[The following is the text of a message posted in the TQM List (Internet). I
found it of more than usual interest.]

Message #5351 - TQM (Internet) 
   Date: 10-10-95 03:34
   From: Qdnews@aol.com on (11:202/1)
     To: tqmlist tqmbbs on (11:202/299)
Subject: Re: Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
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Bob George (Bosk@AOL.COM) wrote

>I understand that TPM creates accountability in the work force, but when you
>have a Union and piece rates in place; typically it become very hard to
>change the mentality of "It's the maintenance man's job to fix the machine;
>my job is to make the pieces."

Bob,
Last month's Quality Digest had a short piece on TPM at Mack Trucks in
Hagerstown, Maryland. This is a union environment. It might be good to give
them a call. The article follows this message. I suggest you contact Clancy
Pugh. He can give you info on how the Union question is addressed.

Dirk Dusharme
News Editor
Quality Digest
qdnews@aol.com


Copyright 1995 Quality Digest.
For subscription information contact Quality Digest at 800-527-8875. This
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Maintenance Tips From Mack Trucks
At Mack Trucks in Hagerstown, Maryland, total productive maintenance training
has turned every machine operator into a maintenance technician. The
Hagerstown facility, which manufactures diesel engines and transmissions for
Mack vehicles, recently won Maryland's U.S. Senate Productivity Award.
    "We teach that TPM makes every operator a partner with maintenance 15 to
20 minutes a day," says Clancy Pugh, manager of facilities at the
1,200-employee site.
    Since the Hagerstown facility began TPM in September 1993, more than 240
operators have received 40-hour TPM training. In the same time, operators
have identified 1,792 equipment abnormalities and corrected 1,642.
    Clancy provides readers with a few TPM tricks used at Hagerstown:
* Visual inspection and lubrication boards--Next to each piece of equipment is
a bulletin board with an overall picture of the equipment. Arrows from each
machine maintenance point lead to detail (close-up) photos showing that point
being serviced and a written description of what service is required
(lubrication, for instance).
    To keep track of maintenance, each board also contains a peg area with
holes for each day of the week and each shift. Every time operators perform
scheduled maintenance, they put a peg in the appropriate hole, notifying
others that maintenance has been performed. Pegs are cleared weekly.
* Improvement bulletins--Operators submit suggestions on how to improve
machine operation or environment. By June 30, Hagerstown had implemented 237
of 296 improvement bulletins.
* Demerit audits--Hagerstown routinely performs random audits of equipment to
check maintenance. The number of machine demerits is based on the ranking
(how well) a maintenance item checks out multiplied by the weight
(importance) of the item. Just after operator training in TPM, Hagerstown
averaged about 1,500 demerits per machine. Since then, further training and
operator feedback have reduced demerits to an average of 460 per machine.