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AUTHOR Gasskov, V.TITLE Training for Maintenance in Developing Countries.

Training Discussion Paper No. 97.INSTITUTION International Labour Office, Geneva (Switzerland).REPORT NO ISBN-92-2-108424-8PUB DATE 92

NOTE 37p.

PUB TYPE Reports - Research/Technical (143)

EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS.DESCRIPTORS *Developing Nations; *Economic Development;

*Educational Needs; Educational Policy; ForeignCountries; *Job Training; *Maintenance; PostsecondaryEducation; Secondary Education; Technical Education;*Vocational Education

ABSTRACTThis paper focuses on training policy issues related

to the development of maintenance practices in middle- and low-incomedeveloping countries. Chapter 1 provides a definition and discussesvarious approaches to maintenance. It shows the major trends inmaintenance skill changes, such as increased problem-solving andinformation technology components and growing specialization gearedto the type of technology and modes of maintenance applied. Chapter 2shows the particular mix of technologies used by developing countriesand the extent to which thc. maintenance practices correspond to theirneeds. It argues that as developing countries install simplermachines, on average they need less sophisticated maintenance.However, since many developing countries have imported modernequipment, they need policies to develop maintenance of correspondingsophistication. The chapter also illustrates how foreign maintenancepractices are applied in some developing countries. Tha last chapterpresents the ways vocational training for maintenance is conducted indeveloping countries. It notes that maintenance skills are usuallylearned through apprenticeship and that technical education andtraining in maintenance is still rare. However, transfer ofmaintenance knowledge has been more active through technicalassistance and technology transfer projects. The report suggests someimplications for training policies aimed at enhancing maintenanceawareness in developing countries. (KC)

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V

Training br maintenance indeveloping countiesby V. Gasskov

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BEST COPY hE.1171 97

Discussion Paper No. 97

Training for maintenance in developing countries

by V. Gasskov

UMITED DISTRIBUTION

Discussion papers are preliminary material to stimulate discussionand critical comment. The views epressed by editorial staff and

contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the ILO.

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ISBN 92-2-108424-8

First published 1992

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Introduction

Many developing countries (DCs) are poor and have failed to develop economical4P. For the past 20years, in many of them, crisis has steadily deepened. Among the strategies aimed at breaking the viciouscycle of underdevelopment in DCs - increased savings, preferential international trade, foreign ai4 etc.- technology transfer is considered as one of the most promising alternatives. Its importance relates tothe hope that foreign technologies would be able to bring new production capacities and modern sldllsand management to generate greater savings and employment Import substitution has been anotherserious rationale for the installation of modern machines by those DCs whose foreign exchange budgetsare very dependent on imports.1 However; the viability of the development strategies and benefits fromthe imported technologies in DCs great4, depend on their kcal capabilities in keeping the machines going.That is the molorfunction of maintenance. In that sense, maintenance capabilities are considered a keydevelopment factor for DCs.2

However; poor maintenance has become one of the most intractable problems faced by DCs. Its effectscan be seen everywhere - in the factories, fields, housing and publk utilities and even in schools. Requentbreakdowns reduce production and crops spoil before they get to the market Broken equOmentdeteriorating facilities, and premature wear lead direct47to reduced efficiency, limited options, and lowquality.

A study by DeGroote reports some discouraging findings. In over 400 maintena, ice audits completedin developing countries, technical equipment was on4f available, on average, 32 per cent of the time.3This means that machines in DCs are out of operation for more than two thirds of their theoreticalwork time, mainly because of maintenance problems. The lack of maintenance has been the majorreason why many manufacturing plants constructed in DCs did not reach their potential productivecapacity, and also why projects originally designed to generate foreign exchange have had the oppositeeffect of increasing the exchange deficit

The need for maintenance does not sole4f exist in DCs. The importance of maintenance was redis-covered in industrialised countries during the 1960s as capital intensity increased Since then main-tenance has received nuich attention and new practices have been devised. Managers share the opinionthat "maintenance only costs money when it is not done". On the average, in industrialised countries,annual spending on maintenance has amounted to 8 - 12 per cent of the value ofmachines.4 Anothermeasure of the maintenance costs is their share in product prices, which is, for emmple, in the countriesof EEC, between 3.5 and 5.0 per cent. This constitutes a huge sum of 70 - 100 bn. Ecus a yeans Hencea major problem in these countries is to reduce the costs of maintenance.

To a certain extent all the reasons stressing the importance of maintenance are also present in DCs.However; maintenance problems are aggravated there by quite a few factors such as the lack of economicincentives, an immature infrastructure, a low level of technical and management education and cultureswhich are unfavourable to maintenance with their general disregard for its importance. Even greaterproblems may occur within public enterprises, where there are fewer rewards for good work Worse, themost severe problems are found in some of the world's poorest nations.

