Title: Management and operations maintenance for a water treatment and supply company

Authors: João Filipe Lourenço Gomes Calais; Susana Garrido Azevedo; João Carlos De Oliveira Matias; João Paulo Da Silva Catalão

Addresses: University of Beira Interior, R. Fonte do Lameiro, 6201-001 Covilha, Portugal ' University of Beira Interior, R. Fonte do Lameiro, 6201-001 Covilha, Portugal ' University of Beira Interior, R. Fonte do Lameiro, 6201-001 Covilha, Portugal; C-MAST, R. Fonte do Lameiro, 6201-001 Covilha, Portugal ' University of Beira Interior, R. Fonte do Lameiro, 6201-001 Covilha, Portugal; INESC-ID, R. Alves Redol, 9, 1000-029 Lisbon, IST, University of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract: This paper intends to highlight the importance of the maintenance activity for all kind of companies in general and for the water treatment companies in particular. To attain this objective, a literature review on the evolution of the maintenance concept, the relation between the production function and the total productive maintenance (TPM) and the factors that influence the success of TPM is performed. To demonstrate the contribution of the maintenance activity for the improvement of the performance of companies especially for the water treatment companies, a case study of a Portuguese company belonging to the water treatment sector is performed. The water company considered in the case study, regarding management and maintenance activities, has an annual capacity of treatment and distribution of 41 million m³ of drinking water to approximately 438,000 inhabitants spread over a geographic area that represents 15% of the Portuguese territory.

Keywords: management; operations maintenance; environmental monitoring; water treatment; water supply; production function; total productive maintenance; TPM; case study; Portugal; drinking water.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2017.081918

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2017 Vol.25 No.3, pp.360 - 382

Received: 04 Aug 2014
Accepted: 23 Mar 2015
Published online: 31 Jan 2017 *

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