Applying analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in selecting best maintenance strategies for newly established chemical fertilizers plants

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to help newly established plants with minimal or no historical machine data select best maintenance strategies that suit their specific working setup and at the same time satisfy relevant selection criteria.Design/methodology/approachAnalytical hierarchy process (AHP) was applied successfully in this study to select the maintenance strategy at a newly established chemical fertilizers plant. Implementation started by identifying main and sub-criteria pertinent to maintenance practice in this particular industry. Pair-wise comparisons and consistency calculations were carried out on the chosen criteria and then were used to assess candidate maintenance strategies through a special scoring process. The methodology included the use of surveys, brainstorming and expert consultation.FindingsThe results have shown that the most important main criteria are cost, resources, failures, management, operations, quality and safety. The final maintenance strategy selected for the plant under consideration included a mix of condition-based predictive maintenance (PDM), time-based preventive maintenance (PM) and corrective maintenance (CM). The best balance between the three maintenance activities, which satisfies the maintenance criteria with technical applicability, was found to be 50, 23 and 19% for PDM, PM and CM, respectively.Originality/valueThe present paper is a novel application of AHP coupled with deterministic application-specific ranking for devising a procedure for selecting viable and applicable comprehensive maintenance strategies for newly established chemical fertilizers plants with no historical data on machine failures.