Technical and Operational Barriers that Affect the Successful Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Implementation: Case Studies of Abu Dhabi Power Industry

Abstract

Maintenance plays a significant role in asset management of power organisations. Utilisation of right maintenance strategy contributes to high availability and reliability of power plants. Inexperience in implementing modern maintenance programmes and lack of utilising effective maintenance strategies results in bad maintenance practices, low productivity, and a negative impact on financial performance. Thus, effective maintenance strategies become a complex task that deals with multifaceted nature of actions like irregular and uncertain nature. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is an ideal approach to support the development and implementation of operation performance improvement. It systematically aims to achieve zero breakdowns, zero defects and zero accidents in order to have high overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). Implementation of TPM programme needs strategic planning. However, there has been almost no research applied in this area within Middle-East power plants. In the power sector of Abu Dhabi, assets management is extremely significant, and it thus requires efficient and effective support of equipment management. The aim of this paper is to investigate technical barriers to successful TPM implementation in the Abu Dhabi power industry. The study has been conducted in the context of a leading power company in the UAE. Questionnaires were distributed with 224 employees, including engineers, maintenance planners, technicians, and operators using a postal questionnaire. The findings of this research identified six key barriers, thus: maintenance policy and methods; maintenance resources, tools and spare parts; computerized maintenance management system (CMMS); housekeeping; participation of autonomous maintenance and maintenance audits. With respect to the understanding of these barriers and obstacles in TPM implementation, the findings can contribute towards improved equipment operations and maintenance in power organisations.