There are a multitude of companies in India who have learnt, adopted and are practicing TPM over a considerable period, of at least two decades. Introduction of TPM happened in India in the early 1990s. Subsequently there was a period of expansion of TPM throughout the Indian industry sectors, across the length & breadth of the country, from the late nineties onwards, for about a decade. After that came a phase of consolidation, when the companies who continued with TPM started advancing towards the higher levels of TPM.

During all these phases, I believe tens of thousands of individuals / industry professionals have got initiated in the TPM philosophy.

People  initiated in TPM start believing in some common principles and follow certain  common practices and approaches in their work life. This is irrespective of the fact that, the individual who has learnt TPM many years back in a certain company, may be working now in a different company in a different geographical zone and in a different industry altogether, with a different responsibility. But, he/she can still apply the learnings of TPM in their work processes.

A few of the common principles and practices of TPM are:

1)      belief in the fact that a given condition, however good or bad it might be, can be certainly  improved.

2)      in order to bring the improvement, the problems hiding in the existing situation should be identified.

3)      the identified problems should be solved going deep into the root cause(s)

4)      effort should be directed towards preventing a problem from occurring, instead of handling it after allowing it to happen

5)      after improvement, conscious effort should be given to ensure that the improvement is sustained

The advantage of these beliefs and practices is that they can be applied, in any work, in any company, in any hierarchical position, in any country.

This is the “Spirit of TPM”. Let us believe in this spirit and make it our strength.