Maintenance management is a complex partnership between the people directly or indirectly involved in maintenance, the processes and strategies to direct the people’s actions, the physical assets being maintained, and the Computerised Maintenance Management Systems – the main link between the “people”, the “processes and strategies”, and the “asset”.
Although the maintenance literature contains many recipes for success, anecdotal evidence suggests that aintenance management is often ineffective. Despite advances in instrumentation, computer capabilities, integrated asset management software, and the involvement of reliability engineers and maintenance managers, unexpected and costly equipment failures still occur – sometimes with adverse effects on people and the environment. Literature on systematic research to support or contradict the anecdotal evidence is, however, hard to find. This paper introduces a research project which aims to identify and analyse various influences on maintenance management. The research (using contemporary social sciences investigation methods) is conducted by experienced engineers, and is part of a larger project on the nature of engineering work. The paper also provides a literature overview aimed at providing an insight into the major aspects leading to successes or failures in the field of maintenance management. Click here to read more