IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/proeco/v223y2020ics0925527319303615.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Smart Maintenance: an empirically grounded conceptualization

Author

Listed:
  • Bokrantz, Jon
  • Skoogh, Anders
  • Berlin, Cecilia
  • Wuest, Thorsten
  • Stahre, Johan

Abstract

How do modernized maintenance operations, often referred to as “Smart Maintenance”, impact the performance of manufacturing plants? The inability to answer this question backed by data is a problem for industrial maintenance management, especially in light of the ongoing rapid transition towards an industrial environment with pervasive digital technologies. To this end, this paper, which is the first part of a two-paper series, aims to investigate and answer the question, “What is Smart Maintenance?“. The authors deployed an empirical, inductive research approach to conceptualize Smart Maintenance using focus groups and interviews with more than 110 experts from over 20 different firms. By viewing our original data through the lens of multiple general theories, our findings chart new directions for contemporary and future maintenance research. This paper describes empirical observations and theoretical interpretations cumulating in the first empirically grounded definition of Smart Maintenance and its four underlying dimensions; data-driven decision-making, human capital resource, internal integration, and external integration. In addition, the relationships between the underlying dimensions are specified and the concept structure formally modeled. This study thus achieves concept clarity with respect to Smart Maintenance, thereby making several theoretical and managerial contributions that guide both scholars and practitioners within the field of industrial maintenance management.

