Improving operational and maintenance skills is the fourth TPM development activity and the tenth step of the TPM development program.
In Japan, the large steel and electronics corporations provide their employees with technical training at well-equipped centres, but many other Japanese companies underestimate the value of training, especially training in maintenance techniques. Education and training are investments in people that yield multiple returns. A company implementing TPM must invest in the training that will enable employees to manage their equipment properly. In addition to training in maintenance techniques, operators must also sharpen their conventional operation skills.
The content and organization of introductory materials may not vary much from company to company; technical education and training for operation and maintenance, on the other hand, must be tailored to the individual requirements of the workplace. At this Mizushima plant of Nihon Zeon, winner of the 1982 PM Prize, for example, operators were taught to perform daily inspections and simple repairs. Using equipment that stimulated abnormal conditions in the production plant, operators learned first-hand how to deal with unusual or crises situations. This simulation training was conducted at different levels.
Maintenance personnel are like doctors-they must be competent, otherwise their patient’s condition can only worsen. To promote quality in equipment maintenance, technical qualifying examinations for equipment maintenance personnel were established in Japan in 1984. These examinations are similar to the national examinations for mechanics. In the past, individuals were certified as equipment maintenance personnel when they qualified in such areas as finishing and machining. Now, however, maintenance workers can be certified in their own field. In addition, the Ministry of Labor has established a qualifying system for electrical maintenance Responding to the demand for maintenance training, JIPM, with the help of its member companies, has established training centres at most of its branch offices. In the four month/four part technical course taught at these centres, maintenance workers from companies in the process of implementing TPM learn more about their equipment. Section 2.30 summarizes the syllabus for this course.