Abstract:
Over time, the definition of maintenance has
evolved from activities meant to keep equipment in an
operable condition, to a set of activities required to keep the
means of production in the desired operating conditions or to
restore them to this condition. Further, all those systematic
activities geared towards the actual execution and
improvement of maintenance are referred to as maintenance
practices. There is a general assumption that maintenance
practices in the developing world are below standard, when
compared to what happens in the developed world. However,
this is not a fact that has been determined empirically,
but rather a perception. This paper presents the results of an
assessment of maintenance practices in Kenyan industries,
using a maintenance practices evaluation tool. The analysis
provides a critical overview of the current status of maintenance
practices, and shows how these maintenance practices
compare with the best practices globally. Research was
carried out through a survey, using a questionnaire developed
to establish the maintenance practices in a number of
Kenyan companies. The survey clustered industries into
different categories, namely, service, power generation, food
manufacturing and processing, agro/chemical, metal processing,
motor vehicle assemblers, transport, maintenance
and construction industries. The responses from the survey
were analyzed using three aspects of maintenance practices, namely, technical, managerial and human aspects. For each
of these aspects, an evaluation index was developed and
calculated. Subsequently, the general evaluation index was
determined. This index showed that Kenyan companies are
at the managed level of maintenance practices, where processes
are partially planned, and performance depends on
the operators’ experience and competence. It is recommended
that Kenyan companies should aim at improving the
index to the highest level, namely the optimizing stage, by
focusing more on improvements in the technical aspects of
maintenance.