Modular maintenance instructions architecture (MMIA)

Abstract

Purpose: The study consists of a literature study and a case study. The need for a method via which to handle instruction complexity was identified in both studies. The proposed method was developed based on methods from the literature and experience from the case company. Design/methodology/approach: The purpose of the study presented in this paper is to investigate how linking different maintenance domains in a modular maintenance instruction architecture can help reduce the complexity of maintenance instructions. Findings: The proposed method combines knowledge from the operational and physical domains to reduce the number of instruction task variants. In a case study, the number of instruction task modules was reduced from 224 to 20, covering 83% of the maintenance performed on emergency shutdown valves. Originality/value: The study showed that the other methods proposed within the body of maintenance literature mainly focus on the development of modular instructions, without the reduction of complexity and non-value-adding variation observed in the product architecture literature.