Free CIPS L4M7 Exam Dumps October 2026

Maintenance and repair costs include:

Direct labor: Expenses for personnel performing maintenance tasks.

Warranty costs: Expenses associated with warranty obligations or repairs within the warranty period.

These costs are part of whole-life asset management, which aims to accurately budget for and manage ongoing equipment expenses.

Total productive maintenance (TPM) is an innovative concept in the manufacturing industry that evolved from the idea of preventive maintenance to adopt practices of productive maintenance, maintenance prevention, and reliability Engineering. What we now refer to as TPM, has become an ingenious approach to achieve overall equipment effectiveness by involving the workforce behind the machines (i.e. the operators).

8 pillars of TPM

1) 5S - Sort, straighten, shine, standardize, and sustain

Just like a physical structure starts with a grounded framework, building a strong TPM process requires a strong foundation in the form of the principles of 5S. This is a workplace organization method that is simplified into 5 basic steps:

Sort tools, equipment, and materials to identify which of these can be discarded

Straighten and set things in proper order to reduce unnecessary motion and efficiently travel be-tween working groups and locations

Shine refers to performing necessary housekeeping to clean up the work area

Standardize and schedule activities to systematically form the habits to keep the workplace orga-nized

Sustain the process and principles for long-term applications

The 5S approach provides a systematic approach to cleaning the workplace, thereby uncovering underlying problems and challenges.

2) Autonomous maintenance

Maintenance tasks and caring for equipment should start with the people using the equipment. The empowerment of operators to work on small maintenance tasks effectively allows the maintenance teams to focus on more specialized assignments.

3) Continuous improvement

Also known as the Japanese term Kaizen, Continuous Improvement promotes the attitude of pro-gressing towards zero losses and zero defects. Through small but continual tweaks to processes, the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the organization is developed.

4) Planned maintenance

Planned maintenance activities are essential to the prevention of equipment breakdown. Planned maintenance is performed by periodically evaluating the condition of equipment to proactively prevent deterioration and mechanical failures.

5) Quality maintenance

To ensure the satisfaction of the customer, manufacturing processes aim for zero-defect production. Standards for superior quality, and checks on whether the standards are being met, should be in place. The goal of quality maintenance is to identify any possible causes of deviations from zero-defect production.

6) Training

The idea of TPM is that everyone does their part to contribute to the overall productivity of the production process. In order to achieve optimum performance, and to build each member's competence, proper training is required to equip each one with the theoretical and practical know-how of working with machines and equipment.

7) Office TPM

A key role that is often overlooked is the administrative department that works behind the scenes. Like the rest of the production teams and processes, the management and administrative functions are also subject to productivity improvement. Tins includes identifying and eliminating losses, and contributing to the overall performance of the plant.

8) Safety, health, and environment

The last of the eight pillars focuses on creating a safe workplace. The essence of this pillar is real-ized when actively applied to each of the other pillars. The successful implementation of this pillar will contribute to a secure and hazard-free workplace.

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) - Upkeep

CIPS study guide page 163

LO 3, AC 3.1

Scheduled maintenance is any repair and upkeep work performed within a set timeframe. It details when given maintenance tasks are performed and by whom. Scheduled maintenance may occur at repeating intervals or in response to a work request.

'Overhauling of machine' means that the machine is regularly checked and corrupted parts are replaced if needed.

'Cleaning of tank' and 'Oil changes' also occur at time intervals as scheduled

So the correct answer is 'Repair signage damage from a recent storm'

LO 3, AC 3.1

Along with Jidoka, Just-in-time (JIT) production is one of the pillars of the two Toyota Production System. It is a production method that fundamentally changed the way large-scale production oc-curred in the 20th century, and is the basis for Lean Manufacturing (Lean for short), which is the school of thought many modern companies have modeled themselves after.

JIT production is often called a pull system because instead of using traditional push production where scheduling is done based on historical data and demand forecasting, production is scheduled based on actual customer orders. Rather than predicting demands from customers, the JIT method requires that actual customer demand exists. Production doesn't begin before an order triggers it. This system not only reduces the amount of extra inventory, but also reduces the amount of work in progress at one time.

- Just-in-Time Production

- CIPS study guide page 122-127

LO 2, AC 2.3

Available inventory (or Inventory position - IP) is equal to inventory on-hand plus quantity on order minus backorder (if any)

LO 2, AC 2.3

Indirect stock refers to items that are necessary for the operation of the manufacturing process but are not incorporated into the finished product. Examples include maintenance supplies, office consumables, and tools. In whole-life asset management, indirect stock management ensures that essential operational items are available without tying up excessive capital in inventory that doesn't contribute directly to production output.

Including end-of-life packaging costs is essential when dealing with hazardous materials, as they often require special packaging and labeling for safe disposal. Whole-life asset management considers disposal costs in the total lifecycle cost to ensure compliance with regulations and prevent environmental harm.

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are best suited for environments with repetitive tasks, such as fixed routes in production lines. In non-repetitive tasks, their efficiency and effectiveness decrease. Whole-life asset management prioritizes choosing automation that aligns with operational needs, ensuring cost-effectiveness and suitability for the given tasks.