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The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for measuring the imprecise and subjective “effectiveness” of a major maintenance activity. Such a measure will not only bring objectivity in gauging the effectiveness of maintenance task carried out by the workforce without any intervention from an expert but also help in measuring the slow degradation of the performance of the concerned major equipment/system.

The paper follows a three-step approach. First, identify a set of parameters considered important for estimating the maintenance activity effectiveness. Second, generate a set of data using expert opinions on a fuzzy performance measure of maintenance activity effectiveness (output). Also, find an aggregated estimate of the effectiveness by analysing the consensus among experts. This requires using a part of the “fuzzy multiple attribute decision making” process. Finally, train a neuro-fuzzy inference system based on input parameters and generated output data.

The paper analysed major maintenance activity carried out on diesel engines of a power plant company. Expert opinions were used in selection of key parameters and generation of output (effectiveness measure). The result of a trained adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) matched acceptably well with that aggregated through the expert opinions.

In view of unavailability of data, the method relies on training a neuro-fuzzy system on data generated through expert opinion. The data as such are vague and imprecise leading to lack of consensus between experts. This can lead to some amount of error in the output generated through ANFIS.

The originality of the paper lies in presentation of a method to estimate the effectiveness of a maintenance activity.

Organizations are increasingly confronted with legitimacy threats related to the perceived social costs of their business activities. Despite a significant amount of research on the responses of individual organizations, surprisingly limited attention has been paid to the collective activities firms may engage to address such issues. In this paper, we use institutional theory as a lens for an exploratory case study of Issue-Based Industry Collective (IBIC) action in the alcohol industry. Our findings identify a new organizational form, the IBIC and inspire new research avenues at the intersection of business collective action, social issues, and institutional theory.

In this paper an experience dealing with the analysis of maintenance outsourcing by means of multi‐criteria decision methods (MCDM) is reported. In particular, the analytic hierarchy process technique (AHP) is used as a managerial decision support system to select the best alternative between different outsourcing contracts in terms of maintenance services. The proposed methodology has been tested on an industrial case study dealing with an important italian brickwork. This application shows how the AHP is able to support the choice of the correct level of the maintenance activities outsourcing. In particular, the hierarchic decisional structure developed represents an instrument able to give a well balanced synthesis of several different factors that must be taken into account during this type of decision problem.

Correct and well-planned maintenance based on modern global methods directly affects efficiency, quality, direct production costs, reliability and profitability. The selection of an optimal policy for maintenance can be a good solution for industrial units. In fact, by managing constraints such as costs, working hours and human workforce causing sudden equipment failure, production and performance can increase.

Therefore, in this research a model was presented to select the best maintenance strategy at Kaghaz Kar Kasra Co of Iran. In this study, it was tried to integrate the two techniques of goal programming and the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to prioritize maintenance strategies. First, all factors affecting maintenance were identified, and based on the Best Worst Method (BWM) the degree of their importance was determined.

After the evaluation, only 14 criteria in the 4 dimensions of cost, added value, safety and feasibility were selected. The highest points were given to the criteria of equipment cost and depreciation, equipment and personnel performance, equipment installation time and technical feasibility, respectively. In the next stage, using the TOPSIS method the item of maintenance strategy was ranked, and the 3 strategies of preventive maintenance (PM), predictive maintenance (PDM) and corrective maintenance (CM) were chosen. Modeling was performed utilizing a goal programming approach to select the optimal maintenance strategy for 13 devices. All the technical specifications, cost limits and the device time were extracted. After the model was finished and solved the best item for each device was specified.

1. Developing a goal programming model and decision-making dashboard. 2. Identifying the criteria and factors affecting the selection of the maintenance strategy for paper production Industry

The main purpose of present study is to model the replacement policy under uncertainty for managerial application based on grey-reliability approach by considering the subjective views of quality control circle (QCC). The study objectively links the optimality between individual replacement and group replacement policies for determining the minimum operational costs. The integrated framework between QCC, replacement theory, grey set theory and supply chain management is presented to plan replacement actions under uncertainty.

The study proposes the concept of grey-reliability index and built a decision support model, which can deal with the imprecise information for determining the minimum operational costs to plan subsequent maintenance efforts.

The findings of the study establish the synergy between individual replacement and group replacement policies. The computations related to the numbers of failures, operational costs, reliability index and failure probabilities are presented under developed framework. An integrated framework to facilitate the managers in deciding the replacement policy based on operational time towards concerning replacement of assets that do not deteriorate, but fails suddenly over time is presented. The conceptual model is explained with a numerical procedure to illustrate the significance of the proposed approach.

A conceptual model under the framework of such items, whose failures cannot be corrected by repair actions, but can only be set by replacement is presented. The study provides an important knowledge based decision support framework for crafting a replacement model using grey set theory. The study captured subjective information to build decision model in the ambit of replacement.

The largest share of a building maintenance budget goes towards preventing or repairing building defects. Also, building defects shorten a building’s lifetime, impact the user’s safety and health, prevent the buildings from performing their functions well and repairing building defects generates waste. Therefore, this study aims to specify the factors that affecting the number of building defects and how to reduce their negative impacts.

