7

Quality Maintenance
As equipment takes over the work of production,
quality depends increasingly on the condition of the
equipment. Quality maintenance evolved as a major
TPM activity in certain farication and assemly
industries that are ecoming increasingly automated. !n
environments where human intervention is decreasing,
the goal of quality maintenance is to maintain and
constantly improve quality through e"ective equipment
maintenance.
!n process industries, quality has always een
uilt into the product through the process. The pace of
new product development, however, is accelerating,
and the greater diversity of raw materials and products
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currently necessitates ever more frequent changeovers.
To cope with this, production department must review
their quality assurance systems with the aim of
tackling quality through equipment management.
QUALITY MAINTENANCE IN PROCESS
INDUSTRIES
!n process industries, the process comes +rst.
Quality is uilt into the product through processes that
provide the conditions needed for transformations such
as reaction, separation, and puri+cation of materials as
they ecome product. 'quipment comple,es known as
process plants implement such processes.
To produce perfect products, it is necessary to set
appropriate process conditions -temperature, pressure,
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.ow rate, catalyst quantity, and so on/ for the
particular properties, compositions, and volumes of the
raw materials, reagents, and other sustances eing
handled. To achieve this, the equipment units that
make up the plant and their component modules and
parts must e installed and maintained so they function
optimally creates no quality defects.
Process industries always aim for this, ut the
results often leave much to e desired. Quality defect
losses and reprocessing losses -two of the eight major
plant losses/ still occur and sustandard product often
has to e recycled, salvaged y mi,ing it with good
product, or downgraded. &ustomer complaints and
dissatisfaction are a perennial prolem.
Meanwhile, in plants where chemical reactions
take place, poor control of conditions not only a"ects
quality ut is also dangerous. To create safe plants that
produce only .awless products, a company must
analy0e processes and equipment rigorously to identify
and maintain conditions that do not lead to defects
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-defect1free conditions/. This is the role of quality
maintenance.
A quality defect is a property that falls outside
the speci+ed range. Tale 213 lists some of the ways
in which quality defects appear in process industries.
QUALITY MAINTENANCE IN TPM
Quality maintenance consists of activities that
estalish equipment conditions that do not produce
quality defects, with a goal of maintaining equipment
in perfect condition to producing perfect products.
Quality defects are prevented y checking and
measuring equipment conditions periodically and
verifying that the measured values
lie within the speci+ed range. Potential quality defects
are predicted y e,amining trends in the measured
values, and prevented y taking measures in advance.
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$ather than controlling results y inspecting
product and acting against defect that have already
occurred, quality maintenance in TPM aims to prevent
quality defects from occurring altogether. This is
accomplished y identifying checkpoints for
process and equipment conditions that e"ect quality,
measuring these periodically, and taking appropriate
action -4igure 213/
The approach illustrated in 4igure 213 focuses on
the four production inputs -equipment, materials,
people, and methods/ as sources of quality defects.
5'stalishing conditions6 means setting the range of
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material, equipment, method, or operating conditions
that must e maintained to produce .awless product.
%nce set, these conditions are maintained and
controlled y 5competent operators,6 e,tensively
trained in production technology as part of autonomous
maintenance activities -see right side of the +gure/.
(etting and controlling conditions in this way
eliminates process defects.
PRECONDITIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL
QUALITY MAINTENANCE
A quality maintenance program uilds upon gains
achieved through fundamental TPM activities such as
autonomous maintenance, focused improvement,
planned maintenance, and operation and maintenance
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skill training. There are several preconditions for a
successful quality maintenance program, however7
aolish accelerated deterioration, eliminate process
prolems, and develop competent operators.
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Abolis Accele!ate" Dete!io!ation
8hen equipment is suject to accelerated
deterioration, its modules and components have a short
life span. The equipment is unstale and fails
une,pectedly. Progress toward 0ero quality defects is
painfully slow when equipment is continually reaking
down. 9efore quality maintenance can work,
accelerated deterioration must
e aolished and une,pected failures minimi0ed
through the activities in TPM implementation (tep 2
: focused improvement, autonomous maintenance,
planned maintenance, and operation and maintenance
skills training. -(ee &hapters ;, <, and =./
'liminate Process Prolems
Process industries are plagued y process failures
such as locks, leaks, spills, composition changes, and
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other enemies of stale operation. 9locks, leaks, and
stoppages are the ane of any process plant. !f any of
these occur frequently, eliminate them through focused
improvements or operator1initiated autonomous
maintenance improvements. %nly then can quality
maintenance e e"ective.
