Role of Maintenance Practices in Indian SMEs : A Literature Review

Rapid globalization has led to a distinctively high level of competition between the assembling associations which has led to Small and Medium- Enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing industry business to develop high dependability, accessibility and viability in their frameworks. This paper uncovers the basic issues of support work, ranging from the maintenance techniques, structure and execution of best practices to different variables impacting the use of maintenance practices. Implementation of maintenance practices in Indian manufacturing SMEs have turned out to be gainful in building the competitive image and better business execution. The manufacturing SMEs in India must acknowledge overall improvement in product quality through the execution of maintenance practices and should continue practicing the same. This article presents the combined observations of extensive research data available in this field and exhibits a diagram of different maintenance practices followed by manufacturing SMEs globally. It additionally features different methodologies recommended by analysts and experts in maintenance practices. This review intends to highlight the vital issues related to the maintenance practices being used by the SMEs in India. An attempt has been made to feature suitable empowering influences and achievement factors for the consideration and implementation of maintenance practices. In order to cover all relevant aspects of maintenance in SMEs, research data available on maintenance practices and manufacturing performance enhancement was analyzed. A conceptualization model has also been developed to provide a better understanding of how manufacturing performance and maintenance practices are related to each other