A case study was used as a research strategy and convergent parallel mixed methods were used as research design. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected concurrently, followed by independent analyses of the quantitative and qualitative data, and then merged the two sets of results according to the procedure of using the convergent parallel design. Descriptive statistics analysed quantitative data, whilst qualitative data was analysed by the content analysis technique.

The findings of this study explored the factors that affect the number of defects in buildings, the significant factors were related to the building’s life cycle in terms of design, construction, operation and maintenance phase; relevant attributes were construction teams, building users and maintenance teams. The study also addressed the approaches to minimise the negative impacts of those factors. Their negative impacts mainly contributed to increased building defects that increase maintenance costs, affect users’ safety and health, reduce buildings’ lifespan and cause environmental impact due to resource extraction.

The existing studies have not adequately addressed the significant factors that affect the number of building defects. Also, emerging technologies and environmental sustainability considerations related to building defects have not been linked in previous related work. Therefore, the present study has contributed to filling this gap.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is considered a means to create competitive advantage for a company, as well as influence organizational performance. Much research has explored CRM users' point of view vis‐à‐vis successful CRM implementation, yet little concern has been shown regarding customers' viewpoints toward these same actions. This is surprising given that one of the beneficiaries of CRM is the customer. This paper aims to report the results of a study that explored the gap between actual bank CRM actions and customers' expectations of those actions in relation to CRM customers' intention to remain in the relationship.

This study explores the gap between actual bank CRM implementation and customers' expectations of those actions in relation to customer retention using a survey method. A research model is presented to illustrate the theoretical relationships of the research.

The findings indicate that an incompatibility exists between the interval of actual CRM implementation activities and customers' expectations of the interval and that this incompatibility has an adverse effect on customers' willingness to remain in the relationship. Additionally, customers and CRM personnel hold different perceptions regarding the frequency with which CRM implementation activities should be executed.

Implementing CRM service efforts should be compatible with customers' expectations. Therefore, companies should pay keen attention when selecting the optimal frequency of CRM implementation so that it meets customers' expectations. Also, firms may be having too frequent CRM contact with customers, thus creating inefficient use of CRM resources.

This paper explores selected variables that may influence CRM performance vis‐à‐vis its implementation. The research provides the unique perspective of the customer as a major factor to consider for successful CRM implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of innovation modes in understanding challenges of integrated NSD and NPD, and the use of structured NSD processes in manufacturing firms.

The research is based on a two-stage multiple case study. The first stage is an interview study of 17 key informants representing manufacturing firms in the machine industry. The second stage is an in-depth study of three service innovations at three manufacturing firms based on 16 interviews with key informants.

The results of the study show that NSD processes are often more structured if the service is developed separately from the product. The fact that different innovation modes benefit from varying degrees of structure in the development process means that integrated service development can be challenging. Furthermore, service innovations often follow a trajectory of innovation modes before succeeding in the market. Some innovation modes occur within the NSD process, while others occur outside the process. One success factor for NSD is the fit between the innovation modes and the NSD process, rather than the NSD process per se.

This research uses innovation modes to explain why NSD in manufacturing firms is often performed on an ad hoc basis, and how service innovations go through a trajectory of innovation modes. In this way, the study contributes to theory development of service innovation, and specifically service innovations in manufacturing firms.

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and to present an overview of TPM implementation practices adopted by the manufacturing organizations. It also seeks to highlight appropriate enablers and success factors for eliminating barriers in successful TPM implementation.

The paper systematically categorizes the published literature and then analyzes and reviews it methodically.

The paper reveals the important issues in Total Productive Maintenance ranging from maintenance techniques, framework of TPM, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), TPM implementation practices, barriers and success factors in TPM implementation, etc. The contributions of strategic TPM programmes towards improving manufacturing competencies of the organizations have also been highlighted here.

The literature on classification of Total Productive Maintenance has so far been very limited. The paper reviews a large number of papers in this field and presents the overview of various TPM implementation practices demonstrated by manufacturing organizations globally. It also highlights the approaches suggested by various researchers and practitioners and critically evaluates the reasons behind failure of TPM programmes in the organizations. Further, the enablers and success factors for TPM implementation have also been highlighted for ensuring smooth and effective TPM implementation in the organizations.

The paper contains a comprehensive listing of publications on the field in question and their classification according to various attributes. It will be useful to researchers, maintenance professionals and others concerned with maintenance to understand the significance of TPM.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new formulation of the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) relying on the process approach (PA) in maintenance. This new indicator will be designated by OEE-TCQ.

Methodology followed in this paper is based on using two major parts. The first part deals with the use of time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) and program evaluation and review technique (PERT) methods to formulate the temporal and financial components of the OEE-TCQ. The second part concerns the quality component formulation of OEE-TCQ by using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method and quality’s improvement (Six Sigma).

It is a new formulation of the OEE, based on the PA applied to operational maintenance processes, and also is interesting for improvement maintenance.

The new OEE-TCQ indicator can be used to support maintenance managers to have a three-dimensional analysis based on time, financial and quality criteria, also to improve time, cost and quality of each activity of maintenance operational processes.

This paper is one of few papers in maintenance proposing a new formulation of the OEE by using the combination of several methods especially TDABC, PERT, AHP and Six Sigma. It proposes in part a new quality evaluation approach for each activity of maintenance operational processes. Also, it suggests a new formulation for defects by millions of opportunities.