Suggested Citation

  • Bokrantz, Jon & Skoogh, Anders & Berlin, Cecilia & Wuest, Thorsten & Stahre, Johan, 2020. "Smart Maintenance: an empirically grounded conceptualization," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:223:y:2020:i:c:s0925527319303615
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.107534
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527319303615
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.107534?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruce Kogut & Udo Zander, 1992. "Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(3), pages 383-397, August.
    2. Youngjin Yoo & Richard J. Boland & Kalle Lyytinen & Ann Majchrzak, 2012. "Organizing for Innovation in the Digitized World," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(5), pages 1398-1408, October.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and Work," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Artificial Intelligence: An Agenda, pages 197-236, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Jonsson, Patrik, 1999. "Company-wide integration of strategic maintenance: An empirical analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 155-164, April.
    5. Chan, F. T. S. & Lau, H. C. W. & Ip, R. W. L. & Chan, H. K. & Kong, S., 2005. "Implementation of total productive maintenance: A case study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 71-94, January.
    6. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "Artificial Intelligence, Automation and Work," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series dp-298, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    7. David J. Deming, 2017. "The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1593-1640.
    8. Rahul Kapoor, 2018. "Ecosystems: broadening the locus of value creation," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 7(1), pages 1-16, December.
    9. Bokrantz, Jon & Skoogh, Anders & Berlin, Cecilia & Stahre, Johan, 2017. "Maintenance in digitalised manufacturing: Delphi-based scenarios for 2030," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 154-169.
    10. Muller, Alexandre & Crespo Marquez, Adolfo & Iung, Benoît, 2008. "On the concept of e-maintenance: Review and current research," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 93(8), pages 1165-1187.
    11. David Byrne & Carol Corrado & Daniel Sichel, 2020. "The Rise of Cloud Computing: Minding Your Ps, Qs and Ks," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring and Accounting for Innovation in the Twenty-First Century, pages 519-551, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Chad Syverson, 2017. "Challenges to Mismeasurement Explanations for the US Productivity Slowdown," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 165-186, Spring.
    13. Kyle J. Mayer & Deepak Somaya & Ian O. Williamson, 2012. "Firm-Specific, Industry-Specific, and Occupational Human Capital and the Sourcing of Knowledge Work," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(5), pages 1311-1329, October.
    14. Jay R. Galbraith, 1974. "Organization Design: An Information Processing View," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 4(3), pages 28-36, May.
    15. Kathleen R. Conner & C. K. Prahalad, 1996. "A Resource-Based Theory of the Firm: Knowledge Versus Opportunism," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(5), pages 477-501, October.
    16. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2022. "Demographics and Automation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(1), pages 1-44.
    17. David Autor, 2014. "Polanyi's Paradox and the Shape of Employment Growth," NBER Working Papers 20485, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Richard M. Burton & Børge Obel, 2018. "The science of organizational design: fit between structure and coordination," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 7(1), pages 1-13, December.
    19. Shad S. Morris & Sharon A. Alvarez & Jay B. Barney & Janice C. Molloy, 2017. "Firm-specific human capital investments as a signal of general value: Revisiting assumptions about human capital and how it is managed," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 912-919, April.
    20. Danny Miller, 1992. "Environmental Fit Versus Internal Fit," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(2), pages 159-178, May.
    21. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "Demographics and Automation," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series dp-299, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    22. David H. Autor, 2015. "Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 3-30, Summer.
    23. Dul, J. & Hak, A. & Goertz, G. & Voss, C., 2010. "Necessary Condition Hypotheses in Operations Management," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2010-019-LIS, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    24. Henri Barki & Alain Pinsonneault, 2005. "A Model of Organizational Integration, Implementation Effort, and Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(2), pages 165-179, April.
    25. Zhou, Xiaojun & Xi, Lifeng & Lee, Jay, 2007. "Reliability-centered predictive maintenance scheduling for a continuously monitored system subject to degradation," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 92(4), pages 530-534.
    26. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1995. "Complementarities and fit strategy, structure, and organizational change in manufacturing," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 179-208, April.
    27. Danny Miller, 1986. "Configurations of strategy and structure: Towards a synthesis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(3), pages 233-249, May.
    28. Al-Najjar, Basim, 2007. "The lack of maintenance and not maintenance which costs: A model to describe and quantify the impact of vibration-based maintenance on company's business," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(1), pages 260-273, May.
    29. Williamson, Oliver E, 1983. "Credible Commitments: Using Hostages to Support Exchange," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(4), pages 519-540, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Karar, Ahmed Noaman & Labib, Ashraf & Jones, Dylan, 2024. "A resilience-based maintenance optimisation framework using multiple criteria and Knapsack methods," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    2. Theissler, Andreas & Pérez-Velázquez, Judith & Kettelgerdes, Marcel & Elger, Gordon, 2021. "Predictive maintenance enabled by machine learning: Use cases and challenges in the automotive industry," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    3. Nguyen Bac Nguyen & João Carlos Rosmaninho Menezes, 2021. "The thirty-year evolution of customer-to-customer interaction research: a systematic literature review and research implications," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 15(3), pages 391-444, September.
