Maintenance management: Keeping up with production's changing trends and technologies

Current trends in manufacturing have led to reduced levels of work‐in‐process inventory and increased levels of automation and machine complexity. These changes have two important implications for maintenance management. First, machine breakdowns not only cause a loss of output from the down machine, but also result in lost production on downstream machines. This occurs because of the elimination of buffer stock between workstations. Second, the gap between the technological expertise of the operators and the technological sophistication of their machines has widened. This gap decreases the ability of operators to make adjustments and minor repairs to their own machines. These two factors cause an increase in maintenance costs associated with machine downtime and maintenance labor. Historically, the proportion of preventive and corrective maintenance has attempted to balance these costs. As buffer stock is reduced and more machines are coupled, the costs of downtime will increase, increasing the need for preventive maintenance and decreasing its cost compared to the cost of lost production. Increases in the use of computer‐based planning systems have resulted in the development of computerized preventive maintenance systems that have proven to be successful in planning for maintenance labor and materials. Integrating planning methods with corrective maintenance tasks will help reduce breakdowns, make more efficient use of maintenance craft labor, and provide information for inventory control of maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) materials. This article examines methods of reducing machine downtime costs, maintenance labor costs, and MRO inventory costs in today's changing production environment. Techniques for reducing these costs are explored in the areas of maintenance planning, maintenance methods improvement, and MRO inventory control.