Total Productive Maintenance for a new machinery: An Italian case study within the food plants industry

The present paper aims at proposing an Italian case study dealing with the implementation of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) pillars for a new machinery. Into detail, the equipment in question is a numerical control lathe machine purchased by a company whose core business is the realization of food machinery so as to internalising the production of some light parts. This preliminary manuscript specifically focuses on three out of the eight TPM pillars, namely: Autonomous Maintenance, Education & Training and Focused Improvement. For each of them, the followed steps and involved tools are detailed with reference to the lathe in question. Specifically, for implementing Autonomous Maintenance a Cleaning, Inspection and Lubrification program was established, together with the creation of an Autonomous Maintenance Board; for the second pillar a Skill Matrix was developed, while in the third pillar the implementation of an Efficiency Improvement Digital Tool is proposed, so as to inspire interested practitioners towards the integration of digital instruments, turned out to have a positive effect on TPM. The latter corresponds to a software for automatically and real-time monitoring the Overall Equipment Effectiveness of this machine. Overall, operators are satisfied and positively assessed the novelties brought.