Managing plant turnaround maintenance in Malaysian process-based industries: a study on centralisation, formalisation and plant technology

The study examines the way how plant turnaround maintenance events in companies of process-based industries were organised and managed. It was envisaged that centralisation and formalisation have significant positive relationships towards the technology employed by the companies. The primary method employed in the data collection is the questionnaire-aided sample survey. The unit of analysis of the study is the organisation of the process-based companies in Malaysia. A total of 110 questionnaires were distributed to the companies. A total of 58 responded to the questionnaires, notching a 53% response rate. Factor analysis and reliability test were performed to check the consistency of the scales employed in measuring the constructs of centralisation and formalisation. Kruskal-Wallis test was employed to test the hypotheses. The analysis highlighted that centralisation in turnaround maintenance is generally high and has no significant relationship to the plant technology employed by the companies. On the contrary, formalisation that is designed and established to shape or influence the behaviour of the organisational members has significant positive relationship to the plant technology employed by the companies. Essentially, the level of formalisation established point towards the variations in the plant technologies employed by the companies.