IMPROVING MAINTAINABILITY OF PRODUCTS THROUGH THE ADOPTION OF A COMPREHENSIVE DfX METHODOLOGY

This paper presents a systematic methodology to enhance the maintenance operation of products and systems. This is accomplished through the adoption of Design for X (DfX) principles as well as the use of MTM systems. As the reader is aware, maintenance is often a necessary evil that is responsible for equipment downtime. However, lack of regular maintenance often results in serious equipment failure and resulting catastrophic consequences. The methodology presented in this paper deals with product design for maintenance. It also addresses the human factors associated with the maintenance operation. The authors have made a conscious effort to incorporate this factor into the methodology, given the labor intensive nature of virtually all maintenance operations. This paper is divided into two parts. The first part presents a very brief overview of some maintenance related concepts given limited space availability. The second part of the paper presents the aforementioned methodology. A real life case study is also used to corroborate the practical utility of the methodology