An information-processing model of maintenance management

In the past two decades, changes in the production environment have made the task of making decisions about allocating maintenance resources and scheduling maintenance work more difficult. More variables and consequences must be considered requiring increased information-processing capacity. In this paper, Galbraith's (Organization Design, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA) information-processing model is applied to study how the maintenance function applies different strategies to cope with the environmental complexity. Based on data from a survey of plant managers, the analysis shows that maintenance responds to the complexity of its environment with the use of computerized maintenance management systems, preventive and predictive maintenance systems, coordination and increased workforce size. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.