Ethical and psychological factors in 5S and total productive maintenance on production line effectiveness

Abstract

Sort, Set, Shine, Standardize and Sustain (5S) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) are recognized as key techniques in lean and world class manufacturing models. However, after implementing these techniques, organizations find it difficult to achieve the desired results to maximise the effectiveness of their production lines. In their implementation, the role of employees has not been taken into attention. The benefits of their implementation which accrued to organizations have also identified the fact that successful implementation is largely based on the efforts and motivation of employees and these are affected by ethical and psychological factors. Therefore, this study investigated the role of ethical and psychological factors, and diagnosed their states of implementation and their cumulative impact on the overall production lines effectiveness in the implementation of 5S and TPM at cement plants in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Within the case study framework, mixed methods were used in three phases. Firstly, a survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to identify the role of ethical and psychological factors in the implementation. Secondly, observations integrated with a checklist method was used to diagnose the state of implementation, and obstacles that hinder their implementation. Finally, documents review with Overall Lines Effectiveness (OLE) metrics were integrated to study the cumulative impact of the implementation on production lines effectiveness. The results showed that ethical factors had a larger role than psychological factors in the implementation. The findings also showed that the successful state of 5S and TPM implementation to overcome the obstacles depends largely on the extent of trust and mutual cooperation between management and relevant employees of an organization. In additon, the major challenges behind the decline of positive cumulative impact on production lines effectiveness were identifed as breakdown time, less speed time, idling time and minor stoppage time. Finally, based on the findings, organisations are recommended to provide financial and moral support to employees to enable a comprehensive implementation of 5S and TPM aimed at obtaining the desired results.