2. MAINTENANCE SERVICES AND SUSTAINABILITY RELATIONSHIP

Ecology and industry, which have been against each other for a long time, have started to come together in the concept of sustainability to overcome the economic, environmental and social problems facing the world. Although not at the desired level, this situation is positive for the future. This cooperation has resulted in industrial enterprises and manufacturing companies incorporating the environment into their strategies with an innovative approach in production in the context of industrial ecology and circular economy. This led to the transition from product to product-service systems approach. However, this approach includes maintenance, which is a natural service of the product, not an after-sales service needed to maintain the functionality of the product. Generally, maintenance is defined as a combination of all technical, administrative and managerial actions throughout the life cycle of a product that are intended to maintain or restore it in a condition where it can perform its required function.A common mistake is to think of maintenance as “fixing something when it breaks”. Nevertheless, if something breaks, it means that the maintenance has failed. Since standard maintenance of products without deterioration requires an extra cost, it has a negative impact on customers, making the transition to a product-service systems approach difficult [8]. Although many manufacturers go to optimization in production by using lean production principles, maintenance costs, it is a big burden and constitute approximately 40% of the total production cost [9]. At the same time, classical care itself does not include a sustainable approach. Various challenges such as these have led to the emergence of new strategies in the field of care, such as “lean maintenance” and “green maintenance” [8].

If you are a manufacturer or a conscious user who thinks that maintenance is important, it would be useful to have information about the concepts of lean maintenance and green maintenance;

Lean maintenance is the process of identifying, reducing and eliminating waste from maintenance activities. It is a maintenance strategy that aims to increase efficiency while reducing waste in the management of products and systems. A product’s maintenance strategy should be determined at the design stage. There is a common misconception that lean maintenance is only a subset or by-product of adopting lean manufacturing practices. However, in order to be successful in lean manufacturing, you must first implement lean maintenance. Lean maintenance is based on the application of lean methodology in the field of product/machine/system maintenance and repair [9].

Waste in maintenance is a perennial problem due to a plethora of inefficient practices, such as: excessive maintenance, unnecessary transportation of spares, walking back to a central location after every task to pick up new work orders, wasting time searching for tools and replacement parts , work order pile-ups due to poor inventory management, premature replacement of costly spares, delays and downtime due to slow processing or overprocessing, extra expenses to correct servicing errors and repair defects, etc. [9]. Therefore, using a lean approach to maintenance can bring major improvements to vital aspects of the manufacturing process. Without proper maintenance, machines break down, the production process stops, your plans are messed up due to breakdown, and your equipment life is shortened.

Lean maintenance helps you maintain more effectively with fewer resources.

For lean maintenance, the following 5 main topics should be followed [9];

• Proactive maintenance strategy: Do not rely on a passive maintenance strategy to reduce start-up costs. Waiting for critical assets to fail before repair/replacement is inefficient.
• Computer-assisted maintenance management system (CMMS): A computer-assisted software is a good strategy for increasing efficiency in work order management, general planning, maintenance scheduling, backup management, budgeting, worker management, and more.
• Updating asset inventory: Having a fully updated inventory of all your core assets is essential for lean maintenance. You can use it to plan your repair schedules, spare parts request processes, and allocation of maintenance teams.
• Operator training and autonomy: Oversight by maintenance managers often leads to slowdowns and inefficiencies in the maintenance system. Firms and managers should embrace the concept of increased autonomy in the workspace in lean maintenance. This requires a team of highly trained, preferably highly skilled repair technicians.
• Leadership change and lean culture: Lean maintenance often requires a significant change in how systems are managed – focusing on increased autonomy at lower levels rather than overt centralization of power. This cannot happen without a fundamental change in attitudes about the role of leadership.

Figure 3: Two mechanics repairing the car, Source: (freepik.com/author/serhiibobyk)

Green maintenance is an attempt to make care more environmentally friendly by eliminating all waste streams associated with care [10]. Green maintenance focuses on integrating product design with the maintenance process to minimize negative environmental impact. This situation serves not only a cleaner environment, but also the health and safety of the personnel involved in production [10].

On the other hand, the green maintenance strategy focuses on energy efficiency. Improving energy efficiency practices and using renewable energy sources improves air quality and reduces greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. It also reduces ongoing operating costs by reducing electricity bills. Green maintenance is basically an investment for a sustainable world with changes made during maintenance. For example, replacing a blown lamp with a new product with high energy efficiency and long life. In addition, green maintenance emphasizes that parts which are replaced during maintenance are designed for recycling/reuse. This mentality of green care helps reduce environmental waste and conserve natural resources [11].