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1 – 10 of over 19000Fadi A. Fatayer, Mohammad A. Hassanain, Abdullatif Abdallah and Abdul-Mohsen Al-Hammad
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current practices of the early facilities management (FM) involvement during the design development and review stages (DDRS), and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current practices of the early facilities management (FM) involvement during the design development and review stages (DDRS), and recommend activities aimed at achieving better integration.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive literature review was conducted to ascertain the challenges faced by the integrated design team (IDT) in the absence of the facilities managers’ review of design solutions, and underscore the significance of the early involvement of facilities managers during the DDRS. A questionnaire survey was then developed for collecting data on eight aspects of the current practices of early FM involvement during the DDRS. The questionnaire survey was administered to the FM departments of 13 long established, public universities in Saudi Arabia. Ten responses were obtained and analyzed.
Findings
The findings suggest that the early involvement of the FM department enhances the operation and maintenance of facilities. This has been measured through reductions in the number of architectural, structural, electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilating and air conditioning defects.
Practical implications
Recommendations were provided to facilitate the process of integrating the practices of two influential stakeholders of building projects. These recommendations encompass the need for maintainability considerations at the early schematic stage, the necessity of direct contact between the two parties and the necessity of facility managers’ increased familiarity of the design stage activities, among other recommendations. In this way, the study promotes the awareness of the significance of integrating FM with the IDT at the DDRS.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature and practice by presenting a detailed analysis of the integration process between the FM department and the IDT. Furthermore, the outcomes of the integration between the parties were measured to assess the effectiveness of the collaboration and highlight the possible areas of improvement.
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Teresa Martha Soderhjelm, Tone Nordling, Christer Sandahl, Gerry Larsson and Kristina Palm
The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible factors related to transfer of knowledge and skills from two leadership development courses to the work environment and its…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible factors related to transfer of knowledge and skills from two leadership development courses to the work environment and its maintenance for two years post training.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 12 leaders in two different types of courses were interviewed at least two years after their participation. Thematic analysis was used to identify patterns within the data that explained if, how and why these leaders used this knowledge and these skills in their leadership practice.
Findings
The most influential themes identified were personalized feedback in the courses, increased confidence in leadership roles after the courses, the opportunity to use new knowledge and skills at work, employee feedback, management facilitation and continual reflection.
Practical implications
Leadership development programs should include personalized feedback and reinforce continual reflection on the feedback and course content. The short-term goal of such programs should be to increase leaders’ confidence in their leadership role. The employer must offer opportunities for continual reflection, facilitate dialogue with employees, peers or superiors for long-term maintenance of skills and knowledge.
Originality/value
Outcome studies of leadership development programs are scarce and long-term follow-up of transfer and maintenance of knowledge, as this one, even more unusual.
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Petros Pistofidis, Christos Emmanouilidis, Aggelos Papadopoulos and Pantelis N. Botsaris
Field expertise in industry is often poorly recorded and unexploited. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a methodology and tool that incorporates a knowledge validation…
Abstract
Purpose
Field expertise in industry is often poorly recorded and unexploited. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a methodology and tool that incorporates a knowledge validation loop to leverage upon human-contributed field observations in industrial maintenance management. Starting from a failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) model, it defines a collaborative process that links FMECA knowledge with field maintenance practice.
Design/methodology/approach
A metadata management system is designed to encourage staff involvement in enriching knowledge with field observations. The process supports easy feedback and collaborative annotation and is pilot tested via an industrial case study.
Findings
Streamlining FMECA validation is welcomed by maintenance staff, empowering them to exert more control over the management, usage and versioning of reference knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
The methodology for metadata management in industrial maintenance enables staff participation in a collaborative knowledge enrichment process. Metadata management is a pre-cursor and therefore an important step to drive future analytics.
Practical implications
Industry personnel are more inclined to contribute to organisational knowledge if the process is based on reference knowledge and requires minimal interaction.
Social implications
Facilitating individual contribution to collective knowledge strengthens the sense that each staff member can have organisational impact.
Originality/value
The paper introduces a methodology and tool to stimulate human-contributed knowledge in industrial maintenance, strengthening collaborative organisation knowledge flows.
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Hassan Th. Alassafi, Khalid S. Al-Gahtani, Abdulmohsen S. Almohsen and Abdullah M. Alsugair
Heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and cooling (HVAC) systems are crucial in daily health-care facility services. Design-related defects can lead to maintenance issues…
Abstract
Purpose
Heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and cooling (HVAC) systems are crucial in daily health-care facility services. Design-related defects can lead to maintenance issues, causing service disruptions and cost overruns. These defects can be avoided if a link between the early design stages and maintenance feedback is established. This study aims to use experts’ experience in HVAC maintenance in health-care facilities to list and evaluate the risk of each maintenance issue caused by a design defect, supported by the literature.
Design/methodology/approach
Following semistructured interviews with experts, 41 maintenance issues were identified as the most encountered issues. Subsequently, a survey was conducted in which 44 participants evaluated the probability and impact of each design-caused issue.
Findings
Chillers were identified as the HVAC components most prone to design defects and cost impact. However, air distribution ducts and air handling units are the most critical HVAC components for maintaining healthy conditions inside health-care facilities.
Research limitations/implications
The unavailability of comprehensive data on the cost impacts of all design-related defects from multiple health-care facilities limits the ability of HVAC designers to furnish case studies and quantitative approaches.
Originality/value
This study helps HVAC designers acquire prior knowledge of decisions that may have led to unnecessary and avoidable maintenance. These design-related maintenance issues may cause unfavorable health and cost consequences.
