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Is it possible to increase the productivity of a company by 30% or even 50%? Is an OEE (or overall equipment efficiency) increase in a manufacturing plant from 60% to 80% achievable and can it be sustained? Can business processes, seen from the customer-perspective, be shortened in a way that customer services are improved in quality and speed? Are increases in added value of 50% nothing more than a utopian dream? Can it be achieved that employees identify themselves with the objectives of their company thereby utilizing their full potential, knowledge, and skills with pride and conviction for the good of the company that they are working for?
These are some of the questions that this praxis oriented book seeks to answer. Its purpose is to introduce to professionals, managers, and students the basics of Total Productive Management and to familiarize the interested reader with the comprehensive ideas of TPM. Having read this book, the reader knows both fundamental and expanded pillars of TPM. They will have an overview over the most important TPM tools and know the steps that are necessary for a successful TPM introduction to a company or organization.

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1.1 Preliminary remark
The goal of almost any company or service provider is the generation of profit in order to secure the companys market position, to expand and to fulfill the expectations of shareholders and employees. Even administrations and other organisations pursue a similar purpose by offering a special service on the market and using it successfully. There are certainly additional forms of companies, service providers, administrations and organisations but the main focus of the instruction in this book lies especially on those variations geared toward economic success.
Companies of all kinds are especially successful if they use their resources such as know-how, machinery and equipment, brands and patents and most importantly their employees with the greatest possible efficiency. Consequently, it is essential to utilise and make use of all of the existing potential consistently. Again and again, we see that only a few of the seemingly infinite number of companies in the world stand out for their excellence. Now, how did these companies achieve this special status?

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