During the previous two to three decades maintenance has transformed from a mere cost centre into a range of tasks which create value in industrial companies. Decision makers are starting to realise the extent to which maintenance impacts the productivity, sustainability and quality of manufacturing processes. There are a small but growing number of modern maintenance methods, tools and strategies available which enable process optimisation on several levels within an organisation. Despite the advanced results of scientific research in this area there are still major challenges for decision makers. The impact of maintenance on achieving the company’s strategic goals is often misunderstood and not known by senior management. There is a need to communicate the technical results of maintenance management research to a wider audience using simple economic arguments that clearly indicate the effect of process-level decisions on business competitiveness.

This special issue calls for submissions that contribute to process management on the basis of maintenance, translating technical maintenance norms into business information on the level of individual companies or company networks. By this way maintenance is considered as a lever to enable novel Business Models from manufacturers based on servitization activities.

Both theoretical and empirical research papers are invited. However, theoretical papers should introduce empirically validated models and approaches. The results must be based on well-grounded theory and rigorous research methods, and managerial implications must be included.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Maintenance models and tools to support decision making
• Measuring and improving the quality, productivity and sustainability of processes through maintenance
• Process management from a life-cycle perspective
• Maintenance strategies and methods
• Link between process management and strategic management in companies
• Maintenance outsourcing
• Maintenance and process management in business networks

All papers must be submitted online before 20^th February, 2015. Please check Submitting articles page.