Today, many manufacturing companies have chosen to outsource the maintenance function, often as part of a cost reduction program. The result of the outsourcing has been successful in some cases and unsatisfactory in others. In order to make a sound sourcing decision the company needs to be fully aware of the strategic importance of the maintenance activities. Such awareness will also have an impact on the result of the chosen sourcing strategy. To assess the strategic impact of maintenance, it is essential to find relevant measurements in order to evaluate the performance and quality, as well as the profitability of the investments that maintenance activities are supposed to be. In order to be relevant, the measurements should be well aligned with the company’s vision and mission for the maintenance, which in turn should be supporting the company’s over-all business strategy.

The objective with this paper is to discuss and exemplify the importance of assessing the strategic impact of the production maintenance when evaluating maintenance related sourcing decisions.  Together with a theoretical overview, this paper will present a case study performed at three companies with different sourcing solutions.

The findings of the study indicate a relationship between the alignment of the over-all company strategy, the used maintenance performance measurements, and the perceived contribution of maintenance for fulfilling the competitiveness of the company. Regardless of how companies choose to source its maintenance it is obvious that a strategic view of the maintenance function will support the sourcing process by setting relevant measurements and target values for the expected performance and development of the maintenance function. One way of achieving this might be to use a model for alignment of maintenance performance indicators and business strategy.