De#elo$ Co%$etent O$e!ato!s
)eveloping process1competent and equipment1
competent operators has already een discussed at
length in &hapter <, and &hapter > gives further
details. %perators must e trained to promptly spot and
correct any defect1presaging anormalities in the causal
system.
!n TPM activities, great importance is attached to
the 5three actualities6 : actual location, actual oject,
and actual phenomenon. This is ecause quality
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defects arise at speci+c locations where the process is
taking place, and the actual ojects -defective product
of part of equipment/ and phenomena : details of
how the prolem manifested 1 provide the est clues
for locating their sources.
As we saw in &hapter ?, the ideal system creates
defect1free plants at the product and equipment design
stages. 9efore tackling quality maintenance. @arify
its
relationship with the seven other main TPM activities,
including the early management of new products and
equipment -see 4igure 21A/
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&ASIC ELEMENTS OF A QUALITY
MAINTENANCE PRO'RAM
Causes o( Quality De(ects
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The +rst step in practicing quality maintenance is
to clarify relationships etween the productBs quality
characteristics and the four production inputs shown in
4igure 213. Quality defects emanate from at least four
sources7 equipment, materials, people, and methods.
(ome companies add a +fth input : measurement of
quality characteristics. -(ee Tale 21A/
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Relationsi$ bet)een E*ui$%ent an" Quality
!n process industries, product is produced y a
comination of equipment units. 'ach unit consists of
modules, which in turn are made up of components.
*nits, modules, and components govern di"erent types
of quality. !t is essential to clarity the relationship
among them -Tale 21;/.
E*ui$%ent Cont!ol Con"itions
The ne,t step in maintaining quality is to
estalish the equipmentBs control conditions. To
achieve this, analy0e the causes of past quality
prolems using why1why analysis and P1M analysis.
'quipment components that that a"ect a productBs
quality characteristics are called 5quality components.6
Prevent defects from occurring
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y maintaining such components in their speci+ed
condition. This is the asis of quality maintenance.
Tale 21< shows the format of a quality maintenance
checksheet.
+at A!e Quality Co%$onents an" Con"itions,
4igure 21; illustrates the construction of the seal
section of an oil1sealed process1gas compressor. This
compressor was causing a quality defect7 process gas
contaminated y sealant oil. A lock in the pipe
leading to the sealant1oil trap prevented the sealant oil
from draining completely, so it in+ltrated the impeller
side of the seal and contaminated the process gas. !n
this case, the quality component is the trap system.
The condition -that does not cause a quality defect/ is
that it must discharge a speci+c quantity of spent oil.
This can e checked y measuring the amount of
spent oil.
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Tale 21= shows a control tale for this quality
component. The asic aim is to investigate the causes
of the prolem and through improvement enale the
component to operate normally for long periods. -!n
this case, the pipe was locked y products of a
reaction the process gas and additives in the oil./
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P!ocess Con"ition Cont!ol
!n process industries, quality is governed y
process conditions as well as quality components.
)aicel &hemical !ndustries -%take Plant/ uses an
5MPQ Matri,6 to control process conditions -see
Tale 21?/. 5Q6 is the quality check item, such as a
sensory check for defect modes such as anormal
odors caused y overheating. 5M6 is the machine or
equipment where the defect mode appear. 5P6 is the
control 5point,6
such as temperature range, through which the quality
condition -a speci+c setting/ can e achieved.
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Quality Maintenance Ste$-by-Ste$
I%$le%entation
4igure 21< is a .ow diagram that illustrates the
steps in implementing a quality maintenance program.
Tale 212 descries each step in detail.
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QUALITY MAINTENANCE
IMPLEMENTATION. CASE STUDY
This section outlines the steps taken in a quality
maintenance program implemented for the production
of a certain product at Tokuyama (ekisui !ndustriesB
#anyo Plant.C
C A full description of this implementation appears in Dapanese in the proceedings of the
3E>E #ational 'quipment Management (ymposium, edited y the Dapan !nstitute of Plant
Maintenance.
4igure 21= shows the relevant part of the
production process. PF& slurry made y polymeri0ing
vinyl chloride monomer in the previous process enters
the slurry tank shown on the left side of the diagram.
The slurry is dried to form the product, which is then
used as a raw material for plastic moldings.
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Ste$ /. P!e$a!e a QA 0Quality Assu!ance1
Mat!i2 0Table 7-31
Preparing a QA -quality assurance/ matri,
involved the following four susteps7
3. !nvestigate the types of defect occurring in
each process.
A. &lassify the productBs quality characteristics
precisely and identify the all defect modes related each
characteristic.
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;. $ank the defect modes according to their
seriousness and indicate which ones have caused
prolems in the past as frequent or occasional. 8hen
assessing the seriousness of defect modes, e sure to
include a memer of the quality assurance department
in the discussion.
