Introducing Lean into Maintenance Data Management: A Decision Making Approach

The amount of different data available for maintenance decision makers is extensive. However, in practice most companies are not exploiting the data in the best possible way but are wasting their resources in sub-optimal data management processes. This paper reviews the current literature on exploiting data in maintenance decision making and analyses how the principles of lean management could contribute to the issue of wasted resources. The objective of the paper is to create a literature-based framework, which will be used as the starting point for empirical research and value modelling in the later stages of the study. The presented framework highlights the role of data in maintenance management decision-making situations, and suggests how the principles of lean management could be adopted in the process of managing maintenance data to improve its value and resource efficiency. The results of this paper will contribute to future research which will include modelling and optimizing the use of data in maintenance decision making.