Managing storeroom operations using cluster-based preventative maintenance

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact on the cost of materials used to conduct preventive maintenance (PM). The main motivation for this work is to demonstrate how the group technology concept can be used to improve PM operations. In assessing improvement, the impact on the cost of materials used to conduct PM is investigated. Design/methodology/approach - Based on the similarities between machines required maintenance and failure types, machines are grouped together into virtual cells using similarity coefficients. These cells, then, are used to come up with more efficient planning and scheduling procedures to conduct PM operations including inventory of parts and the execution of maintenance operations. Findings - The results demonstrated that the proposed PM approach could provide a significant cost savings over a traditional PM program, especially in industries for which there is considerable material cost for the performance of PM. Originality/value - The results presented in this paper are reliable, objective, and may be expanded by using the same concept of developing virtual cells to group other types manufacturing operations.