Total Productive Maintenance — a free certifiable class from Global Sovereign University

Total Productive Maintenance — OEE as availability times performance times quality, the six big losses, the eight pillars, and an operator who owns the equipment
Poster for a two-day Total Productive Maintenance seminar in Mexico City, 21 and 22 July 1994, presented by Gene Constant

He was teaching this in 1994Dr. Gene A Constant presented a two-day Total Productive Maintenance seminar in Mexico City on 21 and 22 July 1994, sponsored by Technology Training, with simultaneous translation for the room. He had taught it there the year before — which is why the poster advertising these dates could already carry what that earlier room said afterward, from a terminals superintendent at PEMEX and a maintenance supervisor at APAX.

Three decades later he wrote the book this class is taught from, and donated it to the Foundation.

A Certifiable Class · Global Sovereign University

Total Productive Maintenance

TPM is the discipline that made factories reliable: operators who own their equipment, losses that get counted instead of tolerated, and one honest number that will not flatter you. This class teaches it from the ground up — the six big losses, OEE, and the eight pillars — and ends by turning the same discipline on artificial intelligence, which drifts and degrades exactly like machinery and is almost never maintained like it.

Step one · Read

The material, broken into the separate ideas you will be asked to perform. Read it, or have it read to you.

Step two · Work

A live calculation you drive with your own numbers, and an instruction to go measure something real.

Step three · Prove

New figures every attempt. Miss one and you are sent back to the exact paragraph that covers it, not just shown the answer.

Your progress is kept on your own device. Close the tab, go back to the floor, and pick it up where you left it. Nothing is transmitted and nobody is asked who you are.

The ten lessons

Losses first, then the number that measures them, then the pillars that fix them, then AI.

    About the certificate

    Working the lessons is practice, and practice does not earn a certificate. The certificate comes from a separate assessment graded on a server, so no answer key ever reaches the browser and no score can be reported by the student.

    It will state what you demonstrated you can do, carry a serial you can verify, and say plainly that it is not a license and not an industry certification. That is what makes it worth having.

    Thirty questions drawn from all ten lessons; you need 80% to pass.

    Sit the exam

    Modern Total Productive Maintenance — cover

    The book behind the class

    This class is taught from Modern Total Productive Maintenance (TPM): The Eight Pillars, Six Big Losses, and the TPM 4.0 Roadmap for AI, IoT, and Predictive Manufacturing, written by our founder, Dr. Gene A Constant, and donated to the Foundation. Published by Global Sovereign University Press.

    If you want the AI side on its own, in depth, there is a separate free class taught from AI + TPM: A Profound Paradox and Its Dynamic Solutions, which introduces Cognitive Capability Maintenance — a maintenance program for AI capability itself.

    Buy a copy — it funds a free seat The AI + TPM class The Trades hub

    Global Sovereign University is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and book sales are its only income. A purchase is not a tax-deductible donation. This class is free and always will be.
    Global Sovereign University: Different by Design. Better by Mission.

    Questions people ask

    Total Productive Maintenance: frequently asked questions

    Is the Total Productive Maintenance class really free?

    Yes. All ten lessons are free, with no account and nothing to install. Your progress is kept on your own device.

    How does the Total Productive Maintenance class work?

    It has ten lessons, taught from the book. In each one you read the ideas, work a bench that answers back, then answer questions that change every attempt. Miss one and you are sent back to the exact idea it was testing.

    How do I earn the Total Productive Maintenance certificate?

    Take the separate exam at globalsovereignuniversity.org/tpm-exam. It has thirty questions drawn from all ten lessons, in a new order every attempt, graded on our server so no answer key ever reaches your browser. 80 percent earns Silver, 90 percent Gold and 97 percent Platinum, and every pass carries a serial number anyone can verify. It is free, and you may retake it.

    Is the Total Productive Maintenance certificate a license?

    No. The certificate states what you demonstrated you understand and carries a serial anyone can verify. It is not a license and not an industry certification.

    Do I need the book?

    No. Every lesson is taught on the page. The book it is taught from goes deeper, and buying a copy is how the Foundation pays for the free class.

    Do I have to finish the lessons before taking the exam?

    No. The lessons are practice and the exam is the proof. They are separate, so you can sit the exam whenever you are ready.

    Accreditation notice: Global Sovereign University is not an accredited institution and does not grant degrees, academic credit, licenses, or industry credentials. Learners who pass GSU's online exams earn GSU certificates of comprehension.