Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) in the IIoT Era: Data-Driven Pillars for Modern Manufacturing
Total Productive Maintenance was developed by Seiichi Nakajima at Nippondenso (now Denso) in the 1970s. Fifty years later, the core philosophy remains sound: maximize equipment effectiveness by involving every employee in maintenance. But the implementation? That's where most TPM programs stall.
The traditional TPM toolkit — AM tags, one-point lessons, CILT sheets (Clean, Inspect, Lubricate, Tighten) — was designed for an era when machine data meant a gauge on the side of a press and a clipboard on the operator's desk. In 2026, your PLCs collect thousands of data points per second. Your operators carry smartphones. Your maintenance systems can talk to your production systems.
IIoT doesn't replace TPM. It supercharges it. Here's how each TPM pillar transforms when backed by real-time machine data.