In today’s industry, where manufacturing is fast and efficient, uptime for manufacturing machines plays a key role for companies to stay relevant with their competitors. Although manufacturing equipment today is very advanced and sometimes automated, they may still run into problems and wear out. By maintaining and servicing the equipment well, one can avoid unexpected equipment failure and unnecessary downtime. Keeping track and documenting maintenance can play a crucial role in how efficiently a manufacturer can produce their product. Maintenance management software exists on the market today, but they are large and expensive. As Saab, a manufacturer of highly advanced military technology, does not have a well-established system for managing their maintenance, there is a need for an evaluation and development of a customised option. In this thesis, the maintenance needs for Saab’s operations were analysed, and options for developing maintenance software that fits these needs were investigated. The result was a web application hosted on a Python-based web server, which uses MongoDB as a database to store data in an object-oriented manner, allowing flexibility within the system. The application is not fully developed but provides an overall picture of how a smaller software could serve the same purpose as the larger ones. After evaluating the developed application alongside the existing maintenance software, it is concluded that with further development, the application could serve the same function and be a competitive contender alongside the larger software. However, the safer and more reliable option for Saab would be to instead implement one of the existing software solutions. / I dagens industri, där tillverkning är snabb och effektiv, spelar drifttid för tillverkningsmaskiner en nyckelroll för att företag ska kunna hålla sig relevanta gentemot sina konkurrenter. Trots att tillverkningsutrustning idag är mycket avancerad och ibland automatiserad, kan de fortfarande stöta på problem och slitas ut. Genom att underhålla och serva utrustningen på rätt sätt kan man undvika oväntade maskinhaverier och onödig driftstopp. Att ha kontroll och dokumentera underhåll kan spela en avgörande roll för hur effektivt en tillverkare kan producera sin produkt. Underhållshanteringssystem finns på marknaden idag, men de är stora och dyra. Eftersom Saab, tillverkare av högteknologisk militärteknik, inte har ett väletablerat system för hur de hanterar sitt underhåll, finns det ett behov av en utvärdering och utveckling av ett anpassat alternativ. I denna avhandling analyserades underhållsbehoven för Saabs verksamhet, och alternativ för hur en underhållsprogramvara kunde utvecklas för att passa dessa behov undersöktes. Resultatet blev en webbapplikation som är värd på en Python-baserad webbserver och använder MongoDB som en databas för att lagra data på ett objektorienterat sätt, vilket ger flexibilitet inom systemet. Applikationen är inte fullt utvecklad men ger en övergripande bild av hur en mindre programvara kan tjäna samma syfte som de större. När den utvecklade applikationen utvärderas i förhållande till den befintliga underhållsprogramvaran dras slutsatsen att applikationen, med ytterligare utveckling, skulle kunna fylla samma funktion och vara en konkurrenskraftig utmanare till de större programvarorna. Dock skulle det säkrare och mer pålitliga alternativet för Saab vara att istället implementera en av de befintliga programvarorna.

Maintenance is one area of business that recently has been considered as an activity contributing efficiently to the companies' strategic goals. Understanding the way maintenance could utilise modern technology such as computerised tools or digital data processing is one way to make maintenance profitable. Current research lack appropriate methods for determining data and IT requirements, as well as understanding the way IT could be utilised for enhancing maintenance profitability. This thesis studies and develops tools, methods and theories of how information technology can be utilised for maintenance management in order to reach profitable maintenance. The main research problem is therefore: What are the demands on information technology systems to achieve profitable maintenance? The main problem has been divided into three research questions: RQ1) What are the demands on data and information technology systems for strategic management of maintenance?, RQ2) How can we identify relevant data and information technology systems required to achieve cost-effective maintenance decisions? and RQ3) How can we describe the utilisation of information technology within maintenance? This thesis is based on a systems theory approach, where maintenance is not seen as an isolated activity, but something that interacts, affects and is affected by several other activities, such as production, logistic and quality. Several methods have been used for answering the research questions, but the theory-testing case study method dominates. Main results achieved in the thesis are models and theory for 1) creating a relevant set of data for cost-effective mainte-nance decisions, 2) monitoring the performance of maintenance, suggest invest-ment possibilities and show maintenance contribution on company strategic level, 3) identifying IT systems requirements demanded to achieve profitable maintenance and 4) assessing the IT maturity of a maintenance organisation for the effective utilisation of IT systems. As an illustrative example of computerised maintenance management demands a conceptual decision support model has been developed, which aims at filling the gaps of poor IT coverage for strategic maintenance decision-making. This thesis concludes that the demands of data and IT applications must be connected to the overall maintenance demands, which are reflected in the maintenance goals, purposes and strategy, in order to achieve profitable maintenance. Furthermore, structured methods that ensure the connection between maintenance business goals and data or IT demands are of importance. The ability to make use if IT within maintenance is reflected in the relative IT maturity of the maintenance organisation. Being able to define the IT maturity allows for choosing the most appropriate IT tool to invest in, so that current and future needs of IT support are also covered for with maximum benefit and minimum cost.

