Here is a book report summary of the book.

“Autonomous Maintenance in Seven Steps”[i] (Implementing TPM on the Shop Floor) by Masaji Tajiri and Fumio Goto

Introduction: During the deployment of TPM activities at INX International Ink Co., I served as the corporate pillar leader for Autonomous Maintenance. We felt that we would be more consistent at TPM deployment if we had one high-level person assigned as a pillar leader for each of the 8 pillars of TPM.  We also asked the plants to assign a plant pillar coordinator for each of the TPM pillars.  One of the first Pillars of TPM to deploy was Autonomous Maintenance, and as Vice President of Manufacturing, I found the fit was excellent.  During our startup, we used consultants from Japan and experts from our parent company who had already achieved the continuous award for TPM excellence, and later the Advanced special award for TPM Achievement.  They did a great job but we had to use internal translators during all meetings and sessions.  In the beginning, although they were excellent teachers, and brought us great knowledge, working through translators and learning was difficult and slow.  When working with my Sensei to understand the AM Pillar he recommended that I obtain the book “Autonomous Maintenance in Seven Steps” i.  The book is written in clear English and covers virtually all the key elements of AM. It covers the history of TPM, explains why many efforts to introduce AM fail, and why it is important to follow the step-by-step implementation.

In the introduction, the author describes the development of the 7-step method.  In the late1970s a step-by-step small group activity method was developed. In 1981 a prototype of the seven-step program to implement an operator’s routine maintenance system on the shopfloor was developed and produced significant benefits.  This new method proved very successful, improved operating conditions in existing plants, and increased employees’ knowledge and skills. According to the author, “TPM concepts have been expanding continuously with the accumulation of wisdom created on the shop floor.  TPM, since the late 1980s, has been rapidly recognized by a growing number of companies as a highly effective methodology for dealing with matters of not only plant maintenance but also plant engineering and product design. The TPM of today may be viewed more aptly as an abbreviation for Total Production Management, rather than for Total Productive Maintenance.” 

The 7 Steps of Autonomous Maintenance

1.      Step 1: Initial Cleaning (Inspection)

2.      Step 2: Countermeasures to Sources of Contamination

3.      Step 3: Cleaning and Lubricating Standards

4.      Step 4: Overall Inspection

5.      Step 5: Autonomous Maintenance Standards

6.      Step 6: Process Quality Assurance

7.      Step 7: Autonomous Supervision

In Chapter 1, the author provides an overall understanding of how TPM works and describes how losses on the shop floor can be a result of issues in almost any other department outside of production.  He describes where losses come from and describes many reasons for the losses to occur. He describes the many types of losses and describes how they can impact the production floor and the effectiveness of the manufacturing equipment. 

In Chapter 2, the author covers some basic concepts of overall TPM.  He shows a nice diagram of the 7 steps of autonomous maintenance and explains how important it is to form a strong bond and collaboration between Maintenance staff, Engineering, and Production operators.

In chapter 3 the author notes that random countermeasures taken by untrained operators can lead to poor results.  Instead, it is important to focus systematically and sequentially on 5 key countermeasures. For each, he gives a great example of the wrong and right way to do each.

1.      Establish the basic equipment conditions (cleaning, lubrication, and tightening).

2.      Adhere to the usage conditions of equipment (gauges, speed, filters, sensors, lubes, temperature settings, etc.)

3.      Restoring deteriorated parts. (Many causes of failed parts could be a lack of correct usage conditions)

4.      Correct design weakness. (clean to inspect, Inspect to  detect, detect to correct, rather than chaotic improvements)

5.      Enhance operating and maintenance skills. (importance of systematic hands-on training in the right sequence)

The author does a good job of explaining why many activities such as Kaizen events and Team improvements fail in many companies, and how the methodical TPM approach of step-by-step activities by trained operators with assistance from maintenance and engineering assures success for the Autonomous Maintenance pillar.  He uses real-world examples of how the normal Quality improvement routes can give poor results in the long run.

He then goes on to describe the allocation of resources between Maintenance, Operators, and Engineering and shows the importance of relations and direct collaboration between all these departments. The author uses great tables, diagrams, and matrices to show relationships and metrics for understanding key points.

