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Output from the Irish Dairy Industry has grown rapidly since the abolition of quotas in 2015, with processors investing heavily in capacity expansion to deal with the extra milk volumes. Further capacity gains may be achieved by extending the processing season into the winter, a key enabler for which being the reduction of duration of the winter maintenance overhaul period. This paper aims to investigate if Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques can be used to enhance operational maintenance performance, thereby releasing additional processing capacity.

Combining the Six-Sigma Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control (DMAIC) methodology and the structured approach of Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) widely used in process industries creates a novel hybrid model that promises substantial improvement in maintenance overhaul execution. This paper presents a case study applying the DMAIC/TAM model to Ireland’s largest dairy processing site to optimise the annual maintenance shutdown. The objective was to deliver a 30% reduction in the duration of the overhaul, enabling an extension of the processing season.

Application of the DMAIC/TAM hybrid resulted in process enhancements, employee engagement and a clear roadmap for the operations team. Project goals were delivered, and original objectives exceeded, resulting in €8.9m additional value to the business and a reduction of 36% in the duration of the overhaul.

The results demonstrate that the model provides a structure that promotes systematic working and a continuous improvement focus that can have substantial benefits for wider industry. Opportunities for further model refinement were identified and will enhance performance in subsequent overhauls.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the structure and tools of DMAIC and TAM have been combined into a hybrid methodology and applied in an Irish industrial setting.

Blockchain is the fastest-growing technology currently being used in the aviation industry, especially in aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services. This study aims to create an analytic framework to assess the main factors and subfactors that have significantly influence the blockchain used in aviation MRO services. A mixed-methods approach is used to gain a comprehensive understanding of how blockchain is being adopted in aircraft maintenance facilities, Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires are used to gather data. The questionnaire is focused on the present state of the MRO industry.

Based on the literature review, a framework including four factors and 12 subfactors is developed, and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is then established. This study explores how these factors influence the implementation of blockchain in aviation MRO services. The five aviation MRO services providers in Taiwan, namely, “Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corporation,” “Taiwan Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Co., Ltd.,” “Air Asia Company Ltd.,” “Aerospace Industrial Development Corp.” and “GE Evergreen Engine Services Corporation” are considered; furthermore, 55 experts working in these organizations were invited to evaluate the relative importance criteria in the AHP framework.

The results indicate that “inventory management” is the most important criterion, followed by “provisioning, procurement and sales” and “maintenance planning.” In addition, the three most important subfactors are “parts interchangeability,” “customer stock” and “SPEC2K interface for ATA SPEC 2000.”

Asia is ranked as the second most important aviation MRO service market in the world. Taiwan has the shortest flight hours in the western Pacific region, the seven major foreign cities in this area. Aviation MRO service providers located in Taiwan are the best choices for aircraft MRO in the Asia-Pacific region, indicating that Taiwan serves as a promising market development evaluation model for blockchain aviation MRO services. The results offer a comprehensive overview of the relative importance of different criteria for MRO services that use blockchains. In addition, the findings present the market potential for key players in the aviation industry, including aircraft engineers, airline companies, aircraft component manufacturers and aviation MRO service providers.

Reliability study plays a significant role in supporting the operation of any machinery working in a dynamic and harsh environment. This quality is inherently uncertain and a stochastic variable of any system. This study will be beneficial for designing an appropriate maintenance schedule, reducing unplanned production downtime and reducing maintenance cost of electrical motor operated particularly in dynamic and harsh environmental industries.

This study focused on the effects of operating conditions (OCs) on the operational reliability and remaining useful life (RUL) of machinery. A probabilistic graphical method called Bayesian network (BN) was used for studying the effect of OCs on the system performance. The developed methodology has been demonstrated by analyzing the operational reliability and predicting the RUL of electrical motors operated in a heavy mining machinery.

The failure probabilities estimated from the historical data of the motor system are failure likelihood, and OCs are the evidence in the developed BN model. It has been observed that the performance and RUL of the motor are significantly influenced by OCs and maintenance. A threshold value of reliability at which the motor system requires maintenance or replacement has been proposed to guide management in decision making.

The Bayesian approach for studying the covariate of motor reliability and RUL estimation is a novel approach. This study will be beneficial for designing an appropriate maintenance schedule, reducing unplanned production downtime and reducing maintenance cost of electrical motor operated particularly in dynamic and harsh environmental industries.

The aim of this paper is to develop a framework to enhance building maintainability through facilitating early suppliers’ involvement (ESI) in the design process.

A research methodology consisting of literature review, case studies and survey questionnaire was designed to achieve the above-mentioned aim. Firstly, literature review was used to examine the concepts of building maintenance, maintainability, the design process and ESI. Secondly, three case studies were presented and analysed to investigate the role of ESI towards enhancing building maintainability during the design process. Thirdly, a survey questionnaire was carried out with a representative sample of architectural design firms (ADFs) in Egypt to investigate their perception and application of ESI towards enhancing building maintainability during the design process. Finally, the research developed a framework to facilitate ESI in the design process in ADFs in Egypt.

