Track: Reliability and Maintenance

Abstract

Rice production is an important aspect of the Philippine food supply and economy. Mechanized farming has received extensive government support with farm equipment and training on the basics of operations, repairs and maintenance through local cooperatives tasked with its future replacement. Thus, it would be imperative to systematize maintenance practices to ensure proper upkeep and operations. Extant literature highlighted benefits of total productive maintenance (TPM) in manufacturing environments but not in the agricultural sector, particularly in rice production. This research was aimed to institutionalize TPM practices at the local level by showing its benefits in terms of the better equipment utilization, and improvement in yield. The study chose for its research locale the province of Occidental Mindoro, an agricultural area devoted for rice production, which is a source of employment of almost 80% of its population. After an assessment of maintenance practices, areas of improvement were incorporated in a TPM strategy model grounded at the local level, not as complex as in a manufacturing setup, but a straightforward approach of equipping the farm cooperative personnel with a TPM mind set in view of the benefits of longer equipment lives and improved reliability that will consequently maximize crop yield and profitability.