Lean and TPM Practices in an Industrial Context

Abstract

Today ́s globalized market place, and rapid changes in businesses environment, brings forth a need for continuous improvement. Businesses all over the world compete against each other, therefore it is essential for manufacturing business to never “stand still”. In a high cost country as Norway, it is always a risk for outsourcing. To prevent this from happening, manufacturing companies need to continuously increase their performance, deliver on quality expectations, and remain competitive on cost. To meet these needs, Lean and TPM are vital concepts for success in this industry. Lean and TPM are two closely linked terms that together can create world class results through learning and empowerment of employees. In this thesis, key practices from both the concepts was used for analyzing the current situation at the Cast House at Alcoa Lista, an organization that was one of the earlier adopters of the Lean concepts. By analyzing the current situation through key practices of Lean and TPM, possible improvement suggestions were identified. The analysis showed at the Cast House has come a long way seen in a Lean and TPM perspective. However, the results uncovered some improvement possibilities. Based on these, several improvement suggestions were presented and discussed.