Regrettably the implementation of TPM has been limited by the same traditional paradigms that inhibit effective Lean transformation. It is a fact that many factories struggle with basic PM, their maintenance staffs stretched to the limit. With inadequate resources to assure a stable operating environment, many factories operate today in a run to failure mode, moving from one crisis to another. TPM seeks to align all company resources in a manner that continuously identifies and reduces the losses caused by equipment failure - the word “failure” referring both to equipment that is actually stopped and also equipment that may be running but is not functioning properly. In the absence of TPM, the latter category is especially “invisible.”