MAIC: A data and knowledge-based system for supporting the maintenance of chemical plant

Abstract The goal of the present paper is to present MAIC, a knowledge-based decision support system for the maintenance of chemical plant. After recalling the nature of the problem, the system is described. The main functions of the system being: • The management of information concerning the components of pieces of equipment together with the corresponding corrosion agents and critical factors for this component. • A case-based reasoning and retrieval function to search the corrosion case database for similar cases. • Several knowledge-based functions to support the economic assessment of a technically feasible solution. The last part of the paper describes the structure of the MAIC application and the first results concerning the impact of the application on the engineers’ work. Possible directions for future research are also suggested.