A proposed strategy for the implementation of total productive maintenance at Continental Tyre South Africa

• Main Author: Olivier, Christie
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 2007
• Subjects: Continental Tyre South Africa (Firm); Total productive maintenance; Manufacturing industries
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/799

For a tyre manufacturing company to compete nationally and internationally, the maximum utilization of their equipment is extremely important. Thus, having a maintenance system in place that will ensure this will be essential. In today’s competitive environment, the need to go further than just scheduling maintenance in accordance with manufacturer’s recommendations as a method of improving productivity and product quality was quickly recognized by those companies who were committed to total quality management programmes. The objective of this study was to propose an appropriate strategy for the implementation of Total Productive Maintenance at Continental Tyre South Africa. To achieve this, the current Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) programme, in the steel stock preparation division in affiliated Continental plants in Otrokovice in the Czech Republic and Puchov in the Slovak Republic was evaluated. A comprehensive literature study was performed on Total Productive Maintenance programmes. A questionnaire was designed based on the guidelines in the literature study in order to establish the effectiveness of implemented TPM programmes. The researcher used the random sampling method of selection and distributed the questionnaire to 62 potential respondents via hand-outs from each plant’s respective heads of departments. 56 completed questionnaires were returned and these were processed and analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel 2003, running on the Windows XP suite of computer packages. The opinions of the various respondents were compared with the guidelines provided in the literature survey, in order to identify how to answer two main questions the author wanted to use as part of selecting an appropriate implementation approach for TPM at Continental Tyre South Africa. These were: • How much are the employees involved and empowered to perform their TPM tasks?; and • How effective is the implemented TPM programme? The following were the main recommendations and conclusions: • The experiences gained by plants like Otrokovice and Puchov must be used as a guideline for introduction and implementation; • The employees that will be required to perform the TPM tasks must be properly trained and they should receive the necessary tools to perform their tasks; • It is essential that everyone throughout the entire manufacturing organization is involved from the start in the development, improvement and maintenance of the TPM programme and that the driving force behind it should be a combination of maintenance, production and quality; and • TPM will achieve it’s objectives if: • The equipment effectiveness can be improved; • Autonomous maintenance is achieved; • Planned maintenance is in place; • Staff are trained in relevant maintenance skills; and • Early equipment management can be achieved.