<. )ivide the process into the smallest possile
units -suprocesses/ and indicate the relationships
etween these and the defect modes. -(ee Tale 21>/.
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Ste$ 4. Analy5e P!o"uction-In$ut Con"itions
0Table 7-61
After preparing the QA matri,, analy0e the
production1input -<M/ conditions and organi0e the data
in a tale format. -(ee Tale 21E./
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4or each defect mode in each suprocess, identify
all the conditions for equipment, materials, people, and
methods which when estalished do not give rise to
defects. 9e sure to check conditions on the spot, not
from ehind a desk. #e,t, determine whether standards
for these quality conditions e,ist and whether people
follow them. Again, e sure to investigate the level of
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standardi0ation and adherence through on1the1spot
oservation.
Fin"in7s.!n this case, investigation revealed that
standards were unclear, and that each operator ran the
process di"erently. %nly <= percent of the
suprocesses in the drying process were performed in
accordance with standards. The standards were
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impossile to follow in A2 percent of cases and not
strictly adhered to in < percent. !n the remaining A<
percent, standards were needed ut had not een set.
Ste$ 8. P!e$a!e a P!oble% Ca!t 0Table 7-/91
Prepare a prolem chart y listing any irregularity
uncovered in the process y prolem type. #ote how
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it is investigated and the results and use this
information as a asis for proposing countermeasures.
-(ee Tale 213G./ Also consider any suprocesses
which the production1input conditions analysis revealed
not properly standardi0ed -marked with an ,X,oron
Tale 21E/ investigate the prolems
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noted and propose countermeasures. As far as possile,
e,press the results quantitatively.
4or simple prolems, decide what action to take,
assign responsiility, and act immediately. 4or more
diHcult prolems, clearly record the investigation
methods and results, ut donBt jump to hasty
conclusions aout solutions. 4or these prolems, use
4M'A analysis to rank defect modes in terms of the
seriousness of their e"ects and prioriti0e the prolems
for action. Then take time to develop appropriate
countermeasures through P1M analysis.
Fin"in7s. Through this process, teams pinpointed
prolems in each suprocess and identi+ed the
unful+lled production1input conditions for each defect
mode. Quantifying the prolem investigation results
made it possile to decide whether each prolem could
e immediately tackled or not and helped focus the
improvement countermeasures.
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Ste$ : . E#aluate Se!iousness ; Pe!(o!%
FMEA 0/1 0Table 7-//1
',amine the prolems on the prolem chart and
rank them in terms of their e"ects on the defect
modes. Then, prioriti0e the prolems y scoring their
frequency of occurrence, e"ect, and diHculty of
detection. )etermine the assessment criteria in
advance. Multiply the scores for each prolem together
and use the results to prioriti0e the improvement e"ort.
-(ee Tale 2133/
Ste$ <. Use P-M Analysis to De#ise
I%$!o#e%ent Measu!es
4or more challenging prolems, use P1M analysis
to clarify the oserved phenomena and develop
improvement proposals. !n applying P1M analysis,
carefully
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analy0e and understand the phenomena in terms of
physical principles and steer the improvement plan in
the right direction y checking analy0ing and
measuring.
9egin y stratifying phenomena in terms of
their type and mode of occurrence. Analy0e
them physically, and identify the conditions that
produce them.
9e sure to uncover and consider all the
necessary conditions in producing a given
prolem. !f improvement teams overlook vital
conditions at this step, they may fail to
eliminate defects, even after con+rming and
eliminating numerous causes.
Iist all the condition that tend to produce the
phenomenon, regardless of their magnitude.
!n this case, P1M analysis helped the team to
formulate an improvement plan for preventing the
generation of foreign matter y the feed pump gland
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-Tale 213A/. Tales 213A and 213; and 213; show
the results of the P1M analysis in this case.
Fin"in7s. Analysis of the causes of the prolem
for all the production input conditions revealed that
condition of the +ltered water -48/ supplied to the
feed pump gland was very important. (upplying the
+ltered water to other processes and equipment y the
same pump, however, caused its pressure to vary
greatly, which resulted in insuHcient cooling and the
risk of ack .ow. This suggested the need for a feed
pump that was not a"ected y .uctuations in water
pressure -4igure 21?/.
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Ste$ =. Assess I%$act o( P!o$ose"
Counte!%easu!es FMEA041 0Table 7-/:1
*se 4M'A again to assess the e"ects of
implementing the improvement proposals ased on the
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P1M analysis and other investigation results -(ee Tale
213<./
Ste$ 7. I%$le%ent I%$!o#e%ents
!n this case, a second 4M'A on the improvement
proposals ased on the P1M analysis and investigation
results showed that the est plan was to replace the
feed1pump gland with a self1.ushing mechanical seal.
