Identifying Organisational Requirements for the Implementation of an Advanced Maintenance Strategy in Small to Medium Enterprises (SME)

In many organisations the production equipment represents the majority of invested capital, and deterioration of these facilities and equipment increases production costs, reduces product quality and has a significant impact on energy consumption. Over recent years the importance of maintenance, and therefore maintenance management within manufacturing organisations has grown. The maintenance function has become an increasingly important and complex, activity - particularly as automation increases. The opportunity exists for many organisations to benefit substantially through improvements to their competitiveness and profitability by adopting a new approach to maintenance management. Several tools and technologies including Condition Based Maintenance, Reliability Centred Maintenance and more recently E-Maintenance have developed under the heading of Advanced Maintenance Strategies. However, the adoption of advanced maintenance strategies and their potential benefits are usually demonstrated in large organisations. Unfortunately, the majority of organisations, classified as Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), are constrained by the lack of knowledge and un-derstanding on the requirements which need to be in place before adopting an advanced maintenance strategy. This paper will present the findings from a research strategy based upon 'empirical iterations' using survey secondary data, experts' interviews information and multiple case studies. The results show that there is a set of key requirements which strongly influence the implementation of an Advanced Maintenance Strategy (AMS) within SMEs. Finally the paper will show that SMEs require a structured and integrative approach in order to take advantage of a new method for maintenance management.