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A. Raouf: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
M. Ben-Daya: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Introduction
Production systems have changed tremendously in recent years. Attention has shifted from economy of scale to economy of scope. Today's market conditions are characterized by more emphasis on variety, delivery performance, and quality. Product life cycles are shrinking. To respond to these new stringent requirements, manufacturers are turning to high-tech equipment such as flexible manufacturing systems. They are also adopting new material control methodologies such as the just-in-time philosophy which calls for production systems working without inventory at all. Set-up and adjustment times are also reduced to a minimum. All these factors are shifting the focus to maintenance, since unplanned unavailability of machines will result in serious problems. This new reality explains the renewed interest in maintenance and the increased attention it is receiving from management.
Unfortunately, in many organizations maintenance productivity is very low. However, the maintenance function can no longer be neglected. In order to meet today's challenges, companies must constantly strive for excellence in maintenance through serious comprehensive maintenance improvement programmes.
Developing and installing a comprehensive maintenance improvement programme requires a careful examination of the following major areas:
- maintenance management;
- maintenance operations;
- equipment management.
This article aims to present a framework for an effective continuous maintenance improvement programme, shown in Figure 1. This is accomplished through a total maintenance management philosophy based on the following:
(1) An assessment of the current state of maintenance through a well-designed and comprehensive audit of the maintenance department.
(2) Developing the necessary tools for analysing the audit results. This helps reveal the current maintenance state and identify potential areas for improvement.
(3) Benchmarking. This gives the improvement effort another dimension. Striving for excellence is greatly enhanced by having higher goals based on the best maintenance practices.
Total maintenance management
Total maintenance management (TMM) can be defined as a systematic approach to maintenance. The maintenance system comprises three subsystems:
(1) maintenance management;
(2) maintenance operations;
(3) equipment management.
The main objective of TMM is to provide a methodology or framework for improving maintenance effectiveness continuously. A brief description of each of the subsystems follows.
Maintenance management
In this section...