-(ee 4igure 21?./ 9ene+ts of the new seal included7
The new seal is self1.ushing, so there is no
need to supply during the operation.
The seal is not a"ected y water use in other
processes.
%perators need to check water pressure only at
startup and shutdown.
#o foreign matter is produced.
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The seal does not leak, so the surroundings
stay clean.
The team improved the equipment as descried
aove. -(ee 4igure 21?./ They followed the same
procedure of irregularities they could not de+nitely
link to production1input conditions, and classi+ed
improvements as either equipment improvements or
materials and methods improvements.
Ste$ 3. Re#ie) P!o"uction-In$ut Con"itions
0Table 7-/<1
$eview and update the Production1!nput
&onditions Analysis Tale -Tale 21E/ to determine
whether the production1input conditions are appropriate
and correct, whether any de+ciencies remain in the
standards, and whether conditions are eing satis+ed.
!n this case, solving the easy prolems identi+ed on
the Prolem &hart -Tale 213G/ and implementing the
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equipment improvements indicated, satis+ed all the
production1input conditions. -(ee Tale 213=./
Ste$ 6. Consoli"ate an" Con>!% Cec?$oints
*se result of step > to consolidate and estalish
checkpoints for production1input conditions. )raw up a
quality check matri,, standardi0e quality, @ple, and
checking procedures, and ensure that standards can e
followed aout diHculty. -(ee Tale 213?./
Ste$ /9. P!e$a!e a Quality Co%$onent Table
0Table 7-/71
To estalish visual control and ensure that checks
are carried out, quantify destitute characteristics using
the quality check matri,, developed in (tep E and
prepare a quality component tale to set practical
standards -Tale 2132/.
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Quality co%$onents. )etermine which
components a"ect quality and @. Them down for
special treatment as quality components.
Quality co%$onent table. To ensure that quality
components receive pri@. 4or maintenance, prepare a
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quality component tale and develop practical
standards.
Case Stu"y Results
The action that eliminates quality defects
originating in the drying : process feed pump has
een descried. Teams used a similar procedure to
develop countermeasures against contamination from
other sources in this process. 4igure 212 shows the
resulting defect rate decrease. !n this instance, defect
losses and inspection hours dropped to 3J3G and 3J=
of their original values.
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+@O IS RESPONSI&LE FOR QUALITY
MAINTENANCE,
The quality control department must e
responsile for promoting quality maintenance
throughout your company or plant. Quality
maintenance projects vary consideraly in diHculty,
however. Projects spanning a wide range of processes
or requiring advanced technology should e tackled y
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project teams headed y section managers. 'asier
projects can e addressed y small groups in the
workplace. After teams estalish the conditions for
0ero defects, operators should maintain and control
most of these conditions as part of autonomous
maintenance. More diHcult prolems should e
attacked y project teams from the production
department with participation from department such as
product design, production engineering, equipment
engineering, maintenance, and quality assurance.
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&UILDIN' IN QUALITY T@ROU'@ EARLY
MANA'EMENT
8hen uilding a production plant, initial planning
to set fundamental design conditions precedes asic
equipment design. 8hen reviewing the initial @, +rst
evaluate the process to highlight anything that is
unclear, undecided, are causing concern. To uild
quality in through the process and the equipment,
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review quality at the same time. The di"erent groups
responsile for production, maintenance, and design
must conduct a thorough preliminary investigation and
agree clearly on what is required. 4igure 21> is an
e,ample of a .ow diagram for conduction a
preliminary assessment at the asic equipment design
stage in manufacturing a certain product.
P!eli%ina!y In#esti7ation Ite%sA
&larify the targets that the equipment must
achieve.
&larify the process sequence and interfaces
etween processes
&larify the relationship etween each process
and product quality.
)etect all possile cases of defects in each
process.
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4or defect causes that quality simulation
detects, clarify the equipment conditions in
each process that will not cause defects.
Iist all points still unclear after production1
input analysis, and all other points that require
checking. )ecide who will e responsile for
solving these prolems, when they must solve
them, and how they should solve them.
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REFERNCES
T.(u0uki. #ew )irections for TPM. Portland,
%re.7 Productivity Press, 3EEA
Dapan !nstitute of Plant Maintenance -ed./,
Proceedings. 3E>E #ational
'quipment Management (ymposium -in
Dapanese/. Tokyo7 Dapan
!nstitute of Plant Maintenance, 3E>E
#achi14ujikoshi &orp. -ed./. Training for TPM.
Portland, %re.7 Productivity
Press, 3EEG.
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