Track: Sustainable Manufacturing

Abstract

The Manufacturing sector is considered to be an engine of economic growth for most of the developing nations. At the same time, issues related to environmental sustainability cannot be ignored. Therefore, every aspect of manufacturing activities needs to play its part in ensuring the sustainability of overall manufacturing. To ensure, optimal use of manufacturing facilities, the use of maintenance function is very important. Most of the time, maintenance is considered to be a reactive function. It does not find many places in sustainability-related discussions of manufacturing. It is found that world-class organisations have started considering maintenance as a strategic activity. It is expected that maintenance management will find a place like quality management. When maintenance is to be strategic/ proactive function, it requires to be performed in sync with sustainability aspects. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a futuristic maintenance strategy that will give a holistic concept of strategic maintenance. The performance of organisations on TPM can be evaluated using Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Research has suggested that OEE is not sufficient to capture the sustainability aspects of maintenance. This study has proposed a concept of Green TPM, which can take care of sustainability and maintenance simultaneously. Maintenance activities may release hazardous chemicals, defected/ unrepairable spare parts, and other components that can negatively impact the environment. This paper explains the concept of Green TPM as a future-oriented vision that follows the philosophy of customer-orientation, environmental concern, mass production with customization and sustainability. It is an integrated approach that covers elements like green training, green maintenance, and green lean six sigma. This approach is not only helpful in achieving higher manufacturing performance but also environmental performance.