The FI in TPM organization, there is meeting called Steering Committee. This is a regular meeting (mostly in a monthly basis) where all pillars gather to set strategic direction for the company. As I mentioned in a previous article, each pillar focuses on different types of losses. For instance, the Quality Pillar targets losses related to product defects, while the Safety Pillar addresses losses related to an unsafe workplace.
During these steering committee meetings, one of the agenda is each pillar presents list of initiatives they propose to eradicate the losses. A common challenge organizations face is the high number of losses that need to be addressed, but with limited resources. Not all loss eradication initiatives can be executed at once, due to the reality of constrained resources. The FI Pillar plays a critical role in evaluating, deciding, and directing the organization to prioritize which losses to address first. Ideally, the FI Pillar should also help create a rollout plan to systematically tackle all the losses.
The most effective way to manage this is to create a system that allows all stakeholders to quantify the importance of each proposed initiative, ensuring that resources are focused on what is most critical to the business. This process helps everyone understand why their initiative is prioritized as first, second, or last in the rollout plan. It also prevents frustration when certain initiatives are placed lower in priority or are not included in the plan for the current year.
The FI Pillar can be compared to a farmer pruning a tree. The tree’s resources and nutrients, absorbed from the soil by its roots, are distributed to ensure that the tree bears fruit. If the tree has too many leaves, the nutrients will be diverted to the leaves rather than the fruit. The farmer must cut away some of the leaves to ensure that the nutrients are directed toward producing large, healthy fruits. Similarly, in an organization with many initiatives but limited resources, the FI Pillar ensures that resources are effectively used to drive profitability.
In practice, this is not always easy. There can be competing interests between pillars and leaders, which may hinder progress. Some leaders may be more dominant and try to push their priorities first. The FI Pillar must guide these priorities in the right direction at a high level. This is why I always recommend that the FI Pillar be led by someone at the highest level of the organization. For example, when I served as Operational Excellence in one country, I restructured the pillars so that the FI Pillar, previously led by a manager, was now led by the COO. This significantly increased the effectiveness of the pillar. If the TPM organization is based in a factory, it is ideal for the FI Pillar to be led by the factory manager.
Once the appropriate leadership is in place for the FI Pillar, I suggest implementing a system that automatically quantifies the magnitude of all proposed initiatives based on the current business needs. At a previous organization, I worked with the finance team to develop a calculator. This tool would generate the cost savings of an initiative by inputting the baseline and target, helping to prioritize initiatives based on business impact. Of course, this is not the only factor to consider when selecting themes. Other considerations include the complexity of the initiative, available resources (in terms of personnel, budget, and capabilities), and the nature of the issue. For instance, quality-related initiatives may not always generate significant cost savings, but they could be prioritized due to brand protection or customer satisfaction.
This savings calculator helped align the thinking of pillar leaders and other stakeholders when it came to prioritizing resources. It also aided FI Pillar leaders in making decisions and providing direction, reducing disagreements as everyone followed the same system.
Like other pillars, the FI Pillar helps deploy and eradicate losses. In Nakajima’s original TPM book, the FI Pillar is not specifically associated with any particular loss. Instead, it is established in the initial phase of TPM deployment to address significant, recurring losses that frustrate the organization. These could include frequent breakdowns, low Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), or similar issues. Once these are eradicated, it boosts stakeholder confidence in the TPM process.
As TPM evolves within different organizations, some assign the FI Pillar specific types of losses to address. For example, some companies task the FI Pillar with improving productivity through methodologies. At several companies FI pillar is assigned to master the organization with PM analysis methodology. At some companies, FI pillar are the owner of change over reduction methodologies, where at other companies, that methodology is belong to AM pillar. In collaboration with the Education and Training (ET) Pillar, the FI Pillar also works to develop subject matter experts (SMEs) to enhance the organization’s ability to eradicate these losses.
If you’re interested in learning how to build a strong FI Pillar in your organization and the associated methodologies, I plan to develop a step-by-step video course. In the meantime, feel free to ask questions or leave your contact information in the comments below.