Maintenance Maturity Level Identification using MABAC Method: An Adaptation of TPM Pillars in a Public Service Sector

Abstract

Having systematic maintenance practices does sustain the lifecycle of the facilities. Hence, engineers have always been seeking for practical approaches toward providing better maintenance scheme. Such attempts have resulted in the appearance of numerous maintenance management models including the most commonly accepted one, that is, the total productive maintenance (TPM). Although the concept of TPM and its corresponding pillars have extensively been investigated in the recent literature of Maintenance Engineering and Management, the majority of the previous research attempts, including the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) applications, have handled them within the context of the manufacturing sector; and almost none of them have been applied in the services sector. This paper proposes the multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) method, a newly developed MCDM technique, as a tool upon which eight TPM pillars are evaluated in order to identify the maintenance maturity level in a public service sector. The investigations indicate that the proposed model equips maintenance engineers with an insight into the mechanism upon which TPM pillars can operate effectively. The results of the proposed model indicate that the investigated institution is generally not matured enough to be up to the desired level of TPM performance.