Maintenance: preface

Although the word Maintenance only appeared in industrial vocabulary in the 1950s, the concepts of maintenance, as we know them today, actually date back to the earliest times. In fact, maintenance, which dates back to the time when objects were first manufactured, is certainly one of the "oldest professions in the world". A case in point is De acquae ductu urbis Romae, written by Sextus Julius Frontinus in 99 AD. This report to the Roman Senate can rightly be considered the founding book of modern maintenance. The author, curator of the waters of the city of Rome under the reign of Emperor Nerva Augustus and, as such, responsible for the operation and maintenance of the network of aqueducts and "machines" that supplied water to the city of Rome, discovered the concepts of modern maintenance: preventive maintenance, scheduling of major stoppages, task planning, technical and historical documentation, monitoring of maintenance costs, standardization of spare parts, involvement of operators in the maintenance of their installations, contractual relations... However, we had to wait until the end of the 20th century, with the advent of IT tools, and the emergence of methods and tools such as FMECA, experimental reliability, MBF, life cycle costing, operating safety, etc., to really see something new, but this "new" is moving very fast, and maintenance is moving faster and faster.

The new industrial order that has been gradually taking shape around the world over the last ten years is disrupting the production environment and changing the attitudes and mentalities of the people who work in it. We have already entered a new industrial era, which is characterized not only by technological change, but also by organizational and social change, the stakes of which are very high, and which fundamentally challenge even the most established certainties.

Today, the company's challenge is to be able to supply its "market", under the best possible cost conditions and with the shortest lead times, with the quality products sought by increasingly demanding customers. This is why, as a major component in the optimal use of production resources, maintenance has progressively evolved from an unproductive, expensive and subordinate service, to become an essential, even strategic function of the production system. This implies total control of the production process. It calls for a systemic approach of its own, and increasingly effective methods and tools. As a strategic element of the production system, it concerns everyone in the company, and is no longer the preserve of a few specialists.