Enhancing Drinking Water Production Efficiency through Total Productive Maintenance Optimization

A drinking water company in C?te d'Ivoire is going through a critical period in its history. Facing chronic production failures, this company struggled to fulfill its mission of reliable water supply, prompting public discontent and operational inefficiencies. These failures inconvenience populations, who frequently express their frustration. A diagnosis of the company?s situation shows that there are technical and organizational problems, marked by a further deterioration in the production apparatus, inadequate maintenance management practices and insufficient investment in maintenance for equipment and facility renewal. This leads to increasingly irregular service for customers. To respond to the many complaints, the general management is undertaking a comprehensive restructuring with priority emphasis on the maintenance system which appears to be the main problem area. This study analyzes technical and organizational shortcomings, including deteriorating equipment and poor maintenance practices, and details a restructuring effort prioritizing maintenance optimization. Implementing Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) across the company, with a pilot station as the initial focus, yielded significant performance gains, reducing downtime and enhancing service reliability. These findings pave the way for broader application across the company?s network, offering a scalable model for maintenance-driven operational recovery.