Abstracts in English and Xhosa / Given the need for prompt responses to today’s dynamic market, maintenance and maintenance management functions are becoming increasingly fundamental for industrial companies. Reduction of waste and bottlenecks, particularly the reduction of overproduction and work in process, accentuates the impact of malfunctions or failures of equipment on production. As such, it has become ever more urgent for proactive world-class maintenance to turn to computer-based support for efficacious management. To successfully manage activities such as the scheduling of activities, the planning of preventive maintenance actions, the analysis of data (to reduce the occurrence of malfunction and failures), and augment the absolute performance of the maintenance function, industrial companies implement information systems enabled by computerised maintenance management systems (CMMS) to deliver timely and accurate information. However, while various CMMS are available on the market, not all meet the exactitudes of each industrial company. The overall objective of this thesis is threefold: to explore major barriers and obstacles that have a negative impact on implementing CMMS; to identify the most common critical success factors (CSFs) that have a positive impact on implementing CMMS; and to develop an optimised CMMS model suitable to the context of Ethiopian manufacturing industries. To achieve this, an exploratory descriptive research design was employed, utilising both quantitative and qualitative data-gathering techniques, including structured interviews and questionnaires. Both qualitative and quantitative findings Suggest that the most important CSFs for CMMS implementation were work planning and scheduling and work identification and responsibilities, while the Ethiopian manufacturing firms lagged behind in the case of information technology and appraisal. Overall, key isues in maintenance management range from several maintenance techniques, information systems, scheduling, and optimisation models. This thesis is projected to be a useful source of information for both maintenance managers and stakeholders in CMMS decision making. It also creates opportunities for future research in this area of study. / Ngenxa yesidingo seempendulo ezikhawulezileyo kwimarike yanamhlanje eguqukayo, ukulondoloza kunye nololondolozo lwemisebenzi yolowulo ziya zisanda ngokubaluleka kwiinkampani zoshishino. Ukuncitshiswa kwenkcitho kunye nokuxinana kwindawo eziphezulu , ngakumbi ukucuthwa kwemveliso egqithisileyo kunye nokusebenza kwinkqubo, kunyusa ifuthe lokungasebenzi kakuhle okanye ukusilela kwezixhobo kwimveliso. Kananjalo, kuye kwangxamiseka nangakumbi kulondolozo lwenqanaba lehlabathi ukuba liphendukele kwinkxaso esekwe kwikhompyutha ukwenzela ulawulo olusebenzayo. Ukulawula ngempumelelo imisebenzi efana nokucwangciswa kwemisebenzi, ukucwangciswa kwezenzo zolondolozo zokukhuselo, ucalulo lwedatha (ukunciphisa ukwenzeka kokungasebenzi kakuhle kunye nokusilela), kunye nokwandisa ukusebenza ngokupheleleyo komsebenzi wolondolozo, iinkampani zamashishini zisebenzisa iinkqubo zolwazi ezenziwa ziinkqubo zolawulo lokulondoloza ngekhompyutha (i-CMMS) ukuhambisa ulwazi oluchanekileyo kwangexesha. Nangona kunjalo, ngelixa ii-CMMS ezahlukeneyo zifumaneka kwimarike, ayizizo zonke ezihlangabezana ngqo nemilinganiselo yenkampani nganye yemizimveliso. Eyona njongo yale ngcingane ebhaliweyo engqinelwa ziingxoxo, ithisisi ihlulwe kathathu: ukuphonononga imiqobo engundoqo kunye nezithintelo ezinefuthe elibi ekuphumezeni iiCMMS; Ukuchonga ezona zinto zibalulekileyo zempumelelo (CSFs) ezinefuthe elihle ekuphumezeni iCMMS; kunye nokuvelisa imodeli ye-CMMS elungele imeko yemizimveliso yase-Ethiopia. Ukufezekisa oku, uyilo lophando oluchazayo lwasetyenziswa, kusetyenziswa ubuchule bokuqokelela idatha eninzi kunye nesemgangathweni, kubandakanya udliwanondlebe olulungiselelweyo kunye nephepha lemibuzo.Zozibini iziphumo ezedatha esengangathweni kunye nedatha ngokobungakanani zibonisa ukuba ezona CSFs zibalulekileyo ekuphunyezweni kweCMMS yayikukucwangciswa komsebenzi nokucwangciswa nokwenza uludwe lweenkqubo kunye nokuchongwa komsebenzi kunye noxanduva, ngelixa iifemu zemveliso zase-Ethiopia zisasele ngasemva kwimeko yolwazi lwetekhnoloji kunye novavanyo. Kukonke, imiba ephambili kulawulo lolondolozo isukela kwiindlela ezahlukeneyo zobuchule zolondolozo, kwiinkqubo zolwazi, kuludwe lokwenziwa kweenkqubo zolwazi, kunye neemodeli ezigqibeleleyo. Le thisisi kuqikelelwa ukuba ingumthombo wolwazi oluluncedo kubo bobabini abaphathi bezolondolozo kunye nabachaphazelekayo ekuthathweni kwezigqibo kwiCMMS. Ikwadala amathuba ophando lwexesha elizayo kulo mmandla wokufunda. / Business Management / DBL (Business Leadership)