This paper sets out to describe where the Early Equipment Management(EEM) principle embedded within the TPM philosophy can bring substantial improvements to a company’s existing new product development and introduction processes involving capital physical assets. EEM is driven by a belief that behind the plant and equipment used in any production process there are three functional groups that are essential partners for optimising new product and equipment introduction, namely:
- Commercial (sales, marketing, and finance)
- Engineering (design, product, tooling, equipment, process and procurement)
- Operations (operators and maintainers).
