Identification and Ranking the Implementation Barriers of TPM Using Fuzzy AHP: A Case Study of Gas Industry in Iran

Total Productive Maintenance or TPM is a philosophy to enhance an organization’s productivity and produce high quality goods by minimizing waste thereby reducing costs. TPM is designed to maximize equipment efficiency by determining an extensive productive maintenance system covering the whole life of the equipment, extending across all equipment-related fields and with participation of all employees from the top management to the shop-floor workers, to advance productive maintenance through voluntary small group activities (Tsuchiya 1992). Most of the automotive manufacturing industries are focusing on strict quality standards in their production process and implementing a quality program called Total Productive Maintenance. With the fast development of the maintenance, it becomes critical to set up a TPM Evaluation criteria system. Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process is a new multi-criteria evaluation method evolved from Saaty's AHP. So, this paper aimed to find out and rank the key factors and obstacles that affect success in TPM in Gas industry using fuzzy AHP approach, and give an evaluation method for TPM in order to help researches and managers to determine the drawbacks and opportunities.