+1 862 207 3288 CHAPTER 17 MAINTENANCE AND RELIABILITY 661
breakdowns, and prolong equipment life. With autonomous maintenance, the manager is
making a step toward both employee empowerment and maintaining system performance.
Total Pmductive Maintenance
Many firms have moved to bring total quality management concepts to the practice of preven- Total productive maintenance
tive maintenance with an approach known as total productive maintenance (TPM). It involves the (TPM)
concept of reducing variability through autonomous maintenance and excellent maintenance Coml3l”_e5 W3‘ q”3’_llY manage‘
practices. Total productive maintenance includes: ”‘e.“‘ Wm 3 Strategm Wew of
maintenance from process and
Designing machines that are reliable, easy to operate, and easy to maintain eqlllpnlenl design to P’eV9“llVe
maintenance.
Emphasizing total cost of ownership when purchasing machines, so that service and main-
tenance are included in the cost
Developing preventive maintenance plans that utilize the best practices of operators, main-
tenance departments, and depot service
Training for autonomous maintenance so operators maintain their own machines and
partner with maintenance personnel
High utilization of facilities, tight scheduling, low inventory, and consistent quality demand fi STUDENT ‘”p
reliability. Total productive maintenance, which continues to improve with recent advances Maimenanceimpmves
in the use of simulation, expert systems, and sensors, is the key to reducing variability and productjvm/_
improving reliability.
I: Summary
Operations managers focus on design improvements, backup and empowered employees ensure reliable systems through
components, and parallel paths to improve reliability. preventive maintenance. In turn, reliable, well-maintained
Reliability improvements also can be obtained through the equipment not only provides higher utilization but also
use of preventive maintenance and excellent repair facilities. improves quality and performance to schedule. Top firms
Firms give employees “ownership” of their equipment. build and maintain systems that drive out variability so that
When workers repair or do preventive maintenance on their customers can rely on products and services to be produced
own machines, breakdowns are less common. Well-trained to specifications and on time.
Key Terms
Maintenance (p. 652) Redundancy (p. 655) Autonomous maintenance (p. 660)
Reliability (p. 652) Preventive maintenance (p. 657) Total productive maintenance
Mean time between failures Breakdown maintenance (p. 657) (TPM) (p. 661)
(MTBF) (p. 654) Infant mortality (p. 657)
Ethical Dilemma
The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas on its 2003 Given the huge reliability and maintenance issues NASA
return to Earth. The Challenger exploded shortly after launch faced (seals cracking in cold weather, heat shielding tiles falling
in 1986. And the Apollo 1 spacecraft imploded in fire on the off, tools left in the capsule), should astronauts have been
launch pad in 1967. In each case, the lives of all crew members allowed to fly? (In earlier Atlas rockets, men were inserted not
were lost. The hugely complex shuttle may have looked a bit like out of necessity but because test pilots and politicians thought
an airplane but was very different. In reality, its overall statistical they should be there.) What are the pros and cons of staffed
reliability is such that about 1 out of every 50 flights had a major space exploration from an ethical perspective? Should the U.S.
malfunction. As one aerospace manager stated, “Of course, you spend billions of dollars to return an astronaut to the moon or
can be perfectly safe and never get off the ground.” send one to Mars?
Review the Chapter 17 Ethical Dilemma (end of chapter – Space Shuttle Columbia) and discuss the
questions, “What is the objective of maintenance and reliability?” and “Will preventive maintenance
eliminate breakdowns?” Please also answer the questions at the end of the Ethical Dilemma.
Be sure to incorporate at least one outside source in support of your answers.
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