The nature of engineering maintenance work: A blank space on the map

Abstract

Engineering maintenance work is assumed and taken for granted. It is surprising to find that there are just a handful of carefully researched accounts of engineering work, and only one of engineering maintenance work. Yet there is strong evidence that engineering maintenance work is far from satisfactory with reported losses from equipment and plant breakdowns exceeding 40% of turnover. These losses often exceed direct maintenance costs by several times. While there are many prescriptions for organizing maintenance work, there is no research to substantiate these prescriptions. This paper reviews the available literature and describes research that is mapping the nature of engineering work in a form that could lead to significant improvements.