Maintenance contributes to gaining high business performance, guarantees system availability and reliability as well as safe and sustainable operations. Maintenance activity effectiveness depends on competences and the skills of operators whose performance strongly affects maintenance and production operations. The research field of human issues in industrial maintenance was deeply addressed in the literature; however, the current industrial paradigm, which focusses on the integration of new technologies in conventional manufacturing operations to support human performance, sheds light on new challenges for enterprises and opportunities for research in this field. While some literature reviews in the field of human errors and human factors are available, no study investigated the main topics, research trends and challenges related to the role of maintenance operators in manufacturing systems. This paper addresses the current state-of-the-art role of maintenance operators in manufacturing systems, providing an overview of the main studies. A systematic literature review was carried out to identify significant papers. Then, a topic modelling algorithm was used to detect the main topics of the selected papers to provide the research trends of the subject. The identified topics provided interesting research insights on the human role in industrial maintenance. Research trends and further research opportunities were defined.

Maintenance is a key manufacturing function that contributes to a company’s productivity, profitability and sustainability. Unfortunately, many aspects of the contribution of maintenance to sustainability in manufacturing remain unexplored, and many enterprises are not yet ready to assess the maintenance impacts on their sustainability. Maturity models are useful tools for assessing maintenance practices; however, no maintenance maturity model that allows the evaluation of the contribution of maintenance to sustainable performance was found in literature. This paper proposes a model for assessing the maturity and sustainability of maintenance processes. The model outputs are: a measure of the maintenance and sustainability maturity level; recommendations for improvement to undertake to enhance maintenance maturity and, thus, meet sustainability standards. The model was applied in three manufacturing enterprises: the calculation of their maintenance maturity and sustainability indices made the maintenance stakeholders more aware of the need to implement effective strategies for more sustainable maintenance performance.

Maintenance management is assuming an increasingly important role and garnering increased attention in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). However, the difficulty of collecting data and processing information is evident in such contexts. In the current literature, few maintenance maturity models focus on the maintenance information management practices field. Moreover, though the existing models allow for assessing the maturity level, they do not indicate or assist in identifying and defining actions to reach the highest level. Furthermore, these models are not suitable for any type of organisation, as the assessment areas defined are quite generic (high level). For this reason, this paper proposes an innovative model for assessing the maturity level of maintenance management information practices in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The model provides the organisation with the strengths and weaknesses of their maintenance information management practices. The proposed model allows a clear measure of the maturity of the maintenance information management practices in smaller industrial contexts and provides a customised improvement programme. The model proposed supports small and medium companies to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their maintenance management information infrastructure. The maturity model developed, in addition to being an assessment tool, provides and supports knowledge on the behaviours and practices for achieving world-class results.

Purpose: This article presents a procedure for assessing the maturity of maintenance management information practices and defining improvement actions. It focuses on supporting companies, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in determining their information technology (IT) needs and introducing suitable informative infrastructures. Design/methodology/approach: A comprehensive procedure for assessing the maturity of maintenance management information practices and defining improvement actions is proposed. It consists of five steps: designing the current state of maintenance, identifying IT needs based on maintenance goals, applying an assessment model to identify weaknesses and strengths, proposing improvement actions based on maturity level and enabling continuous improvement. The procedure provides the applicability of the assessment model to evaluate the maturity levels of different databases: Equipment, Maintenance Personnel, Work Order and Report. Findings: The model was applied to a company’s maintenance process. Improvement actions focusing on enhancing the informative infrastructure and improving information management practices have been designed based on the current maturity assessment. The findings and recommendations provide valuable insights for SMEs seeking to enhance their maintenance effectiveness and adopt appropriate IT solutions. Originality/value: The proposed procedure and the maturity model contribute to the field of research by addressing the specific needs of SMEs in assessing their maintenance management information practices. The model provides a roadmap for SMEs to identify weaknesses, prioritize improvement actions and enable continuous improvement. By leveraging the benefits of information systems, SMEs can enhance their maintenance processes, increase competitiveness and achieve higher maturity levels in maintenance management.

Maintenance involves a large amount of data management. Although many tools, strategies, and systems, have been developed to organize the maintenance information resources, SMEs have not found the same benefits as large companies due to their inherent characteristics and, above all, the maturity level of the maintenance department. Maturity models are useful tools for assessing the maturity of maintenance information practices; however, existing models are not suitable for any type of business context, as they required companies to have a clear organizational structure and definite informative infrastructure. Moreover, they do not assist in identifying and defining actions to reach the highest level. This paper proposes a model for assessing and improving maintenance management information practices. It allows a clear measure of the maturity of the maintenance information management practices in industrial contexts and provides improvement actions identifying the information and data needed to enhance maintenance management information practices.