The term Autonomous Maintenance is most known as one of the eight pillars in TPM – Total Productive Maintenance. The main idea in Autonomous Maintenance is that operators are responsible for performing minor maintenance tasks. You may also have heard of terms such as Operator Essential Care, Operator Based Maintenance, Operator Based Reliability, etc. in short, all these terms ultimately try to describe the same idea.
Autonomous maintenance can be implemented in many ways. The hope is that this practical guide will describe key concepts and challenges you may encounter when implementing an autonomous maintenance program. But keep in mind to modify the approach so that it fits your plant. We will be using both the terms autonomous maintenance (AM) and operator-based reliability (OBR) interchangeably throughout this guide.