    4. Tortorella, Guilherme Luz & Fogliatto, Flavio S. & Cauchick-Miguel, Paulo A. & Kurnia, Sherah & Jurburg, Daniel, 2021. "Integration of Industry 4.0 technologies into Total Productive Maintenance practices," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    5. Pedersen, Tom Ivar & Liu, Xingheng & Vatn, Jørn, 2023. "Maintenance optimization of a system subject to two-stage degradation, hard failure, and imperfect repair," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    6. Hamzeh Soltanali & Mehdi Khojastehpour & Siamak Kheybari, 2023. "Evaluating the critical success factors for maintenance management in agro-industries using multi-criteria decision-making techniques," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 949-968, June.
    7. Ágnes Szukits & Péter Móricz, 2024. "Towards data-driven decision making: the role of analytical culture and centralization efforts," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(10), pages 2849-2887, October.
    8. Laubengaier, Désirée A. & Cagliano, Raffaella & Canterino, Filomena, 2022. "It Takes Two to Tango: Analyzing the Relationship between Technological and Administrative Process Innovations in Industry 4.0," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    9. Patriarca, Riccardo & Lovaglio, Lorenzo & Simone, Francesco, 2025. "Functional resonance analysis via a genetic algorithm to ensure cost-effective maintenance planning," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    10. Pedersen, Tom Ivar & Vatn, Jørn, 2022. "Optimizing a condition-based maintenance policy by taking the preferences of a risk-averse decision maker into account," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    11. Chen-Fu Chien & Jia-Yu Peng, 2025. "Bayesian inference for multi-label classification for root cause analysis and probe card maintenance decision support and an empirical study," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 1943-1958, March.
    12. Vito Introna & Annalisa Santolamazza, 2024. "Strategic maintenance planning in the digital era: a hybrid approach merging Reliability-Centered Maintenance with digitalization opportunities," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1397-1420, December.
    13. Colombari, Ruggero & Geuna, Aldo & Helper, Susan & Martins, Raphael & Paolucci, Emilio & Ricci, Riccardo & Seamans, Robert, 2023. "The interplay between data-driven decision-making and digitalization: A firm-level survey of the Italian and U.S. automotive industries," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    14. Bokrantz, Jon & Skoogh, Anders, 2023. "Adoption patterns and performance implications of Smart Maintenance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bokrantz, Jon & Skoogh, Anders & Berlin, Cecilia & Wuest, Thorsten & Stahre, Johan, 2020. "Smart Maintenance: a research agenda for industrial maintenance management," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    2. Venturini, Francesco, 2022. "Intelligent technologies and productivity spillovers: Evidence from the Fourth Industrial Revolution," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 220-243.
    3. Ben Vermeulen & Jan Kesselhut & Andreas Pyka & Pier Paolo Saviotti, 2018. "The Impact of Automation on Employment: Just the Usual Structural Change?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-27, May.
    4. Henrik Schwabe & Fulvio Castellacci, 2020. "Automation, workers’ skills and job satisfaction," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-26, November.
    5. Ana L. ABELIANSKY & Eda ALGUR & David E. BLOOM & Klaus PRETTNER, 2020. "The future of work: Meeting the global challenges of demographic change and automation," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 159(3), pages 285-306, September.
    6. Qiu, Jiaping & Wan, Chi & Wang, Yan, 2024. "Labor-saving innovations and capital structure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. Domini, Giacomo & Grazzi, Marco & Moschella, Daniele & Treibich, Tania, 2021. "Threats and opportunities in the digital era: Automation spikes and employment dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    8. Haonan Wang & Fangjuan Qiu, 2025. "AI adoption and labor cost stickiness: based on natural language and machine learning," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 163-184, June.
    9. Tiare Rivera, 2019. "Efectos de la automatización en el empleo en Chile," Revista de Analisis Economico – Economic Analysis Review, Universidad Alberto Hurtado/School of Economics and Business, vol. 34(1), pages 3-49, April.
    10. Bode, Eckhardt & Gold, Robert, 2018. "Adult training in the digital age," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 12, pages 1-14.
    11. Christian Peukert, 2019. "The next wave of digital technological change and the cultural industries," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 43(2), pages 189-210, June.
    12. Heluo, Yuxi & Fabel, Oliver, 2024. "Job computerization, occupational employment and wages: A comparative study of the United States, Germany, and Japan," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    13. Zilian, Laura S. & Zilian, Stella S. & Jäger, Georg, 2021. "Labour market polarisation revisited: evidence from Austrian vacancy data," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 55, pages 1-7.
    14. Bögenhold, Dieter & Permana, Muhammad Yorga, 2018. "End of Middle-Classes? Social Inequalities in Digital Age," MPRA Paper 87202, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Pablo Casas & Concepción Román, 2024. "The impact of artificial intelligence in the early retirement decision," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 51(3), pages 583-618, August.
    16. Maria-Chiara Morandini & Anna Thum-Thysen & Anneleen Vandeplas, 2020. "Facing the Digital Transformation: Are Digital Skills Enough?," European Economy - Economic Briefs 054, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    17. Zhang, Yi & Wang, Ting & Liu, Chun, 2024. "Beyond the modern productivity paradox: The effect of robotics technology on firm-level total factor productivity in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    18. Margit Osterloh & Jetta Frost & Bruno Frey, 2002. "The Dynamics of Motivation in New Organizational Forms," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 61-77.
    19. Stienstra, Miranda, 2020. "The determinants and performance implications of alliance partner acquisition," Other publications TiSEM 7fdee0c2-d4d2-4f5b-95e3-2, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    20. Fran Stewart & Kathryn Kelley, 2020. "Connecting Hands and Heads: Retooling Engineering Technology for the “Smart†Manufacturing Workplace," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 34(1), pages 31-45, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:223:y:2020:i:c:s0925527319303615. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpe .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.