Chapter 4 introduces the 7 steps of autonomous maintenance and explains the strategy behind each step. In the first 3 chapters of this book, he talks about the inter-relationship of operators, maintenance staff, and engineering, as we move into chapter 4 we start to see the guidance information and details of what needs to be done in each of the 7 steps.  TABLE 4.1 “Summary of Autonomous Maintenance Program” is a wonderful summary of all of the 7 steps showing each step, Major activities, Aims from the Equipment perspective, Aims from the Human perspective, and the role of managers in supporting each step of activities.   Keep in mind that these 7 steps are not intended to be completed in a short time.  It typically takes at least 3-4 years for a plant to complete step 4 of the seven steps.  When applying for the JIPM TPM award, it specifically requires that Step 4 activities be completed before application for the award. Chapter 4 also covers one of the most powerful simple tools of AM CAPD.  Although the same words used in Deming’s Cycle—Plan (P), Do (D), Check (C), and Act (A)—are used to facilitate understanding, the CAPD cycle in TPM, this CAPD is extremely effective and an exciting tool for operators.

Section 4.3 The author emphasizes the importance of front-line managers and engineers and Maintenance people as participating and working members of the first AM team.  The purpose of this pilot team is to set an example, and also to assure that the managers and engineers understand the activities that the operators will face during AM deployment.

To ensure a complete understanding of what each step requires, the shop floor managers, engineers, and maintenance staff must experience it firsthand before asking any employees to begin AM activities. As the author states “Unless they share common experiences with operators and are familiar with actual shopfloor conditions, they can never understand how unreasonable or unfeasible the rules and requests that they impose on the workplace are.”

Also introduced in chapter 4, is the concept of a formal activity audit.  This audit is based on planned achievements and is typically done first by the team members at the end of each step in an area.  If the team feels they have passed the audit for that step, then they can ask a member of the pilot team (managers, maintenance persons, or engineers) to conduct the formal audit.  The audit must be in writing and include both positive and negative feedback to the operators and not just a score.  To improve the rate of learning in the shop, it is a good idea to include members of future AM teams in the audit process and final meetings to review the results and feedback.  It is important to keep in mind that Rules must be set by those who must follow the rules. This is the simplest and best way to ensure that operators will follow them. Engineers and managers should not simply create the rules and hand them to the operators. Giving the operators new rules in addition to their normal workload,  will usually result in a quick failure of the system, with engineers blaming the operators for failure.

Operators must receive the right kind of hands-on training during each phase of each step.

·        Introductory education

·        Stepwise education

·        Inspection Education

·        Maintenance skill training

·        Routine education

·        Any other required educational subjects such as safety, quality, operation, and changeover

·        Trained operators should be trained to teach other operators with one-point lessons.

Other activities that help to ensure the learning and growth of AM teams are discussed including

·        Pilot-facilitated problem-solving groups

·        Team members create plans with a timeline, and troubleshoot if deadlines are missed.

·        Allocating equipment by AM Group

·        Encouragement of team progress and success

o   TPM Newsletter

o   Team presentations to others and managers in conference-type meetings 1-2 times per year.

o   Executive audits by upper management ie CEO, COO, etc. several times per year.

o   Gemba walks by visitors and managers to ask AM team members to show their progress.

o   Internal awards for good projects or solutions or key learning events.

o   Suggestions system.

o   Abnormality tagging systems.

In  Chapter 5, the author covers the activities, tools, and logic needed to complete each of the 7-steps for Autonomous Maintenance.  He emphasizes that it is important for the operators on the AM group team to understand that cleaning is inspecting. The chapter is finished with a very good example of the Step 1 audit sheet that should be used by the team and the managers to audit the team for understanding and proper completion of Step 1 (Cleaning and inspecting) activities.

Chapters 5 through 11 cover the activities of AM Steps 1 through 7

Step 1: Initial Cleaning (Inspection)

Step 2: Countermeasures to Sources of Contamination

Step 3: Cleaning and Lubricating Standards

Step 4: Overall Inspection

Step 5: Autonomous Maintenance Standards

Step 6: Process Quality Assurance

Step 7: Autonomous Supervision

For each (chapter) step, the author defines the aim of each step from the Equipment Perspective and then defines the aims for that step from the Human perspective.  For each step, the author describes the key steps and activities of deployment and then follows up with a detailed AM step audit diagnosis listing to verify that the teams got it right. Each team must use the same audit questionnaire to determine if they are ready and then it is forwarded to the supervisors to double-check and score their progress.  If both the team and the shop floor managers agree, then the team can move on to the next step. If not passed, then the team must use the detailed feedback as an action list to complete before repeating the audit process for that step again.  Each chapter is filled with helpful tools, tables, drawings, and examples to help convey the important information to the reader.

In Chapter 12 the author describes various approaches to autonomous maintenance in manual work areas such as: assembly, Inspection, and Material handling. Finally, the book ends with 6 pages of glossary terms, an index, and a listing of 5 reference books that support the TPM activities as defined by the JIPM.

[i] Gotoh, F. (2020). Autonomous maintenance in seven steps: Implementing TPM on the shop floor. Routledge.