Mohamed Gamal Shehata Aboelmaged
– The purpose of this paper is to develop a multifaceted perspective on e-maintenance research and practice over 12 years from 2002 to 2013.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a multifaceted perspective on e-maintenance research and practice over 12 years from 2002 to 2013.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research approach is conducted through analysing e-maintenance literature published in peer-review journals from 2002 to 2013 in operations management, information systems, computer science and engineering disciplines.
Findings
A multifaceted perspective that reflects evolutionary, managerial, and technological domains of e-maintenance research has been emerged and explained. In addition, stages of e-maintenance process (i.e. integration, aggregation, and prediction) tend to synchronize with organizational levels (i.e. strategic, tactical, and operational) and stimulate the value of e-maintenance practices across the enterprise. However, there are many managerial and technological challenges that inhibit successful implementation of e-maintenance system.
Practical implications
The present research offers managers and vendors a frame of reference that facilitates e-maintenance adoption and implementation. In addition, there is a need for theoretical as well as empirical research in the future to validate the multifaceted perspective in the present study and to obtain more insight into the nature of e-maintenance issues in various settings.
Originality/value
The present paper is one of the first attempts to bridge the gaps in a currently cluttered field of e-maintenance research. It also provides both academics and practitioners with a useful framework that sustains rigorous e-maintenance research and practice.
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Marco Macchi, Adolfo Crespo Márquez, Maria Holgado, Luca Fumagalli and Luis Barberá Martínez
– The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology for the engineering of E-maintenance platforms that is based on a value-driven approach.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology for the engineering of E-maintenance platforms that is based on a value-driven approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology assumes that a value-driven engineering approach would help foster technological innovation for maintenance management. Indeed, value-driven engineering could be easily adopted at the business level, with subsequent positive effects on the industrial applications of new information and communication technologies solutions.
Findings
The methodology combines a value-driven approach with the engineering in the maintenance scope. The methodology is tested in a manufacturing case to prove its potential to support the engineering of E-maintenance solutions. In particular, the case study concerns the investment in E-maintenance solutions developed in the framework of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system originally implemented for production purposes.
Originality/value
Based on literature research, the paper presents a methodology that is implemented considering three different approaches (business theories, value-driven engineering and maintenance management). The combination of these approaches is novel and overcomes the traditional view of maintenance as an issue evaluated from a cost-benefit perspective.
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Marco Macchi and Luca Fumagalli
The paper proposes a maturity assessment method to measure the state of maintenance practices in a company.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper proposes a maturity assessment method to measure the state of maintenance practices in a company.
Design/methodology/approach
The method assumes that a maintenance department is evaluated in terms of its managerial, organizational and technological capabilities. By its adoption it is possible to analyse the maturity level reached by a company, in order to classify the criticalities in its maintenance processes; a company can also make a benchmark with the best companies of a reference sample.
Findings
The paper presents the method as a support to identify the levers to improve the maintenance management system. The method is demonstrated on a company whose maturity is assessed before making a benchmark against a sample of other manufacturing companies located in the Northern Italy.
Originality/value
The paper presents a scoring method for maturity assessment and a procedure to use it in order to identify the criticalities in maintenance processes and to subsequently drive the improvement of the maintenance management system. The paper should be useful both to researchers and maintenance professionals interested in using new methods for long‐term planning in maintenance.
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Adolfo Crespo Marquez and Benoît Iung
This paper proposes a method to model and assess the availability and reliability of a system when numerous factors such as system complexity, wide range of failure modes…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper proposes a method to model and assess the availability and reliability of a system when numerous factors such as system complexity, wide range of failure modes, environment, and sustainability may influence system behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach for reliability/availability study is using continuous time stochastic simulation (Monte Carlo simulation) and is based on seven steps for covering logical phases from system description to simulation result discussion. The feasibility and benefits of this approach are shown in a case study on cogeneration plant.
Findings
Owing to the factors influencing the system behaviour, the opportunity to carry out system availability/reliability assessment through analytical models will be many times very restrictive. Thus a general approach to this problem is proposed based on Monte Carlo (stochastic) simulation. The simulation of the system's life process will be carried out in the computer, and estimates will be made for the desired measures of performance. The simulation will then be treated as a series of real experiments, and statistical inference will then be used to estimate confidence intervals for the performance metrics.
