Study on Critical Success Factors of Implementation of TPM at Endurance Technology Ltd at CSN (MH)

Abstract

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) has emerged as a globally recognised manufacturing excellence framework for achieving zero breakdowns, zero defects, and zero accidents through the active participation of all employees. Endurance Technology Limited, a leading Indian manufacturer of precision automotive components headquartered in Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), Maharashtra, represents a high-stakes industrial environment where TPM implementation carries significant strategic implications for operational performance, quality, and competitiveness. This research paper investigates the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) that determine the effectiveness of TPM implementation at Endurance Technology\'s CSN (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) plant. The study employs a mixed-methods research design, integrating primary data collected through structured questionnaires administered to 120 employees across shopfloor, supervisory, and managerial levels, with secondary data from plant maintenance records, OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) logs, and internal TPM audit reports. Eight critical success factors are identified and empirically validated: top management commitment, employee involvement and training, autonomous maintenance culture, planned maintenance execution, cross-functional pillar team effectiveness, OEE-driven performance measurement, quality maintenance integration, and supplier/contractor TPM alignment. The research quantifies the relative impact of each CSF on TPM outcomes using a weighted impact analysis and documents the barriers encountered during implementation. Findings reveal that top management commitment and employee training are the two highest-impact CSFs, collectively accounting for over 52% of variance in TPM outcome scores. The study proposes a TPM-CSF Implementation Roadmap specific to precision automotive component manufacturers in the Maharashtra industrial context, providing actionable guidance for production and operations managers seeking to strengthen TPM implementation quality and sustainability.

Introduction

The text presents a detailed study on Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) implementation at Endurance Technology’s CSN plant in India, focusing on identifying the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) that determine TPM success in automotive component manufacturing.

TPM, developed by Seiichi Nakajima, is a manufacturing philosophy aimed at achieving zero breakdowns, zero defects, and zero accidents through structured maintenance practices and full employee involvement. In India’s automotive sector, TPM is increasingly important due to strict OEM quality requirements and global competitiveness pressures. However, limited research exists on TPM success factors in precision automotive manufacturing in Maharashtra, which this study addresses.

The literature review highlights that successful TPM depends heavily on top management commitment, employee training, culture change, and performance measurement systems. Common challenges include declining enthusiasm over time (“TPM fatigue”) and difficulty sustaining long-term implementation.

The case study focuses on Endurance Technology Ltd., a major automotive component manufacturer whose CSN plant has been implementing TPM since 2018. The plant aims to reach 85% OEE (world-class level) and has shown steady improvement from 59.9% to 74.9% OEE, along with reduced breakdowns and improved equipment reliability.

A survey and interview-based methodology was used to evaluate eight CSFs across 120 employees. The findings show that:

• Employee involvement and training is the most critical but weakest area.
• Autonomous maintenance culture and pillar team effectiveness also show significant gaps.
• Top management commitment is strong but still has room for improvement.
• Supplier integration and cross-functional coordination are relatively weaker areas.

Employee role analysis shows differences in perception: operators prioritize hands-on maintenance and training, while managers emphasize strategic factors like supplier alignment and performance measurement.

Conclusion

This research has empirically investigated the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of TPM implementation at Endurance Technology Limited\'s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar plant — a high-volume, precision-critical automotive components manufacturing context with four years of active TPM programme history. The findings confirm and contextualise the theoretical literature\'s identification of top management commitment and employee training as the two highest-impact CSFs, while adding empirical weight to the importance of autonomous maintenance culture, cross-functional pillar team effectiveness, and supplier alignment as implementation levers in the Indian automotive manufacturing context. The quantitative analysis reveals a consistent pattern: CSFs related to people and culture — training, management commitment, AM culture — carry both higher importance ratings and larger implementation quality gaps than structural or measurement CSFs such as OEE tracking. This pattern suggests that the most critical investment for strengthening TPM implementation quality at the CSN plant, and in comparable Indian automotive component manufacturers, lies in sustained human development and organisational culture interventions rather than in technical system improvements. The OEE improvement trajectory documented over four years — from 59.9% to 74.9% — represents a significant achievement that validates the effectiveness of the TPM programme to date. Achieving the Year 5 target of 85% OEE — the world-class benchmark — will require closing the identified CSF implementation quality gaps, particularly in employee training, autonomous maintenance progression, and pillar team effectiveness. The TPM-CSF Implementation Roadmap proposed in this paper provides a structured, evidence-based pathway for that acceleration. Future research should investigate the long-term sustainability of TPM gains at the CSN plant through a longitudinal study tracking CSF evolution over the JIPM certification cycle, examine the specific impact of contractor worker TPM integration on OEE and quality outcomes, and explore the applicability of the TPM-CSF Roadmap to other tiers of Endurance Technology\'s supply chain. The broader question of how TPM CSF profiles differ across sub-sectors of Indian automotive manufacturing — two-wheeler components, four-wheeler components, commercial vehicle components — represents a productive direction for comparative research.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Arati Gunwantrao Hangargekar, Prof. Savita Gayke. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.