM implementation.
3. Prove and improve the TPM implementation process.
4. Show the results of effective teamwork.
5. Test the water – experiment with TPM methodologies.
6. Identify and address initial barriers to TPM implementation.
7. Build the local TPM policies and procedures.
8. Plan further TPM rollout and supporting infrastructure.

Leflar identifies four additional objectives of the Manager’s Model and Pilot Teams. (Leflar 2001)

1. Take academic TPM and turn it into results.
2. Customize TPM activities to fit the organization.
3. Prove that TPM can be implemented successfully.
4. Develop and provide tools, procedures, and infrastructure for further TPM activity.

The importance of learning during the Manager’s Model and Pilot Teams cannot be stressed enough. “Continuous learning is the heart of continuous improvement. Machines do only what people make them do – right or wrong – andcan only perform better if people acquire new knowledge and skills regarding equipment care.” (Leflar 1999 p. 10)

The proliferation of Autonomous Maintenance can be viewed as a series of cascading activities starting with the Manager’s Model, as shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16 - Manager's Model and Pilot Teams

“The key to the establishment and development of the basic TPM plan is ensuring the support of the plan’s priorities and activities by the top management who drive it forward. The most important point is how well the top and middle managers recognize the necessity for and future value of TPM activities.” (Takahashi andOsada 1990 p. 21) One of the TPM tools to educate managers on Autonomous Maintenance methodology and to demonstrate the benefits of Autonomous Maintenance implementation is the Manager’s Model. During the Manager’s Model, the site management team engages in an Autonomous Maintenance project. Managers trained during the Manager’s Model become the leaders of the subsequent Autonomous Maintenance Pilot Teams that continue Autonomous Maintenance proliferation in specific work areas.* “Many times a company will embark on a TPM journey to have it fail because it was not supported at a high enough organizational level or management failed to follow the manager’s model of experiential tops down management involvement and participation.” (Gardner 2000p. 2) Likewise, the Pilot Teams spawn work area Autonomous Maintenance teams and provide training and experience for the leaders of those teams. Candidate equipment for Manager’s Model and Pilot Team Autonomous Maintenance deployment should be selected with the following criteria in mind.

The equipment and the results of the AM activity are visible to the employees.
There is a high probability that AM activity will improve the performance of the equipment and the improvement will be meaningful to theoperation.
Improving equipment performance through AM activity presents sufficient challenge to validate the Autonomous Maintenance improvement process.

Leflar suggests that the best candidate is non-constraint (excess productioncapacity) equipment with a history of unreliable performance. (Leflar 2001) He notes that Pilot Team Autonomous Maintenance activity at Agilent Technology reduced equipment failures by 90%, increased equipment productivity by 50%, and reduced maintenance time within one year. (Leflar 2001)

[Original: Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Concepts and Literature Review by Thomas R. Pomorski, Principal Consulting Engineer, Brooks Automation, Inc.]

* Depending on the size of the operation, there may be a number of Pilot Teams operating within a work area.