Track: Engineering Management

Abstract

Oftentimes maintenance engineers arrive at a point whereby the maintenance decision calls for the redesign or modification of the physical asset in order to address the reliability issues encountered during the course of operating and maintaining the asset. One of the most effective and broadly applied techniques is Design-Out Maintenance (DOM) and many researchers in Maintenance Management have alluded to this technique as highly effective and widely applied in the field of asset maintenance. The drivers for physical assets modifications or re-design are diverse and situational as various factors are considered when it comes to such endeavours, and the cost of the modification or re-design being one of them. A systematic approach to this engineering phenomenon is imperative to give guidance and credence to this noble approach, followed by evaluation techniques for the effectiveness of the exercise. This study pursued an industrial set-up analysis to examine the pros and cons of the DOM technique.