Posts

Showing posts with the label TPMLearnings

Three days in and around the plant: Shutdown, Sunday, Systems.

Image
6th April 2026 The last three days have been deeply satisfying. Not just productive, but meaningful. Saturday started with clarity. In the morning standing meeting, I explained my concept of *11S3*. 110 days of operation + 11 days of shutdown makes one cycle of 121 days. Three such cycles in a year. 363 days. That translates into 330 strong kiln running days with planned, controlled shutdowns. For the team, this was a moment of connection. They could finally see the logic behind the number I have been repeating as our annual target. It is not just a number. It is a structured way of running the plant. Simple. Practical. Proven. More importantly, I explained what makes it work. The strength lies in building the pillars of TPM. One by one, I connected each pillar to what we have been doing over the past seven months. That realization was important for them. Nothing we are doing is random. Everything is part of a system. Sunday was refreshing in a different way. A road trip around the pla...

When Ownership Dies, Maintenance Breaks

Image
There was a time when an engineer wasn't just an engineer. He was an inspector, a planner, a scheduler, and a doer -  all in one. I’ve lived that era. From 1999 to 2005, during our TPM journey , we didn’t just “work" - we owned. I’d walk through the plant, spot abnormalities, note down issues, plan the actions, execute the job, and close the SAP notification. And not just me -  everyone around me worked the same way. That was the norm. That was our pride. Even years later, till NOW , I followed that approach in every plant I worked in. Then Came the Shift I came across the new “efficient” model: One team inspects [inspectors / walk by inspectors etc.] Another team plans [planners / schedulers etc.] A third team executes [doers etc.] It looked clean on paper. Divided roles. Structured accountability. Specialization. But something inside me couldn’t digest it. I struggled with myself - wondering why I was resisting this new approach. Then it hit me. T...