Maintenance Management Introduction - Production and Operations Management

Maintenance Management in Production and Operations Management

Past and current maintenance practices in both the private and Government sectors would imply that maintenance is the actions associated with equipment repair after it is broken. The dictionary defines maintenance as “the work of keeping something in proper condition, upkeep.” This would imply that maintenance should be actions taken to prevent a device or component from failing or to repair normal equipment degradation experienced with the operation of the device to keep it in proper working order. Data obtained in many studies over the past decade indicates that most private and Government facilities do not expend the necessary resources to maintain equipment in proper working order. They wait for equipment failure to occur and then take whatever actions are necessary to repair or replace the equipment. Nothing lasts forever and all equipment has associated with it some predefined life expectancy or operational life.