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TPM systems (Total Productive Maintenance) is increasingly becoming the first stage in the search for progress or in the launching of continuous improvement in industry. A step towards just-in-time production does not warrant a deterioration in equipment availability. Better using its resources and improving the productivity of its machines is a strategy to obtain competitive advantages through the search for a potential nest-egg.

TPM targets optimum productivity of machines, a reduction of the costs incurred and a reduction in the time for the return on investment. Preserving its equipment in optimum productivity conditions of their initial state usually requires maintenance. Nevertheless, this will not necessarily result in a better yield. In fact, TPM makes clear the different causes of yield loss thanks to indicators with a better command of the origin of the breakdowns/faults. Classifying the losses makes it possible to identify the organisational action or cooperation to be put in place to improve the reliability of the equipment.

TPM systems have 3 major objectives:
  To minimise the under-utilisation of equipment: cause of losses (including financial)
  The conservation of equipment through close observation of the factors for keeping an operational condition of machines.
  To improve the necessary organisation and to act on the influencing factors to obtain a better yield.

TPM systems make it easy to visualise (and in graphics: Pareto, curves, etc.) the main indicators calculated, and the influential factors on their results. They supply reports, established from TPM criteria, delivering personalised analysis for forecasts on duration or on particular resources. TPM tools need the input of data, either for the settings of the system or to acquire states. Generally, 2 forms of acquisition can be found:
  Manual acquisition, needing the intervention of an operator to input the information necessary for calculation.
  Automatic acquisition, requiring the implementation of a communication link between the system and the command control equipment (eg, API, SNCC...)

The TPM systems include different indicator calculation rules, the most common being: OEE, TRS, TFB, TFN, TQ, MTBF, MTTR.