Practical implications
Individuals, companies as well as society in general are becoming more and more dependent on increasingly complex technical systems. Moreover, failure of these complex systems often causes a major loss of service with potentially serious consequences (i.e. critical risk). Thus their dependability with its facets such as reliability, availability, safety has become an important issue. For example, the ability of reliability/availability assessment of such systems is invaluable in industrial domains. Indeed reliability/availability assessment is used for various purposes such as maintenance strategy selection, maintenance planning, production planning, risk and cost evaluations. To face with this complexity, the existing analytical models are not well adapted to carry out system modelling and assessment due mainly to assumptions that are difficult to validate. This paper looks into this issue by proposing a generic approach based on Monte Carlo (stochastic) simulation.
Originality/value
The Monte Carlo simulation method allows one to consider various relevant aspects of systems operation that cannot be easily captured by analytical models. The utilisation of this method is growing for the assessment of overall plants availability and the monetary value of plant operation.
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A. Crespo Márquez, P. Moreu de León, J.F. Gómez Fernández, C. Parra Márquez and M. López Campos
The purpose of this paper is to define a process for maintenance management and to classify maintenance engineering techniques within that process.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to define a process for maintenance management and to classify maintenance engineering techniques within that process.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a generic model proposed for maintenance management which integrates other models found in the literature for built and in‐use assets, and consists of eight sequential management building blocks. The different maintenance engineering techniques are playing a crucial role within each one of those eight management building blocks. Following this path it characterizes the “maintenance management framework”, i.e. the supporting structure of the management process.
Findings
The paper offers a practical vision of the set of activities composing each management block, and the result of the paper is a classification of the different maintenance engineering tools. The discussion of the different tools can also classify them as qualitative or quantitative. At the same time, some tools will be very analytical tools while others will be highly empirical. The paper also discusses the proper use of each tool or technique according to the volume of data/information available.
Practical implications
As a consequence, of the implementation of advanced manufacturing technologies and just‐in‐time production systems, the nature of the production environment has changed during the last two decades. This has allowed companies to massively produce products in a customized way. But the increase in automation and the reduction in buffers of inventory in the plants clearly put more pressure on the maintenance system. The present maintenance management framework has been proposed in order to diminish this pressure. Whatever the model an organization adopts, it has to be evolving to continue being useful against the fast changes that occur in business, communications and industry. A key to achieve this could be the incorporation of the techniques proposed in this paper besides the integration of platforms known as “next generation manufacturing practices” This implies the use of e‐maintenance as a sub‐concept of e‐manufacturing and e‐business.
Originality/value
This paper presents not only a process but also the framework and techniques to manage and improve maintenance effectiveness and efficiency. This paper will be useful to researchers, maintenance professionals and others concerned with maintenance management.
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Damjan Maletič, Matjaž Maletič, Basim Al-Najjar and Boštjan Gomišček
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of maintenance in improving company's competitiveness and profitability. In the first part the paper aims to discuss the potential…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of maintenance in improving company's competitiveness and profitability. In the first part the paper aims to discuss the potential improvement areas from the company perspective. Second part of this paper examines maintenance impact on company's business.
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical case study was utilized aiming to provide an understanding of the role of maintenance in improving company's business. The empirical data for this study were collected from a Slovenian textile company. A gap analysis was used in order to address the research problem and to identify potential improvement areas.
Findings
Based on the gap analysis, the results suggest that from respondents’ points of view, maintenance practices related to condition-based maintenance approach represent the highest opportunity for improvement. The most notable empirical results of the case study showed that around 3 per cent of additional profit could be generated at weaving machine, especially if all unplanned stoppages and loss of quality due to decrease in the productivity would be prevented.
Practical implications
This paper demonstrates to managers the potential benefits of maintenance policy in terms of productivity, quality and profitability. In this regard, this paper builds on a premise that company can gain higher performance benefits using more effective maintenance policy.
Originality/value –
The proposed conceptual model contributes to the existing literature by showing the interactions between maintenance and company's competitiveness and profitability. Empirical findings of this study therefore, acknowledge maintenance's potential of increasing the overall profit. In addition this study advances prior studies by utilizing a gap analysis which is rare in this type of research.
