Maintenance 4.0 implementation in manufacturing industries: an analysis of enablers

Purpose This article explores, categorizes and prioritizes the enablers to facilitate the implementation of Maintenance 4.0 in the manufacturing industries, handling the challenges of unplanned downtime and costly breakdowns to improve asset reliability, optimize maintenance schedules and ensure smooth operations. Design/methodology/approach 12 most significant enablers for the implementation of Maintenance 4.0 are identified through a detailed literature survey and interviews with industry professionals. To prioritize the enablers, the fuzzy-technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution framework was used, and a sensitivity analysis was carried out to validate the robustness of the solution. Findings The study reveals that effective change management strategy (E4) and structured digital performance measurement system (E12) are the most prominent enablers, whereas a user-friendly dashboard (E3) and seamless access to critical data (E11) are the least significant enablers that boost the implementation of Maintenance 4.0 in the manufacturing industries. Research limitations/implications This study will be helpful to manufacturing industries, maintenance engineers, managers, policymakers and industry professionals towards a thorough understanding of enablers leading to the successful implementation of Maintenance 4.0. Originality/value This is a novel study to bridge the gap in the identification and prioritization of the enablers to the implementation of Maintenance 4.0 in the manufacturing industries using the MCDM technique, which is a unique contribution to the field.