The purpose of any manufacturing enterprise is to consistently
make a profit. Being world-class in manufacturing
means that the company can compete successfully and make
pro®t in an environment of international competition, not
only now, but also in the future. In essence, being worldclass
means being capable of bringing products to the
marketplace that offers better value than the competition
without loss of profit going broke [4]. The TPM component
of WCM, is linked to both TQM and the concepts of
continuous-¯ow manufacturing, which are embodied in
cellular manufacturing. TPM incorporates the strategies
of operator ownership and systematic planned preventive
maintenance (PPM) activities to keep machines from breaking
down or malfunctioning during production. Overall, it is
clear that the components of WCM, whilst not sequential in
implementation, are certainly highly interrelated. It is not
possible, for example, to be a flexible, WCM, JIT producer
with poor equipment and second-rate quality systems [3].