The research described in this thesis is concerned with the use of information technology
to reduce manufacturing system downtime. The work was sponsored by Ford Motor
Company Ltd, and the pilot information system was evaluated and demonstrated in their
Bridgend engine plant. The maintenance strategy followed in this factory is total
productive maintenance (TPM).
Downtime reduction can offer significant benefits to a manufacturer through increases in
capacity at no extra cost. Many organisations have implemented computerised
maintenance management systems (CMMS) to improve their maintenance business
processes, but studies have shown that CMMS have often delivered few real benefits.
Although CMMS can assist the management of maintenance, they are under threat in this
respect from more generic software such as enterprise resource planning (ERP). Studies
have shown that within manufacturing organisations most CMMS users are managers,
but very seldom production operators. CMMS have been accused of being too
technology-centred and may therefore be unsuitable where a human-centred philosophy
such as TPM is used.
A pilot hypermedia information system has been designed and evaluated with the
collaboration of maintenance managers and the work force of the engine plant. A version
of the system was developed to investigate the use of a digital manual for data capture.
The results of usability trials suggest that hypermedia manuals will be accepted and used
by factory personnel in TPM teams, and that such a manual can be easily updated to
provide an asset history. A hypermedia manual has been shown to enable knowledge
management since knowledge gained during the process life-cycle may be added to that
provided in the manual by the process designers.
The main benefit of a hypermedia maintenance manual is rapid access to information,
which can reduce the duration of unplanned maintenance activities 