The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the contributions of total productive maintenance (TPM) initiatives towards improving manufacturing performance in Ethiopian malt manufacturing industry. The correlations between various TPM implementation dimensions and manufacturing performance improvements have been evaluated and validated by employing overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) in boiler plant. The research focuses upon the significant contributions of TPM implementation success factors like top management leadership and involvement, traditional maintenance practices and holistic TPM implementation initiatives, towards affecting improvements in manufacturing performance in the Ethiopian industry. The study establishes that focused TPM implementation over a reasonable time period can strategically contribute towards realization of significant manufacturing performance enhancements. The study highlights the strong potential of TPM implementation initiatives in affecting organizational performance improvements. The achievements of Ethiopian manufacturing organizations through proactive TPM initiatives have been evaluated and critical TPM success factors identified for enhancing the effectiveness of TPM implementation programs in the Ethiopian context.