The maintenance management framework: A practical view to maintenance management

The objective of this paper is to define a process for maintenance management and to classify maintenance engineering techniques within that process. Regarding the maintenance management process, we present a generic model proposed for maintenance management which integrates other models found in the literature for built and in-use assets, and consists of eight sequential management building blocks. The different maintenance engineering techniques are playing a crucial role within each one of those eight management building blocks. Following this path we characterize the "maintenance management framework", i.e. the Supporting structure of the management process. We offer a practical vision of the set of activities composing each management block, and the result of the paper is a classification of the different maintenance engineering tools. The discussion of the different tools can also classify them as qualitative or quantitative. At the same time, some tools will be very analytical tools while others will be highly empirical. The paper also discusses the proper use of each tool or technique according to the volume of data/information available.