So, contemporary management considers maintenance as an integral function in achieving productive operations and high-quality products, while maintaining satisfactory equipment and machines reliability as demanded by
the era of automation, flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), “lean manufacturing”, and “just-in-time” operations. However, there is no universally accepted methodology for designing maintenance systems, i.e., no fully structured approach leading to an optimal maintenance system (i.e., organizational structure with a defined hierarchy of authority and span of control; defined maintenance procedures and policies, etc.). Identical product organizations, but different in technology advancement and production size, may apply different maintenance systems and the different systems may run successfully. So, maintenance systems are designed using experience and judgment supported by a number of formal decision tools and techniques. Nevertheless, two vital considerations should be considered: strategy that decides on which level within the plant to perform maintenance, and hence outlining a structure that will support the maintenance; planning that handles dayto-day decisions on what maintenance tasks to perform and providing the resources to undertake these tasks. The maintenance organizing function can be viewed as one of the basic and integral parts of the maintenance management function (MMF). The MMF consists of planning, organizing, implementing and controlling maintenance activities. The management organizes, provides resources (personnel, capital, assets, material and hardware, etc.) and leads to performing tasks and accomplishing targets. Figure 1.1 shows the role organizing plays in the management process. Once the plans are created, the management’s task is to ensure that they are carried out in an effective and efficient manner. Having a clear mission, strategy, and objectives facilitated by a corporate culture, organizing starts the process of implementation by clarifying job and working relations (chain of command, span of control, delegation of authority, etc.).