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Adolfo Crespo Márquez and Antonio Sánchez Herguedas
The exploitation of the equipment maintenance records is often a weak point within an operations management organization. Inexistence of a proper computerized maintenance…
Abstract
The exploitation of the equipment maintenance records is often a weak point within an operations management organization. Inexistence of a proper computerized maintenance management system, lack of competencies to properly handle maintenance data, or reduced knowledge in advance maintenance data processing techniques, are common problems to solve in order to benefit from the historical record of failures and maintenance operations carried out on certain equipment. This paper presents the learning obtained in a case study of the maintenance records of earthmoving equipment. We characterize the process to do a maintenance records analysis, describe difficulties and critical points of our sample study and present how this analysis could help in the process of identifying different root causes of critical fault modes. Finally, we present and discuss results and conclusions of the study.
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This paper aims to present a case study where computer simulation is used to evaluate maintenance strategies targeted to cope with a critical failure of a repairable system.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a case study where computer simulation is used to evaluate maintenance strategies targeted to cope with a critical failure of a repairable system.
Design/methodology/approach
The problem is characterized, modeled and simulated under different conditions and for finite time periods. The different states of the system and the possible transitions among these states are characterized. Transitions are conditioned by the failure dynamics and by the maintenance decision maker. The model is then formalized and the data requirements fulfilled.
Findings
The performance of several maintenance policies based on educated estimations about the equipment behavior, manufacturer recommendations, well‐known previous maintenance practices, etc. benchmarked against the results of certain modeling and optimization tools.
Practical implications
Practical implications of this work have to do with following the entire modeling process and maintenance policy assessment with an engineering team, exploring options and opportunities to support the maintenance managers.
Originality/value
Maintenance policy design exploration using semi‐Markovian process simulation modeling.
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Zineb Simeu-Abazi, Maria Di Mascolo and Eric Gascard
In this paper, the authors are concerned with a maintenance workshop (MW) centralizing all corrective maintenance activities. The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, the authors are concerned with a maintenance workshop (MW) centralizing all corrective maintenance activities. The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology for designing a central maintenance workshop, enabling the evaluation of performance in terms of cost and sojourn time, for a given budget.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors propose a modeling framework based on queuing networks. The aim is to maximize operational availability of the production workshop, by reducing the sojourn time of failed equipment in the MW.
Findings
The proposed methodology leads to a maintenance decision support tool enabling to give the structure of the MW, performing at a higher level, but at a reasonable configuration cost. Simulation results illustrate the influence of different parameters, such as the number of stations and the level of spare parts in the MW, on the sojourn time of the equipment.
Research limitations/implications
Only corrective maintenance is taken into account and only equipment that can be taken out of the production workshop are considered. The preventive replacement of some equipment items can be taken into account by the repair process by considering them as failed.
Originality/value
The work falls within a more general framework for optimizing maintenance costs, in the context of integration of multi-site services in a distributed context. The paper is concerned with centralized maintenance, and proposes to integrate the so-called repair by replacement technique in a MW, used for a multi-site production workshop.
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Thomas Ruin, Eric Levrat, Benoît Iung and Antoine Despujols
The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology for supporting complex maintenance programs quantification (CMPQ) for industrial systems. The methodology is based on a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology for supporting complex maintenance programs quantification (CMPQ) for industrial systems. The methodology is based on a generic formalization of static and behavioral expert knowledge both on the target system and on the maintenance one. The formalization is carried out first by means of system modelling language (SysML) diagrams to model knowledge concepts and second by the transformation of these concepts into Altarica data flow (ADF) language for developing stochastic simulation.
Design/methodology/approach
An industrial case study (ARE system) proposed by the electricite de France (EDF) company is used initially to show a real problem statement on CMPQ. It allows highlighting key scientific issues considered as the basis for methodology development. Main issues are related to static and dynamic knowledge formalization justifying the choice of SysML and ADF languages. The added value of this methodology is finally shown on the same case study serving as benchmark.
Findings
This paper demonstrates the suitability of using of SysML language for modelling the CMPQ knowledge and then of ADF language in building executable model implementing simulation as needed for assessing key performance indicators of CMPQ. ADF is based on formal mode automaton. Mapping rules are developed to ensure correspondence between the concepts of these two languages.
Research limitations/implications
Additional industrial validations of the methodology should be performed to really evaluate its benefits.
Practical implications
This work was made possible thanks to a partnership with the EDF Company (French energy supplier). The results are therefore directly usable at practical industrial levels.
Originality/value
The CMPQ methodology proposed is fully generic leading to offering a library of atomic ADF components (COTS) which can be instantiated to develop executable model with regards to each specific application. It allows to favor reusability and makes easier the model development above all for a user who knows nothing about the language.