Executive summary
- Lean needs predictable time; TPM is what makes time predictable.
- Naming the wastes is training. Pricing them per year is consulting.
- Inventory is the waste that hides all the others.
- SMED on the two most frequent changeovers usually returns more capacity than new equipment.
- Standard work is the only mechanism that holds a gain in place.
TPM is often deployed alongside supporting activities that add capability: 5S, visual control, Poka-Yoke and industrial engineering techniques. All of them reduce waste in production, which is another route toward waste-free production.
Why lean needs TPM
Lean rests on predictable time. Pull systems, small lots and low buffers all assume the machine runs when it is called. An unexpected breakdown stops a system deliberately designed to be thin. Conversely, TPM done without looking at the whole flow produces high availability on assets that are not the constraint.
Walk the material, not the organisation chart
A waste walk follows one product through the entire process, from receipt to dispatch, recording every occasion the material waits, moves, is inspected, is reworked, or is handled without its form or function changing. Waste concentrates at handovers: between shifts, between departments, and between the planning system and the floor.
| Waste observed | Basis | Annual value |
|---|---|---|
| Operator walking to the shared tool crib | 14 trips/shift x 3.5 min x 3 shifts x 240 days | THB 960,000 |
| Rework of start-up product | 38 units/changeover x 6 changeovers/week | THB 1,840,000 |
| WIP buffer between two stations | 410 units average, 21 days cover | THB 610,000 carrying cost |
| Waiting for quality release | 22 min average x 6 batches/day | THB 780,000 |
Attack changeover before you attack the machine
- Video the full changeover From last good part to next good part, including the walking and the searching. The video is the data, not the memory of it.
- Separate internal from external Anything doable while the machine runs is external. Typically 30–50% of observed time is external work being done internally.
- Convert internal to external Pre-staged tooling, pre-heated dies, kitted fasteners, prepared paperwork.
- Streamline the remainder Quick-release fittings, standardised heights, colour-coded settings, and adjustment eliminated by centre-lining.
- Standardise and train Write the new sequence as standard work with a role per person, then run it under observation until it holds on every shift.
Manufacturing example
On a food packaging line the format change averaged 96 minutes, six times a week. Video analysis showed 41 minutes of it was tool searching and part fetching. After kitting and pre-staging, the changeover stabilised at 40 minutes — recovering roughly 290 production hours a year with no capital spend.
Where there is no standard, there can be no improvement — only change.