Through literature review, the research highlighted the relationship between ESI and enhancing building maintainability and identified the roles, benefits, challenges and that encounter ESI in ADFs, factors for suppliers selection and levels of involvement. Results of the data analysis showed that “Difficulty of trusting external parties and sharing information with transparency” was ranked the highest challenge of ESI in ADFs in Egypt, followed by “Legal competitive advantage restrictions”. Moreover, “Better estimation for operation and maintenance costs” was ranked the highest contributions of ESI towards enhancing building maintainability, followed by “Reduce the number of operation and maintenance problems or reworks”. Finally, respondents stated that “Innovation, technical expertise, and competence” was ranked the highest supplier’s selection criteria, while “paying consultation fees for offering advice and recommendations to the design team” was ranked the highest form of supplier’s remuneration.

The proposed framework contributes to the body of knowledge through proposing five functions that aimed to facilitate ESI in the design process, a research area that received scant attention in construction research. In addition, because of the conceptual nature of the framework, it has to be validated to ensure its capability to overcome the challenges of ESI as an approach for enhancing building maintainability during the design process.

This research presents a practical solution that bridges the gap between theory and practice through overcoming the challenges that obstruct suppliers from being involved in the design process as an approach for enhancing building maintainability.

This research discussed the relationship between ESI and enhancing building maintainability as well as the roles, benefits and challenges that encounter ESI in ADFs. In addition, the research investigated the levels of suppliers’ involvement, selection criteria and forms of payment. Moreover, it investigated the perception and application of ESI in ADFs in Egypt towards improving building maintainability. The research proposed a framework to facilitate the integration of suppliers in the early stages of the project life cycle. It represents a synthesis that is novel and creative in thought and adds value to the knowledge in a manner that has not previously occurred.

The number of passengers in the aviation sector following COVID-19 has recovered in 2023 and is 5% higher than it was in 2019. The average annual growth of air travel is predicted to be 3.2% between 2019 and 2039. This means the need for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services will also increase. Moreover, the stakeholders require lower costs, higher effectiveness/market share and sustainability. These expectations can be realized only with the identification, development and implementation of new innovations while improving and optimizing the already used processes and procedures. Since only highly qualified graduates can reach these requirements, the need for profession-specific MSc and PhD level engineers has elevated significantly. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the development and implementation of a new MRO higher educational framework program in strong cooperation with enterprises and universities.

The emphasis is placed on the program’s scouting, investigation, development, realization and evaluation by defining key performance indexes and aiming for the optimal solution for all participants.

The result of this study is the establishment of a new educational framework, the reinvention of the MSc curriculum and the integration of PhD-level researchers in the industry in a way that fulfills the needs and requirements of the MRO sector. In return, it will give various benefits to all parties involved.

The novelty of this work comes from creating a new educational MSc and PhD level framework that can push the MRO industry forward and fill the gap of missing engineers in this field. Plus, the newly developed program is highly flexible and can be used by other players in the economy after making some adaptions and modifications.

Architectural programming, as a critical phase in construction projects, has been widely recognized for its importance and advantages throughout the construction process. With the rapid development of the socioeconomic landscape, architectural programming has garnered increasing attention from various other disciplines, becoming a key trend in interdisciplinary collaboration. This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current status and future directions of architectural programming from an interdisciplinary perspective through scientometric analysis and systematic review.

This study first collected English journal articles on architectural programming published between 1975 and 2024 from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. After an initial screening of titles and abstracts, 515 articles were selected for scientometric analysis to reveal the current state and advantages of architectural programming research in multidisciplinary fields. Subsequently, a second screening of full-text articles identified 75 journal articles for systematic review, focusing on research topics and challenges in interdisciplinary applications.

The study reveals an exponential increase in the number of papers related to architectural programming between 1975 and 2024, particularly in the last decade. Six key research topics of architectural programming in multidisciplinary fields were identified: (1) performance optimization and evaluation, (2) digitalization and automation development, (3) project management and decision support, (4) improvement of human and social welfare, (5) sustainable resources and environment and (6) educational practices of architectural programming. Additionally, the study identified the main challenges in the interdisciplinary application of architectural programming, including (1) incompatibility among disciplines, (2) limitations of data and methodologies and (3) insufficient social engagement. To address these challenges, three potential future directions were proposed: (1) establishing interdisciplinary teams and platforms, (2) enhancing multi-source data integration and digital transformation and (3) improving governance mechanisms and educational training.

By combining quantitative and qualitative methods, this study provides a comprehensive review of architectural programming research and applications in multidisciplinary fields, offering theoretical foundations and practical references for the future development of architectural programming. This review not only aids in understanding the overall status of current architectural programming research but also offers valuable insights and recommendations for future research directions and practical applications.

This paper aims to design a hybrid model of knowledge-based performance management system (KBPMS) for facilitating Lean Six-Sigma (L6s) application to increase contractor productivity without compromising human safety in Indonesian upstream oil field operations that manage ageing and life extension (ALE) facilities.

