Total productive maintenance in a South African pulp and paper company: a case study

Abstract

Looks at the implementation of total productive maintenance (TPM) at one South African mill and attempts to establish the influence that this journey has had on productivity, employee development, quality improvement and organisational change within the manufacturing unit. A literature survey was undertaken into the methodologies, including a look at the so‐called “soft issues” or people issues to evaluate the benefits of adopting a TPM strategy. Questionnaires were also sent out to a sample of selected people at all levels of the organisation to find out their views on the methodology being used. Concludes that this journey has been successful in spite of the difficulties specific to South Africa. The final objective of this research was to establish whether the implementation of this process had resulted in change within the mill. Increases in productivity, quality and a reduction in the cost of producing the product resulted in the mill winning a gold award from the National Productivity Institute.

Citation

van der Wal, R.W.E. and Lynn, D. (2002), "Total productive maintenance in a South African pulp and paper company: a case study", The TQM Magazine, Vol. 14 No. 6, pp. 359-366. https://doi.org/10.1108/09544780210447465