The impact of total productive maintenance practices on manufacturing performance

In this paper we investigate the relationship between Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and manufacturing performance (MP) through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). We find that TPM has a positive and significant relationship with low cost (as measured by higher inventory turns), high levels of quality (as measured by higher levels of conformance to specifications), and strong delivery performance (as measured by higher percentage of on-time deliveries and by faster speeds of delivery). We also find that the relationship between TPM and MP can be explained by both direct and indirect relationships. In particular, there is a significant and positive indirect relationship between TPM and MP through Just-In-Time (JIT) practices. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.