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The role of maintenance in improving company's competitiveness and profitability: A case study in a textile company

Damjan Maletič (Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor, Kranj, Slovenia)
Matjaž Maletič (Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor, Kranj, Slovenia)
Basim Al-Najjar (School of Engineering, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden)
Boštjan Gomišček (Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor, Kranz, Slovenia)

Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management

ISSN: 1741-038X

Article publication date: 29 April 2014

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of maintenance in improving company's competitiveness and profitability. In the first part the paper aims to discuss the potential improvement areas from the company perspective. Second part of this paper examines maintenance impact on company's business.

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical case study was utilized aiming to provide an understanding of the role of maintenance in improving company's business. The empirical data for this study were collected from a Slovenian textile company. A gap analysis was used in order to address the research problem and to identify potential improvement areas.

Findings

Based on the gap analysis, the results suggest that from respondents’ points of view, maintenance practices related to condition-based maintenance approach represent the highest opportunity for improvement. The most notable empirical results of the case study showed that around 3 per cent of additional profit could be generated at weaving machine, especially if all unplanned stoppages and loss of quality due to decrease in the productivity would be prevented.

Practical implications

This paper demonstrates to managers the potential benefits of maintenance policy in terms of productivity, quality and profitability. In this regard, this paper builds on a premise that company can gain higher performance benefits using more effective maintenance policy.

Originality/value –

The proposed conceptual model contributes to the existing literature by showing the interactions between maintenance and company's competitiveness and profitability. Empirical findings of this study therefore, acknowledge maintenance's potential of increasing the overall profit. In addition this study advances prior studies by utilizing a gap analysis which is rare in this type of research.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper is part of the Special Issue on Advanced Maintenance Engineering, Services and Technologies guest edited by Adolfo Crespo Márquez, Benoît Iung, Marco Macchi and Khairy Kobbacy.

Citation

Maletič, D., Maletič, M., Al-Najjar, B. and Gomišček, B. (2014), "The role of maintenance in improving company's competitiveness and profitability: A case study in a textile company", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 441-456. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMTM-04-2013-0033

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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