An Operator's Relationship to a Machine is Like Mother-Child Attachment

by S.M.JUNAID
(Karachi (Pakistan))

The machine is like your baby. You will treat your machine like a baby, observing its feeling round the clock like a mother as she observed her baby. Why is the baby crying? Is it feeding time? Does the baby feel some pain in his body? Does he have a fever? If the mother does not understand the actual reason that the baby is uneasy, she will call the doctor.
This is just like a machine operator calling the maintenance man for their machine problem. When doctor comes to examine your baby he also asks some question about your baby to know the actual reason of his sickness. The same is true for the maintenance man who asks some question about your machine problem. The machine operator knows more than the maintenance man about his machine's history and the most problematic areas of machine.
The moral the whole explanation is that for the operator know what is normal and abnormal with his machine during operation, it is only possible when he cleans his machine to inspection in order to inspect it. That is why TPM insists on operator empowerment. The operator should know what TPM expects of him, as a TPM-trained machine operator.
Guidelines for Machine Operators in a TPM System
• Cleaning as inspection
• Take responsibility with pride
• No profit or making money from dirty machine and work places
• Rust on machine is very shameful, like rust on your weapon
• If you want to destroy your machine leave out maintenance
• If operators not maintain his machine, this causes forced or accelerated deterioration
• Neglecting machine maintenance is like smoking for your health
• The shop floor makes the money
• Think before accident and break down
• Do maintenance of your machine before defect occur
• Do corrective action before dispatching your product
The mother-child analogy is a good one. Just as the intimacy of the parent-child relationship helps the mother or father become sensitive to the nature of the child, its likes and dislikes, habits and tendencies, allowing for better parenting as the child grows, the operator who has intimate knowledge of the machine is able to enjoy a long and productive relationship with his machine.