Maintenance management: literature review and directions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on maintenance management and suggest possible gaps from the point of view of researchers and practitioners.Design/methodology/approach – The paper systematically categorizes the published literature and then analyzes and reviews it methodically.Findings – The paper finds that important issues in maintenance management range from various optimization models, maintenance techniques, scheduling, and information systems etc. Within each category, gaps have been identified. A new shift in maintenance paradigm is also highlighted.Practical implications – Literature on classification of maintenance management has so far been very limited. This paper reviews a large number of papers in this field and suggests a classification in to various areas and sub areas. Subsequently, various emerging trends in the field of maintenance management are identified to help researchers specifying gaps in the literature and direct research efforts suitably.Originali...