Improving maintainability of products through the adoption of a comprehensive design for maintainability method

This paper presents a systematic methodology to enhance the maintenance operation of products and systems. This is accomplished through the adoption of Design for X (DfX) principles as well as the use of MTM predetermined time system. As is well known, maintenance, often a necessary evil, is responsible for equipment downtime. Lack of regular maintenance can result in serious equipment failure with catastrophic consequences. The methodology presented in this paper deals with product design for maintenance. It also addresses the human factors associated with the maintenance operation. The authors have made a conscious effort to incorporate this factor into the methodology, given the labor intensive nature of virtually all maintenance operations. This paper is divided into two parts. The first part presents a brief overview of selected maintenance related concepts, given limited space availability. The second part of the paper presents the aforementioned methodology. A real life case study is also used to demonstrate the practical utility of the methodology.