Search results

Due to recent technological developments, many maintenance managers become overwhelmed by the vast amount of data available to support their decision making. The purpose of this paper is to discuss identifying and eliminating waste in information management processes through a value stream mapping (VSM)-based method.

A theoretical framework is constructed based upon a review of the previous academic literature. The application of the framework is demonstrated with an empirical case example of a maintenance information management process within a food manufacturing company.

The paper highlights existing examples of applying VSM in information management; however, the knowledge is fragmented and has not been extensively applied in a maintenance context. The case example shows that the suggested process offers a feasible method of mapping and evaluating the inherent waste in information management processes.

The paper summarizes the existing body of knowledge on lean information management in maintenance, and presents a theoretical framework on how VSM can be applied in the context. An empirical example is provided to show the method applied to a real industry case. The results will illustrate how the framework can support companies in identifying the waste and development potential in their maintenance information management.

The role of management control is frequently emphasized in connection with inter-organizational relationships and value networks. For example, boundary-spanning cost and accounting control techniques have been studied in multifaceted empirical settings. The prevalence of such techniques is, however, currently unknown in conjunction with companies’ interests to increase inter-organizational integration in general. Additionally, also the nexus between the internal state of cost management and the company’s willingness to develop inter-organizational relationships requires further investigation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The study is based on an extensive survey that was responded to by more than 1,500 CEOs and CFOs from large, medium-sized and small Finnish enterprises in a variety of industries. As the authors chose the mixed-methods approach, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected for the study.

The findings suggest that companies can be allocated to five clusters: “the cost experts,” “the trustful,” “the holdouts,” “the trailblazers” and “the uncertain”. When the networking-oriented clusters, “the trustful” and “the trailblazers” are combined, the authors can conclude that 40 percent of the studied companies are interested in increasing inter-organizational integration. However, only 7 percent have boundary-spanning techniques in use. There is also a correlation between interest in integrating and developing cost management.

This paper contains several theoretical implications, although further research, e.g. comparative studies, is required to verify the findings. The scarcity of managerial implications can be regarded as a limitation.

This paper fills several untapped research gaps by studying inter-organizational integration in the cost management context from multiple, complementary perspectives with a particularly large set of data.

The purpose of this paper is to identify what is currently valued in maintenance services. The study first conceptualizes the value construct through an examination of its elements, including both financial and non-financial elements, and second provides insight into its actors’ (i.e. customer companies, service providers, equipment providers) attitudes toward value creation.

The study uses data collected from maintenance service professionals by an online survey. First an explorative factor analysis is conducted to examine the value construct. After this cluster analysis is conducted to define the actors.

The empirical findings suggest seven main elements that capture maintenance service value: relationship synergies, reliability of the service partner, development, availability, service solutions and problem solving ability, environment, health, safety and quality, and adaptability to suit different situations. Further analysis reveals that the actors can be divided into three main strategy types: basic, quality- and collaboration-oriented partners.

In previous studies the comprehensive nature of maintenance service value has received less attention, and the literature has focused on the technical and financial aspects. This paper provides a new conceptualization of the value creating elements, including also non-financial elements, and offers an integrated measure for the actors to identify the comprehensive value construct around maintenance services. In addition, the findings show that the actors in the field still have varying strategies when considering value creation. Communication and mutual understanding of the value creating elements are important so that right services are carried out and developed with the right partners.

Big data and related technologies are expected to drastically change the way industrial maintenance is managed. However, at the moment, many companies are collecting large amounts of data without knowing how to systematically exploit it. It is therefore important to find new ways of evaluating and quantifying the value of data. This paper addresses the value of data-based profitability of maintenance investments.

An analytical wasted value of data model (WVD-model) is presented to quantify how the value of data can be increased through eliminating waste. The use of the model is demonstrated with a case example of a maintenance investment appraisal of an automotive parts manufacturer.

The presented model contributes to the gap between the academic research and the solutions implemented in practice in the area of value optimization. The model provides a systematic way of evaluating if the benefits of investing in maintenance data exceed the additional costs incurred. Applying the model to a case study revealed that even though the case company would need to spend more time in analyzing and processing the increased data, the investment would be profitable if even a modest share of the current asset failures could be prevented through improved data analysis.

The model is designed and developed on the principle of eliminating waste to increase value, which has not been previously extensively discussed in the context of data management.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of working capital management on profitability. This connection is further studied in industrial maintenance service companies.

Analytical modeling has been used as the research method. The empirical analyses have been made on the basis of financial statements.

The paper presents an analytical flexible asset management (FAM) model, which reveals a significant negative correlation between the cycle times of operational working capital and the return on investment. The importance of working capital management is emphasized in the industrial maintenance service sector, because of light fixed assets and good profitability.

There are some mathematical limitations in the applicability of the model introduced in this paper. These limitations should be addressed in further research.

The FAM model can be utilized as a tool in decision making in firms, both in the short term and in the long term. On the basis of this paper, the decision makers can consider how important working capital management is in their industry. In the industrial maintenance service business, more attention should be paid to active management of working capital.

The FAM model is a new decision-making tool. The paper also contributes to the unexplored perspective of industrial maintenance companies. The paper is valuable to service companies, as the research of working capital management has mostly focussed on manufacturing industries.

The purpose of this paper is to create a cost model at the general equipment level for industrial maintenance services.

The study is divided into two main sections. In the first phase the idea is to create a framework for a cost model with a literature review. The second, empirical part of the study is based on costing information from interviews and information given by network companies: a pulp mill, a maintenance company and an equipment provider. The maintenance of three different equipment processes is examined in the network through a case study, to get more specific information from real world situations to develop the model.

The findings concern the cost items that should be considered in the model, the structure of the model, and how the general cost model is constructed. During the research the model has been extended, and new cost categories included.

The cost model can be used in various performance measurement and decision‐making situations, such as maintenance service pricing, contract negotiations, outsourcing decisions, and life cycle cost management.

The cost model differs from traditional cost models. Earlier models have focused on the perspective of either the service provider or the customer, but not on both perspectives at the same time. However, in order to achieve a win‐win situation in a business network, open books practice is expected from each member of the network.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and categorise problems in knowledge management of industrial maintenance, and support successful maintenance through adapting the SHEL model. The SHEL model has been used widely in airplane accident investigations and in aviation maintenance, but not in industrial maintenance.

The data were collected by two separate surveys with open-ended questions from maintenance customers and service providers in Finland. The collected data were coded according to SHEL model -derived themes and analysed thematically with NVivo.

The authors found that the adapted SHELO model works well in the industrial maintenance context. The results show that the most important knowledge management problems in the area are caused by interactions between Liveware and Software (information unavailability), Liveware and Liveware (information sharing), Liveware and Organisation (communication) and Software and Software (information integrity).

The data were collected only from Finnish companies and from the perspective of knowledge management. In practice there are also other kinds of issues in industrial maintenance. This can be a topic for future research.

The paper presents a new systematic method to analyse and sort knowledge management problems in industrial maintenance. Both maintenance service customers and suppliers can improve their maintenance processes by using the dimensions of the SHELO model.

The SHEL model has not been used in industrial maintenance before. In addition, the new SHELO model takes also interactions without direct human influence into account. Previous research has listed conditions for successful maintenance extensively, but this kind of prioritisation tools are needed to support decision making in practice.