Maintenance aspects should preferably be considered
during system design, from the early concept phase. However,
all too often the maintainability considerations are
postponed until it is too late to make any significant system
changes. Detailed maintenance strategies should also be
established before the system is put into operation. Very
often these strategies are only rudimentary and made on
an ad hoc basis as problems occur. In this article we will,
however, not discuss the important aspect of how to integrate
RCM-like ideas in the early development stages, but
assume that we either are dealing with a system that is ready
for commissioning or a system in operation.