A study of challenges in successfully implementing maintenance practices in northern Indian small and medium manufacturing companies

PurposeThis study aims to prioritize barriers responsible for impeding the successful implementation of maintenance practices in Northern Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Maintenance practices play a crucial role in a company's long-term competitiveness in the manufacturing sector, significantly affecting production, quality and cost. Maintenance practices are equally vital in SMEs, because SMEs are the heart of the large industries, as these units are dependent on SMEs for their parts and sub-assemblies. However, due to many obstacles, SMEs have been confronted with various challenges in implementing maintenance practices.Design/methodology/approachFirst, a review of the published articles and survey of 216 Indian organizations has been conducted to identify the maintenance implementation barriers in SMEs. The Pareto analysis and the VlseKriterijumska Optimizcija Kompromisno Resenje in Serbian (VIKOR) approach have been deployed to rank the significant challenges in implementing maintenance practices in Northern Indian SMEs.FindingsThe present study aims to recognize and rank the barriers to effective maintenance implementation practices in SMEs, in order to initiate appropriate corrective actions to improve maintenance function performance.Originality/valueThe study will help maintenance managers in preparing an action plan to overcome the obstacles to maintenance practice's performance for realizing significant manufacturing performance improvements.