Improving Maintenance Perception in Developing Countries - A Case Study

Sammanfattning: Despite the continuous evolving world of technology, maintenance has responded tremendously in meeting this rapid technological change. Nevertheless, inadequate maintenance has become one of the most issues faced by organizations in developing countries. Maintenance is seen as an unimportant activity in most developing countries thus, it is not given high priority due to insufficient/ minimal knowledge about the concept. Hence, the purpose of this thesis (submitted for Total Quality Maintenance at the Department of Terotechnology) is to enhance the perception and maintenance in developing countries. A case study was performed at Power Holding Company of Nigeria (National Electric Power Authority). The company is responsible for the production, transmission and distribution of electricity in Nigeria. The analysis shows that proper education and training can facilitate or increase the perception of maintenance in developing countries.  However, for the case company, the study shows that not having appropriate maintenance in place is the major problem behind the company’s inability to achieve its objectives. Thus maintenance practice can be improved significantly with proper maintenance education and training. The result from the study shows the concept of maintenance education and training program and who it should address. One major conclusion that can be drawn from the analysis is that major developments in developing countries are associated with modern technology from developed countries. Thus, maintenance should be given a top priority because keeping the proper functioning of the technologies depends greatly on DCs proficiency, in order to ensure viability of the development policies so as to obtain the benefit from modern technologies.