TAFE Sembiam in its journey towards superiority has adopted the Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) way. It had applied for and successfully cleared the first-stage audit of the JIPM Award for Consistency in TPM Excellence for the financial year 2014 – 15. The TPM Excellence Awards is instituted by the Japan Institute for Plant Maintenance (JIPM). The TPM has a 9 Pillar Approach that was adopted by TAFE Sembiam for the Consistency level.
The first stage assessment of the audit was conducted by a team of two Assessors from JIPM, Japan at the TAFE Sembiam Machine shop. The assessment took place in three parts. First, the TPM Manual for the first stage assessment was sent to JIPM for the assessors to review before their visit. Based on their inference from the manual, the Assessors confirm the same at the site visit. The site visit is the second phase, consisting of two parts, the Assessment Room Presentation and the Gemba or the Workplace Presentation by the TPM Pillar Teams.
The assessment was held at the Gurukulam in the TAFE Sembiam premises. The Assessment Room Presentation consisted of presentations by the TAFE Sembiam Plant Head followed by the presentations of the 9 Pillar Leaders. The presentations have to be completed within a stipulated time, following which there is a Q&A session. The presentations were planned on a minute-to-minute basis and were on track.
The Gemba or the Workplace Presentation took place in the TAFE Sembiam Machine shop. The Production team took the assessors on a tour of the Machine shop, showcasing various best practices and improvements being carried out. Each TPM pillar team made presentations using activity boards of their respective pillar. TAFE associates from Madurai, Doddaballapur and EPD (Bangalore and Chennai) were also present during the assessment as observers to understand the assessment proceedings.
The final part of the assessment was the results and feedback session. The results were announced by the assessors and opportunities for improvements keeping the second stage in mind were shared with the TAFE Sembiam team. With the first audit cleared, we wish the TAFE Sembiam team Good Luck for the second stage.