The JIPM TPM Award

Introduction to TPM -- Click here to see the 2022 TPM Award winners

TPM as defined by the JIPM stands for Total Productive Maintenance. If you have heard of the TPM awards, and want to learn more about how it could be applied in America, this information can help you get started. Many American Manufacturing companies are already applying the principles of Lean manufacturing which includes many of the same tools such as Total Quality Management and the Toyota Production systems, but for one reason or another they typically see TPM as a single element of machine care. TPM as defined by the JIPM is a holistic approach across all areas of a manufacturing facility working to find and eliminate losses. Every department from order entry and Engineering through Production scheduling and Logistics has defined responsibility within TPM.

Requirements to apply for the award

To apply for the first TPM award, (note you can apply for either a "Category B" or "Category A" Award) you will need to meet the following requirements:

1) Award for TPM Excellence, Category B (Note the category B award is planned to be eliminated in 2026) See the Revision of TPM Excellence Awards

Must have minimum of 2 years or more of achievement activity after the introduction of TPM

Must have deployed activity based on 5 pillars of TPM focusing on the production site

Must have completed Step 4 for autonomous maintenance activity

Must have completed infrastructure development for TPM activity with both tangible and intangible achievements obtained

2) Award for TPM Excellence, Category A

Must have minimum of 3 years or more of achievement activity after the introduction of TPM

Must have deployed activity based on all 8 pillars of TPM by all staff members of the plants/factories

Must have completed Step 4 for autonomous maintenance activity

Must have completed infrastructure development for TPM activity with both tangible and intangible achievements obtained

Maintenance or Management?

Although TPM stands for Total Productive Maintenance, I prefer to call it Total Productive Management. TPM is an acronym for what is translated as Total Productive Maintenance. The better word is “Management”. So I prefer to call TPM by it’s real meaning Total Productive Management. In America, we think of maintenance as the practice of fixing things or making sure they don’t break. In Japan they think in terms of Improvement or Kaizen.

What is the TPM Award?

The award is presented to roughly 100 company locations by the JIPM every year. As of 2022 they had presented over 3,400 awards around the world, and 95 were to plants in the United States.

The “TPM Excellence Award, examines and awards business sites in Japan and overseas that have achieved results through the use of TPM, and is an important part of the development of Japanese industry” The TPM award is not given to an entire company, but can only be earned by a single location or campus of sites.

Until 1993, most of the awards were presented only to Japanese companies, but starting in 1993, a significant number of awards were presented to companies outside of Japan, with only 1 or 2 in the USA each year. In 2019, 33 awards were awarded to companies outside of Japan and only one in the USA.

The TPM awards are issued by the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance (JIPM) in Japan The awards focus on the body of knowledge built over the years in Japan from world war II forward. The award process includes a rigorous audit process and review by experts from Japan to determine if your organization understands the concepts and tools of TPM. The award cover 6 levels of achievement, each level is a step higher to the final award. It typically takes multiple years to reach World Class TPM Achievement.

TPM awards were established in 1964 to encourage factories to develop remarkable achievements in manufacturing. The original award was called th PM excellence awards. In 1971, the awarding criteria were changed and became the TPM Awards. In response to further advancements, the definition of TPM was refined in 1989. TPM encompasses the entire company from the shop floor to the executive boardroom, creating a true companywide commitment to production excellence. As a result, factories which have achieved company-wide efficiency by adopting company-wide TPM are presented with the award.

Cost of the TPM Award

This is difficult to answer because of the internal cost of training and consulting and learning activities. But the raw number which is only based on the JIPM Fees and related costs can be found in the Application Outline for 2024 TPM Awards and is roughly about $30,000

Assessment fee per day (~$10,000) the first award is 2 full days and must be done in two trips separated by roughly 6 months. Portal to portal travel fees from Japan (Business class flights) for each assessor (~$3,000) Hotel and meal accommodations ($300)

The TPM Award Application Outline from JIPM

You can download a book (Application Outline for 2024 TPM Awards ) from JIPM that includes detailed information on the award process. In the Application Outline you will learn about how to apply for the JIPM awards. There are 6 levels of the TPM award, all the way up to World Class TPM Achievement.

IF you are new to the Awards, The most important thing now, is to see the final section 6 Reference in the Application Outline that gives you five (5) key checklists of things that must be achieved by your organization in order to receive the award. Checklist C (2 pages) is the baseline (and only the beginning) that you should look at carefully, because, I am certain that you desire to have them in your company. If you have them all then I am very impressed. But if you do not, I bet that you would love to know how to achieve it.

–. See page 40 in the document for Checklist C Application Outline 2024.pdf

Here is an abbreviated table of contents for the Application outline

Section

Introduction & Foreword
Application Outline & principles
- Application Outline
- TPM Award Categories Since FY 2008
- Main Assessment Principles
- Other points
- Withdrawal Form (Sample)
Document Submission Schedule and forms
Assessment Fees and Other Associated Costs
Preparing for the Assessment
Reference Documents and checklists

The checklists

Besides the baseline Checklist C, there are 4 other checklist

Assessment Criterial for All Categories of TPM Award – Prerequisites for Implementation.
- Basic responsibilities of business management
Checkilist C
- Award for TPM Excellence - Category B
- Award for TPM Excellence - Category A
- Award for Excellence in Consistent TPM Commitment
Checklist B - Special Award for TPM Achievement
Checklist A - Advanced Special Award for TPM Achievement
Checklist S - Award for World-class TPM Achievement
in 2023 JIPM created a new Self Checklist to be used to see if you are ready to apply.

Required minimum scores for the assessment

Award for TPM Excellence, Category A must score a minimum of 7o% on Checklist C

Award for Excellence in Consistent TPM Commitment must score a minimum of 80% on Checklist C.

Special Award for TPM Achievement must score a minimum of 70% on Checklist B.

Advanced Special Award for TPM Achievement must score a minimum of 80% on Checklist A.

Award for World-class TPM Achievement must score a minimum of 80% on Checklist S.

USA Consultants for TPM

Consultants for TPM

Although I am sure that there are many Lean Consultants who will be able to help you with TPM in the USA, there are a far fewer number of companies that can help you pursue the JIPM TPM Award. According to the JIPM web site there are only a few consultants that they list as qualified for TPM Consulting. Listed below are the three that are listed by JIPM, and can provide support in English.

JMA Consultants Inc. (Mainly in Asia, but they have USA support personnel in strategic locations)

SMMT Industry Forum Ltd (Support from the UK) One representative from SMMT served as a JIPM assessor with another Sr. assessor for our formal TPM Award assessment.

EFESO Consulting Is headquartered in France, with an office in New York, New York. They have reps located in the USA. We worked with them on several aspects of TPM, and they specialize in a system referred to as WCOM (World Class Operations Management), but they have a firm understanding of TPM per the JIPM.