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1. Introduction
In general, maintenance is defined as the combination of all technical and administrative actions, including supervision, which ensure that a system is in its required functioning state (Reason, 2000; Swanson, 2001). Maintaining a system is usually related to maintenance actions such as repairing, replacing, overhauling, inspecting, servicing, adjusting, testing, measuring and detecting faults in order to avoid any failure that would lead to interruptions in production operations (Duffuaa et al., 1999; Ismail et al., 2009). Performance measurement for maintenance systems can be based on various factors (Parida et al., 2015).
According to Wikstan and Johannson (2006), effective maintenance can reduce the consequences of failure and extend the life of a system. Implementation of maintenance refers to maintenance policies, which can be defined as the plans of action used to provide direction and guidelines to carry out further maintenance actions required by a system (Waeyenbergh and Pintelon, 2002). Corrective maintenance (CM) is one of the maintenance policies by which maintenance actions, such as repair or replacement are carried out on a system to restore it to its required functioning after it has failed (Paz and Leigh, 1994). However, this policy leads to high levels of system breakdown and high repair and replacement costs, due to sudden failures that potentially can occur. Another maintenance policy, PM, serves as an alternative to CM. Normally, PM is planned and performed after a specified period of time, or when a specified system has been used, in order to reduce the probability of its failure (Kimura, 1997). Mechefske and Wang (2001) claimed that most systems are maintained whilst a significant amount of their useful life remains whenever PM practices are applied.
In this paper, a review has been carried out based on the challenges faced during PM planning processes in order to secure better rates of improvement for organizations. The review has been structured in a way that provides a general overview of studies related to PM as well as PM planning, followed by an in-depth discussion of PM planning concepts. The three categories of PM planning – cost-, time- and failure-based – have been reviewed thoroughly. Finally, an analysis of trends in published research concerning PM planning has been summarized, before closing with suggestions for...