Abstract
Abstract : The increasing demand for productivity, quality and availability is driving the need for the effective management of physical assets. The depletion of traditional cost cutting, the disadvantages associated with rapid growth and the management of change has caused companies to explore more effective and efficient options. Not only do organisations have to meet customer needs and improve the availability and performance of equipment, organisations also need to do so while also reducing operational costs. These factors have led to the increasing concentration on reliability within the business sector, specifically strategic maintenance management. Maintenance is one of the most important variables of reliability and forms an integral part of productivity improvement. Digital maintenance management systems are software-based systems used for managing and controlling plant and equipment maintenance in modern manufacturing and service industries. Many companies make use of such systems to ensure the effective management of physical assets, which plays an enormously important role in maintaining a profitable business. The application of digitalization requires strategic planning, advances in technology need to be put in a business context to ensure that they are aligned with the overall objectives of the company. Efficient and effective maintenance management strategies enable organisations to attain desired levels of equipment availability, reliability and maintainability. Once the strategic maintenance management plan has been developed, various maintenance management systems are used to implement, control and monitor of the plan. The mining industry is undergoing significant market challenges such as increasing depths in shafts, fluctuating commodity prices and international competition. In order to cope with these challenges, integrated business processes are required. Literature suggests that Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are the best solutions for integrating business processes. Historically, selecting a digital maintenance management system was simple and required minimal research, however, as markets become saturated with various types of maintenance software and technologies become more advanced, selecting digital maintenance management systems is becoming more complex. There are various methods for evaluating and selecting digital maintenance management systems. The research approach for this ...
M.Phil. (Engineering Management)