Supporting the Implementation of Predictive Maintenance

The perception of predictive maintenance as a proactive maintenance strategy to anticipate and reduce severe and costly failures and by thus increasing asset reliability has grown significantly in recent years. Due to the availability of machine sensor data and the intention to use these data in a purposeful way, the introduction of predictive maintenance provides a logical step towards maintenance optimization in industry. Several German industrial surveys highlight the growing interest in the topic by the majority of the addressed companies. Nevertheless, most of these companies are considering predictive maintenance on their future agenda and are currently only at the beginning of its implementation. This is, in many cases, due to missing internal knowledge and systematic guidance for maintenance practitioners. Existing process models and supportive guidance build on theoretical knowledge from experts; however, they often lack the complexity and challenges of industrial applications. In addition, most theoretical models focus on specific aspects of the entire process, target particular application areas, or present a few high-level steps. This paper, therefore, introduces the Process Reference Model for Predictive Maintenance (PReMMa), a comprehensive three-stage hierarchical process reference model for the implementation of predictive maintenance for industrial applications. The process reference model synthesizes existing process models as well as results from interviews with eleven practitioners from both management consultancies and experts from several industrial fields. With regard to four main phases and the predictive maintenance application, results are presented with consideration of the essential steps, their deliverables as well as the involved persons.

An Application of a Multi-Criteria Approach for the Development of a Process Reference Model for Supply Chain Operations

Nowadays, there are a plethora of business process modeling tools for use by researchers and practitioners. This paper presents the implementation of a methodological approach for the selection of such a tool in order to construct a process reference model. This reference model will support the development of a distribution system in the context of the supply chain in the phase of the system’s requirements definition, as well as in the final implementation of the system in real-life supply chain operations. The reference model is crucial for the easy and effective adoption of the system into companies’ processes. Therefore, the choice of the modeling tool can strongly support the design, development and implementation of the system. In this context, the application of a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was carried out in order to select the appropriate tool, utilizing a combination of the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE) I method for the decision-making with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method for the calculation of the weights of the evaluation criteria. The MCDA’s results showed that the Architecture of Integrated Information Systems (ARIS) Architect & Designer Tool was the one that better met the evaluation criteria. The sensitivity analysis that followed the MCDA reaffirmed its results by revealing that this tool had the highest consistency, despite the changes in the scenarios.