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While the process industry has developed a strategic view of its maintenance activities and regards maintenance as a profit centre, the discrete units manufacturing industry still in many cases view maintenance as a cost driver. However, with the automotive industry as a driving force, the manufacturing industry is beginning to view maintenance as a strategic asset. Still, though, many companies have no formulated maintenance strategy. The aim of this paper is to exemplify what factors manufacturing companies consider important when formulating their maintenance strategies. As a base for this, a case study has been performed in which interviews have been conducted in six companies to find out what factors they consider to be of strategic importance for their maintenance. The results from the interviews are then analyzed and discussed in the light of some previously presented studies on the topic of maintenance strategies. The findings of the study indicate that some factors, e.g., financial considerations and spare parts handling are common for the studied companies, while others, e.g., workforce and technological level are company specific. The company specific factors may depend on contextual factors such as branch and/or company size. But which factors the companies regard as strategically important seems to depend also on the managers’ knowledge in maintenance management and maintenance technology.

In order to keep production in Sweden the industry has to stay competitive on a global market. This fact increases the demand of high utilisation of automated production equipment. However, research has indicated that the average utilisation of production equipment in Sweden is about 60%. One key factor for increasing the utilisation is effective maintenance of the production equipment. Still, within the manufacturing industry, maintenance is often regarded as a cost driving necessity rather than a competitive resource. In a survey, published 2004, about 70 % of the respondents consider maintenance a pure cost centre. The same survey also revealed that 28 % of the respondents have no maintenance strategy or policy at all. The aim of this paper is to discuss the role of maintenance strategies as a means of making maintenance contribute to competitiveness. The paper is based on a theoretical overview and a case study in which six companies have been studied regarding the perceived quality of their maintenance, the challenges they face, and their view on the strategic impact of production maintenance. In the case study, four companies, which are dissatisfied with their current maintenance, are compared with two reference companies, well reputed for their maintenance excellence. The findings indicate that a strategic view of maintenance is essential for achieving the desired level of maintenance performance. This strategic view has to be held, not only by the production and maintenance management, but by the company management group. While the two reference companies have well formulated maintenance strategies, including aligned measures, acting as roadmaps for their continuous improvement of their maintenance, the four studied companies lack both strategic goals and relevant measures for their maintenance activities. The reasons for this are individual for each company but they share an insight that they need to develop their maintenance in order to stay competitive in their business areas.

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a work-process for formulation of maintenance strategies within manufacturing industry.

Design/methodology/approach – Literature studies and an industrial case study are combined to develop the proposed work-process.

Findings – A process for formulation of maintenance strategies is proposed. The process is developed through a combination of previous research results, and a case study, in which three industrial organizations, participating in collaboration with researchers, have formulated maintenance strategies for their companies.

Practical implications – Formulated maintenance strategies are the very foundation for maintenance excellence. However, many manufacturing companies lack maintenance strategies, partly due to lack of competence in how to formulate functional strategies. This paper gives example of how such maintenance strategies may be formulated requiring a low level of resource.

Originality/value – The paper presents a work-process for formulation of maintenance strategies. The formulation process is easy to use and does not demand any larger amount of resources. Hence, it should be possible to use also at smaller companies who lack both manpower and specialist competence in maintenance strategies.

Keywords – Maintenance, Strategy

Paper type – Research paper

Optimum maintenance may be expressed as: “to achieve the agreed plant operating pattern, availability and product quality within the accepted plant condition (for longevity) and safety standards, and at minimum resource cost.” But in order to achieve this, the use of performance indicators is necessary in order to evaluate both the efficiency and the effectiveness of the maintenance activities. There are numerous measures to be used for this and not always easy to select which ones to use. Several authors have expressed the need for alignment with the main organizational goals, and also the need for stakeholder involvement when identifying feasible measures. In this paper a case study is presented, in which an attempt to identify suitable maintenance performance indicators through stakeholder involvement has been performed. Except for the maintenance department, external customer, that is, the production department has been involved in expressing their expectations on the use of maintenance performance indicators. The result from the investigation, together with the expressed vision and mission of the maintenance and production department, has formed a solid foundation for establishing a feasible set of maintenance performance indicators.