The Relationship between Lean and TPM

Abstract: Total Productive Maintenance(TPM) is mostly regarded as an integral part of LeanManufacturing. Some authors considered TPM as a Lean tool but it always has been amatter of controversy.The role of TPM in maintenance is similar and comparable to Total Quality Management(TQM) in Quality. TPM involves Autonomous and Planned Maintenance. PlannedMaintenance consists of several maintenance strategies. Autonomous maintenanceincludes simple maintenance tasks done by the operators.The aim of this thesis is to reach a prescription about the best attitude toward Lean andTPM implementation by reviewing Lean and TPM concepts as well as studyingexperiences of famous companies, their achievements, problems and difficulties toimplement TPMTwo companies which had implemented TPM without considering Lean wereinvestigated. Although these companies had implemented TPM before Lean, they nowbelieve that a company should start with Lean and grow Lean thinking among theemployees. In this way a company should start with recognizing the relationship andimplementation sequence of Lean and TPM. In this thesis, Lean and TPM comparisonsupports this approach since it proves that Lean and TPM have some common tools andconcepts. The comparison also supports the belief that Lean is a philosophy and TPM isa method.