Thai steel maker gets special award

PM Special Award Ceremony on March 21, 2018, at the Kyoto International Conference Center

NS-Siam United Steel Co., Ltd. (NS-SUS), a consolidated subsidiary of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) and a manufacturer of cold-rolled steel and hot-dip galvanized and galvannealed steel sheets in Thailand, received the 2017 Advanced Special Award for Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Achievement. The TPM practice has been advocated by the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance (JIPM). NS-SUS received the Advanced Special Award, the second-ranked award of five ranks, for the first time. Prior to this, the company received the Award for TPM Excellence, Category A in 2008, the Award for Excellence in Consistent TPM Commitment in 2010, and the Special Award for TPM Achievement in 2012.

Representatives from NS-SUS attended the award ceremony, held in the Kyoto International Conference Center on March 21, 2018, and Mr. Bantoon Juicharean, Vice President of NS-SUS, made a keynote speech and presented the company’s TPM activities. 

The Siam United Steel (1995) Co., Ltd., a predecessor of NS-SUS, started the TPM activities in 2005. Since then, the company has undertaken its own maintenance work and has improved the level of planned maintenance and has raised the management level of maintenance work, so that there is participation by all employees corporate-wide. Moreover, in 2012, it combined the TPM practice with the Toyota Production System (TPS) to thoroughly reduce losses and improve production efficiency. This has resulted in an 80% decline in the rate of equipment failure and a 6% improvement in yield, compared to 2005. 

NS-SUS’ management and employees are further committed to make improvement an every-day activity and to use this as one means of achieving a world top-class enterprise, with the working aim of achieving the Award for World-class TPM Achievement, the highest award. 

The Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) program was developed by the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance (JIPM). It is a corporate-wide maintenance program to be participated by all employees, from the top management to poduction workers, with the aim of building a company that pursues maximum efficiency in production system in keeping with the goal of “no accidents, no defects, and no trouble.”