Multi-criteria decision methodology for selecting maintenance key performance indicators

Many key performance indicators (KPIs) can be used for measuring maintenance performance. Companies must implement a suitable set of KPIs to measure the performance of maintenance services and the influence of practices implemented in their activities. Establishing a useful set of maintenance KPIs depends on a company's maintenance objectives and is highly related to specific business contexts, strategies, processes, and systems. Maintenance managers deal with the complex tasks of finding the best performance indicators that can help them to achieve goals. This paper presents a new approach to selecting relevant maintenance KPIs using a methodology based on the original ELECTRE I, which is a multi-criteria decision making method. The proposed methodology, which involves decision maker's preference information, determines a ranking of possible alternatives following its evaluation according to important criteria. To validate the methodology, a case study is presented. The results show that this methodology is an effective tool to aid maintenance managers in accurate KPI selection tasks according to maintenance objectives and strategies. The proposed methodology makes the decision process more explicit, rational, and efficient.