Manufacturing & Supply Chain

John Quirke, Life Science Practice Leader at the Dublin office of global consulting company, S A Partners, has been awarded with a SHINGO Prize for his work as co-author of the book TPM (Total Productive Manufacturing): A Foundation of Operational Excellence.  John Quirke, along with business colleagues Andy Brunskill and Peter Willmott, are authors of the book which has been hailed as a key reference text in relation to operational excellence.

John Quirke has been working with S A Partners for the past thirteen years and currently heads up the company’s Global Life Science Sector. A native of Cork, John originally trained and worked as a chemical process engineer and holds degrees and post-graduate qualifications from Maynooth University, UCC and UCG.  While he is based in the company’s Dublin office, John works on projects both here in Ireland and across the globe.

Commenting on his SHINGO Award, John said: “It is great to receive this honour from the SHINGO Institute who are recognised as an international benchmark for Enterprise Excellence. It is also great recognition for the level of operational excellence that exists in Ireland too as, in writing the book, we drew on multiple projects from across the island of Ireland where I have worked over the last number of years. It is not widely known or spoken about here, but Ireland has many truly world class organisations that are at the pinnacle of enterprise excellence. It is known within the sectors here, but I think we need to do a better job at getting that message out more broadly and celebrate some of the wonderful and successful companies that we are lucky to have here in Ireland. From abroad, Ireland is seen as an ‘island of excellence’. When we support businesses in places like Puerto Rico, Georgia, and South America, companies there and industry groups look to Ireland to try to replicate similar levels of industrial development. In Ireland we should build on this. If we don’t, these countries will overtake us in the race for foreign direct investment.”

At a basic level, our approach to TPM is about creating an environment and culture that allows team to understand the equipment they use and the processes they support in much greater detail. The approach develops higher levels of equipment consciousness, where teams become more engaged with their work and improving that work. Teams learn new skills and rekindle old ones that allow them to improve the way equipment and processes perform, eliminating waste, reducing cost and increasing output.

The book outlines a tried and tested 11 Step model which will support any organisation in delivering an excellent TPM programme. Through the case studies interspersed throughout, the authors observed that those companies that successfully deployed TPM and sustained excellence were those that demonstrated a number of key mind-sets – all of which are outlined in the easy to digest book. This includes illustrating how TPM can align with the systems thinking and ideal behaviours implicit in the Shingo Model™

What sets this book apart is the focus on how to engage all employees in the TPM cycle of improvement, not just the maintenance team or engineering. TPM is a foundational system that should be at the heart of every manufacturing and utility operation as it provides the reliability and stability required for successful and profitable value adding performance. 

Some expert reaction to the book:

“This book will become a reference on how it should be done.  A paradigm shift to Total Productive Manufacturing that is long overdue.” – Greg Julich, Director Global Reliability, Pfizer Inc, USA

“I know of no other publication on TPM that comes close to the scope, detail and practical utility of this book, that is likely to become THE standard text on the topic.” – John Bicheno, University of Buckingham, UK

“The book provides a road map for success with practical guidance and first-hand case studies that help bring the model to life.” –  Michael Hempton, Moy Park, UK

The SHINGO Publication Award recognises and promotes writing that has had a significant impact and advances the body of knowledge regarding operational excellence. The SHINGO awards are issued by the US-based SHINGO Institute whose mission is to promote the process of improvement by conducting cutting edge research, providing relevant education, performing insightful organisational assessments and recognising organisations committed to achieving sustainable world-class results.

CAPTION:

Pictured (l to r): Ken Snyder, Executive Director of the SHINGO Institute; with John Quirke of S A Partners following presentation of the SHINGO Prize Publication Award.