A strategy development process for Smart Maintenance implementation

Abstract

PurposeTechnological advancements are reshaping the manufacturing industry toward digitalized manufacturing. Despite the importance of top-class maintenance in such systems, many industrial companies lack a clear strategy for maintenance in digitalized manufacturing. The purpose of this paper is to facilitate the implementation of maintenance in digitalized manufacturing by proposing a strategy development process for the Smart Maintenance concept.Design/methodology/approachThis study is designed as a multiple-case study, where the strategy development in three industrial cases is analyzed. Several methods were used to collect data on the case companies' development of smart maintenance strategies. The data were analyzed with an inductive approach.FindingsA process of strategy development for smart maintenance is proposed, including six steps: benchmarking, setting clear goals, setting strategic priority, planning key activities, elevating implementation and follow-up.Practical implicationsThe proposed process provides industry practitioners with a step-by-step guide for the development of a clear smart maintenance strategy, based on the current state of their maintenance organization. This creates employee engagement and is a new way of developing maintenance strategies.Originality/valueMaintenance strategies are traditionally regarded as a selection of corrective/reactive and preventive maintenance actions using a top-down approach. By contrast, the proposed process is starting from the current state of the maintenance organization and allows a mixture of top-down and bottom-up approaches, supporting organizational development. This is a rare perspective of maintenance strategies and will make maintenance organizations ready for the demands of digitalized manufacturing.

Hindering Factors in Smart Maintenance Implementation

“…The work procedure for Smart Maintenance strategy development proposed by Lundgren et al [19] is based on benchmarking of the maintenance organization. The benchmarking is done with a Smart Maintenance measurement instrument (SMASh) [22] that helps identify the current state of the maintenance organization and find specific areas for improvements.…”

“…We conducted a single case study within an energy production company to study Smart Maintenance implementation in a real-life context [28,29]. In an ongoing research project about Smart Maintenance in energy production, we aimed to deploy the strategy development process for Smart Maintenance implementation suggested by Lundgren et al [19]. However, a complete strategy for Smart Maintenance implementation was not reached as we faced hindering factors that impeded the process.…”

“…In both research and practice, conventional maintenance strategies focus more on the technical aspects of equipment (e.g. choice of maintenance policy) rather than the organizational development of the maintenance function [8,19]. Therefore, Smart Maintenance provides added value to maintenance strategy development through a novel and holistic perspective that also include organizational aspects [6,20,21].…”

“…Therefore, Smart Maintenance provides added value to maintenance strategy development through a novel and holistic perspective that also include organizational aspects [6,20,21]. To support the development of Smart Maintenance strategies, Lundgren et al [19] proposed a structured work process. The process is cyclical and comprises six steps: (1) benchmarking of the maintenance organization using Smart Maintenance assessment (SMASh) in [22]: a measurement instrument that identifies the current level of Smart Maintenance in the organization; (2) setting clear goals that are aligned with the overall company goals as well as individual goals of the maintenance employees; (3) setting strategic priorities to ensure that activities are executed in the correct sequence to support the interplay among the four dimensions; (4) planning key activities, preferably visualized in a roadmap; (5) elevate the implementation by putting planned activities into action; and (6) following up the activities and the associated effects.…”

Investigation of the Mediating Effect of Strategic Posture on the Relationship between Environmental Conditions and Firm Performance on the Logistics Sector

“…When determining their strategic posture, organizations should have a good understanding of the relationships between resources, capabilities, competitive advantage and performance, and, specifically, the mechanisms of how competitive advantage can travel and sustain over time (Grant, 1991;Mintzberg et al, 2020). The types of strategy, which are determined by strategy management researchers, largely depend on the aims of the organization (Galbraith and Schendel, 1983;Tan, 2002;Tan and Tan, 2005;Lundgren et al, 2021). The number of different identified strategy types tends to vary widely.…”