Use mathematical modeling to give your TPM implementation effort an extra boost

Total productive maintenance, or TPM, represents a major shift in the way an organization approaches the maintenance function and implementation typically requires a significant change in organizational culture. Most references on TPM suggest a variety of ways to promote this cultural change, including top management support, training and changes in reward systems. Despite these efforts, many organizations still find it difficult to create the necessary change in culture. This paper proposes an additional means to help bring about the cultural change necessary to make TPM work: mathematical modeling. Using examples of four mathematical models in the maintenance field, the paper describes how such models might be used to promote this cultural change by making the potential benefits of TPM more tangible and objective to employees and by improving employees’ understanding of how their involvement in TPM can affect the organization and its customers.