Total productive maintenance in manufacturing industry in Malaysia

Abstract

Large number of framework of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) elements/strategies have been proposed by different authors in TPM literature. However, most of them are based on studies done in countries such as Japan, Italy, USA, China and India. Thus, this study aims to evaluate TPM elements/strategies emphasis and their contribution towards manufacturing performance in electrical and electronic industry in Malaysia. A survey methodology is used where questionnaires are sent to 240 companies in electrical and electronic industry in Malaysia with the resulting response rate of 12.5 % which is comparable with other studies. The TPM element most emphasized on in Malaysian electrical and electronic industry is planned maintenance management while the least emphasized element is on top management leadership. Using statistical tools, the correlation between TPM elements emphasis and manufacturing performance dimension has been calculated. The study reveals that the TPM elements – top management leadership, planned maintenance management, focused improvement, autonomous maintenance and education and training have significant contribution towards manufacturing performance such as lower cost, higher quality, strong delivery and increased productivity. The five TPM elements could be used as a guideline for companies wanting to implement TPM as well as evidence to convince management of the importance of TPM towards the organization. Besides that, there are also no significant differences found of TPM element practices between electrical and electronic industry while only some elements are significant when comparing small and medium industry (SME) and large companies. In addition, the longer the TPM implementation time period, the more improvements are seen in manufacturing performance.