The research design applies a pragmatic paradigm by employing action research strategy with qualitative-quantitative methodology involving 385 of 1,533 workers. The KBPMS-L6s conceptual framework is developed and enriched with the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize fit-for-purpose Key Performance Indicators. The application of L6s with Human Performance Modes analysis is used to provide a statistical baseline approach for pre-assessment of the contractor’s organizational capabilities. A comprehensive literature review is given for the main pillars of the contextual framework.

The KBPMS-L6s concept has given an improved hierarchy for strategic and operational levels to achieve a performance benchmark to manage ALE facilities in Indonesian upstream oil field operations. To increase quality management practices in managing ALE facilities, the L6s application requires an assessment of the organizational capability of contractors and an analysis of Human Performance Modes (HPM) to identify levels of construction workers’ productivity based on human competency and safety awareness that have never been done in this field.

The action research will only focus on the contractors’ productivity and safety performances that are managed by infrastructure maintenance programs for managing integrity of ALE facilities in Indonesian upstream of oil field operations. Future research could go toward validating this approach in other sectors.

This paper discusses the implications of developing the hybrid KBPMS- L6s enriched with AHP methodology and the application of HPM analysis to achieve a 14% reduction in inefficient working time, a 28% reduction in supervision costs, a 15% reduction in schedule completion delays, and a 78% reduction in safety incident rates of Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR), Days Away Restricted or Job Transfer (DART) and Motor Vehicle Crash (MVC), as evidence of achieving fit-for-purpose KPIs with safer, better, faster, and at lower costs.

This paper does not discuss social implications

This paper successfully demonstrates a novel use of Knowledge-Based system with the integration AHP and HPM analysis to develop a hybrid KBPMS-L6s concept that successfully increases contractor productivity without compromising human safety performance while implementing ALE facility infrastructure maintenance program in upstream oil field operations.

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for people of all ages underscores the vital role of public healthcare facilities (PHFs) in delivering essential healthcare services. However, these facilities often suffer from inadequate maintenance, exacerbated by the insufficient implementation of maintenance strategies. Recognizing the importance of PHFs in enhancing healthcare services, this paper investigates the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) in the maintenance strategies of PHFs in South Africa.

Through semi-structured interviews with nineteen purposively selected maintenance personnel from the Limpopo Department of Health (DoH), this study identified and analyzed the CSFs to enhance maintenance operations in PHFs. Thematic content analysis was employed to derive key insights from the collected data.

The study's findings highlight adequate maintenance planning and effective leadership as the two overarching CSFs in the maintenance of PHFs. These factors play a pivotal role in addressing challenges that hinder the current maintenance team from meeting maintenance requirements to the satisfaction of both staff and patients within PHFs.

The study offers valuable insights for policymakers to improve the effectiveness of maintenance operations in PHFs. By addressing the identified CSFs, policymakers can enhance maintenance operations in PHFs, positively impacting healthcare service delivery and the well-being of both staff and patients.

An interaction between emerging technologies (ETs) for facility management (FM) activities and stakeholder skills is necessary to promote the optimization of FM performance. Previous studies do not show strategies for the selection of ETs in FM considering the technological competencies of stakeholders. Thus, this study analyzes the interactions between ETs and FM from the perceptions of Brazilian professionals, identifying the most appropriate and effective technological solutions, based on a broad literature review.

The steps of the methodology are as follows: systematic literature review (SLR); detailing the ETs for FM; online questionnaire based on SLR findings; sample of Brazilian FM professionals; statistical treatment; and discussion.

Results indicate wireless sensor network, Internet of Thing, building information modeling and Big Data as ETs in FM with greater potential for optimization in the performance of FM activities, from survey respondents.

The scope of possible findings may have been biased, considering the small number of research participants and current transformations resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g. changes to standard operating procedures).

The results ensure greater security to facility managers in the effective implementation of ETs in FM activities.

The research explores the published studies and the consultation with Brazilian FM professionals in the selection of ETs.

Recently, interest in sustainability has grown globally in the heavy vehicle and equipment industry (HVEI). However, this industry's complexity poses a challenge to the implementation of generic sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices. This study aims to identify SSCM's barriers, practices and performance (BPP) indicators in the HVEI context.

The results are derived from case studies of four multinational manufacturers. Within-case and cross-case analyses were conducted to categorise the SSCM BPP indicators that are unique to HVEI supply chains.

This study's analysis revealed that supply chain cost implications and a deficient information flow between focal firms and supply chain partners are the key barriers to SSCM in the HVEI. This analysis also revealed a set of policies, programmes and procedures that manufacturers have adopted to address SSCM barriers. The most common SSCM performance indicators included eco-portfolio sales to assess economic performance, health and safety indicators for social sustainability and carbon- and energy-related measures for environmental sustainability.

The insights can help HVEI firms understand and overcome the typical SSCM barriers in their industry and develop, deploy and optimise their SSCM strategies and practices. Managers can use this knowledge to identify appropriate mechanisms with which to accelerate their transition into a sustainable business and effectively measure performance outcomes.

The extant SSCM literature has focused on the light vehicle industry, and it has lacked a concrete examination of HVEI supply chains' sustainability BPP. This study develops a framework that simultaneously analyses SSCM BPP in the HVEI.