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Peter Söderholm, Mattias Holmgren and Bengt Klefsjö
The purpose of this paper is to describe maintenance in a generic process model, in order to support an alignment of maintenance with other company internal processes aimed at…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe maintenance in a generic process model, in order to support an alignment of maintenance with other company internal processes aimed at fulfilling external stakeholder requirements.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed maintenance process model is based on existing theories and is illustrated by examples from a paper‐mill case study related to the maintenance of DC‐motors.
Findings
The proposed model supports a holistic view of maintenance and the alignment of the maintenance process with other company internal processes, in order to fulfil external stakeholder requirements.
Research limitations/implications
Further research could include an application of the proposed maintenance model to test its usefulness to identify stakeholders and also hazard diagnosis.
Practical implications
The importance of vertical and horizontal alignment between the maintenance process and other processes in order to achieve effectiveness and efficiency is illustrated. The model can be used to increase the understanding of the role of maintenance within a company. Thereby, the proposed process model provides valuable support for effective, efficient, and continuous risk reduction.
Originality/value
The proposed process view highlights that maintenance can contribute to the fulfilment of external stakeholders' requirements, which strengthens the proposition that maintenance should be seen as a business‐process that creates value and not as something that is a “necessary evil”.
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Examines the background to building maintenance management,emphasizing its importance due to new developments in building design.Suggests that, owing to the use of less‐durable…
Abstract
Examines the background to building maintenance management, emphasizing its importance due to new developments in building design. Suggests that, owing to the use of less‐durable materials in construction the need for long‐term planning in order for maintenance to be profitable is important.
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Mohammad A. Hassanain, Sadi Assaf, Khalaf Al‐Ofi and Abdullah Al‐Abdullah
The objectives of this paper are to identify and assess the factors that affect the cost of maintenance of hospital facilities.
Abstract
Purpose
The objectives of this paper are to identify and assess the factors that affect the cost of maintenance of hospital facilities.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a literature review on hospital maintenance cost to identify the factors affecting the cost of maintenance and interviewed a selected group of ten experienced facilities managers of both public and private hospitals. 33 factors were identified, and synthesized in seven groups. A questionnaire survey was developed to assess the factors. Responses were obtained on the developed questionnaire survey by interviewing the facilities managers of the full population of the 40 hospitals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, 20 of which were public hospitals and the other 20 were private hospitals. The data received were analyzed to identify the level of importance for the factors. The factors were ranked according to their importance index values.
Findings
The most important factors from the perspectives of public hospitals are “transfer of problems from the construction phase to the maintenance phase for resolution”, “lack of coordination between the construction and maintenance group”, and “lack of quality control measures during the installation of systems”. These three factors were all encompassed within the construction group. The most important factors from the perspectives of the private hospitals were encompassed in the statutory requirements and the design phase groups. These factors are “duration of the maintenance contract” and “the method of classifying maintenance contractors”, “errors conducted during the design of the project” and “lack of feedback from the maintenance group to the design team”.
Practical implications
This paper is of practical significance to hospital project managers and facilities managers, as it will prompt the management of hospital facilities to focus on the most important factors affecting the cost of maintenance and thereby reduce that cost.
Originality/value
This paper is original in the sense that the areas of knowledge and practice encompassed in the identified factors were scattered and not available in one source. The factors were derived from personal interviews with selected facilities managers of both private and public hospitals, as well as from the relevant literature.
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Roberto Sala, Marco Bertoni, Fabiana Pirola and Giuditta Pezzotta
This paper aims to present a dual-perspective framework for maintenance service delivery that should be used by manufacturing companies to structure and manage their maintenance…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a dual-perspective framework for maintenance service delivery that should be used by manufacturing companies to structure and manage their maintenance service delivery process, using aggregated historical and real-time data to improve operational decision-making. The framework, built for continuous improvement, allows the exploitation of maintenance data to improve the knowledge of service processes and machines.
Design/methodology/approach
The Dual-perspective, data-based decision-making process for maintenance delivery (D3M) framework development and test followed a qualitative approach based on literature reviews and semi-structured interviews. The pool of companies interviewed was expanded from the development to the test stage to increase its applicability and present additional perspectives.
Findings
The interviews confirmed that manufacturing companies are interested in exploiting the data generated in the use phase to improve operational decision-making in maintenance service delivery. Feedback to improve the framework methods and tools was collected, as well as suggestions for the introduction of new ones according to the companies' necessities.
Originality/value
The paper presents a novel framework addressing the data-based decision-making process for maintenance service delivery. The D3M framework can be used by manufacturing companies to structure their maintenance service delivery process and improve their knowledge of machines and service processes.
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Maintenance control deals with the co‐ordination of maintenance demandand resources in such a way that stated objectives are satisfied. Thisallocation problem is characterized by…
Abstract
Maintenance control deals with the co‐ordination of maintenance demand and resources in such a way that stated objectives are satisfied. This allocation problem is characterized by complexity, uncertainty and flexibility. These conditions warrant a hierarchical decision structure primarily aimed at a stepwise refinement of control on the basis of increasingly detailed information. A reference framework of decision functions is developed to facilitate the design of maintenance control systems in what essentially are unique situations.
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A. Raouf, Zulfiqar Ali and S.O. Duffuaa
Maintenance management consists of an aggregate effort to performmaintenance by effectively utilizing manpower and material through theapplication of standard procedures. It is a…
Abstract
Maintenance management consists of an aggregate effort to perform maintenance by effectively utilizing manpower and material through the application of standard procedures. It is a complex and multifaceted task. An ever‐growing number of computerized maintenance management information systems are available on the market to facilitate this task. In order to install a computerized maintenance management system, a company has two options: either to buy or to develop such a system. Briefly describes the major functions of maintenance management and suggests an instrument to evaluate comparatively the available computerized maintenance management systems.
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