It is instructive to realise, that there are significant regional and country differences. In many DCs ofAsia and the Indian subcontinent good maintenance practice appears to be more highly appreciatedand better organized than in other regions of the developing world 6 Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, forexample, have been successful in the application of imported technologies to local conditions. They arecompetitive in world markets larg4 because of the effective use of export-oriented technologies which

require very demanding maintenance practice. While in Kenya maintenance is well-developed, it issub-standard in Burundi, Madagaskar and Zaire.7

In recent years, the UN and its specialized agencies, partiailarly UNIDO and the ILO, have formulatedpolicy recommendations designed to address maintenance practices in DCs. The UN has recognisedthat financial aid spent on preventing the deterioration of physical efdpment and facilities would bemuch more cost-effective than the aid granted for initial investments.° As the above-mentioned figuresfor the EEC indicated, annual maintenance costs do not nomially exceed one-tenth of the total valueof machines. Maintenance improvements are therefore the least cost4f way to sustain or increaseproduction efficiency compared to purchasing new machinery, which in its turn, will again requiremaintenance.

However, despite considerable efforts and investments made by donors and DCs themselves, many ofthem still have a poor maintenance culture and practice. Moreover, though the introduction of soundmaintenance practice in some DCs initially showed promise, it was subject to rapid erosion later onafter the completion of the projects. It seems that though maintenance is often emphasised in technologytransfer projects, it is seldom considered as a component of national training policies.

This paper is mainly focused on training policy issues related to the development of maintenancepractices in middle and low-income DCs.

Chapter I discusses a definition of and various approaches to maintenance. It shows the major trendsin maintenance sldll changes - increased problem-solving and information technology components,and growing specialisation geared to the lye of technology and modes of maintenance applied.Technical and vocational education and tmining programmes and maintenance qualifications inindustrialised countries are found to gradually follow the development of maintenance practices.

Chapter II shows the particular mix of technologies applied by DC: and the extent to which themaintenance practices applied correspond to theirneeds. It argues that as DCs install simpler machines,on average they need less sophisticated maintenance. However, as many Da have imported a gooddeal of modern equipment, for its cost-effective use, they have to introduce maintenance of appropriatesophistication. For that to happen, they need to develop policies heOing to introduce and sustainmaintenance practices. This Chapter illustrates how foreign maintenance practices are applied in someDCs. Economic and cultural environments in some DCs are shown to have remarkab4, little capacityfor sustaining proper maintenance practices. Ho% veva; it was found that even in relative4f distortedeconomies, -ompany policy or even personal ambitions can be a good ground for nurturing propermaintenance practice.

The last Chapter presents the ways vocational training for maintenance is conducted in DCs. Main-tenance skills normally learned through apprenticeship have been useful mainly for repairs. Technicaleducation and training in maintenance is still very rare, preventing engineers and technicians in DCsfrom app4ling cost-effective maintenance schemes. However, transfer of maintenance knowledge hasbeen more active through technical assistance and commercial technology transfer projects as well asproductivity courses. Major groups requiring training in maintenance are discussed as well as the needto establish maintenance qualifications in DCs.

The report si :.,:ests some implications for trainingpolicies aimed at enhancing maintenance awarenessin DCs.

6

Contents

Introduction

I. What is maintenance 1

A. Dimensions of the maintenance task 1

B. Qualifications and skills required 2

II. What is wrong with maintenance in 5

developing countries?

A. Different technologies require different maintenance 5

1. Selecting technologies 5

2.. The need for skills In standardisation 6

3. The challenge of natural conditions 6

B. Distorted incentives penalize maintenance 7

1. Cement industry in Uganda 8

2. Food industries in Cameroon and Burkina Faso 8

3. Maintenance development project In Ethiopia 8

C. Cultural limitation to maintenance awareness 9

D. Lack of skills and ambitions for maintenance io

1. Maintenance of construction equipment in 11Sri Lanka

2. The low status of technical education in 'Nigeria 11

3. Petrochemical industries of high-income 12developing countries

4. Sound maintenance in Zambian mirk? hospitals 13

5. Applicability of various maintenance systems in 14DCs's skill contexts

E. Why are some DCs better at maintenance than others? 14

ill. Can training improve maintenance in 17

developing countries?

A. New concepts for maintenance training 17

1. Institution-based education and training

2. The importance of general technical training 18

3. Employer training 19

4. Results-oriented training: the case of Ethiopia 19

5. Train! tg for spare part manufacturing and 20

reconditioning

6. The need for multiskilled maintenance specialists 20

B. Upgrading of maintenance skills through technical 21

assistance

1. Involving local maintenance staff is not enough 21

2. Creation of a national maintenance Infrastructure in 21

Nigeria

3. Strategies of reconstruction 21

4. Interpreting foreign training manuals 22

5. Including training specifications in contracts 22

6. Training methods 22

IV. Implications for training policies 25

Notes 29

I. What Is maintenance?

Work has traditionally been divided into opera-tional tasks, which embody the actual produc-tion process, and maintenance tasks, which aredesigned to improve capital productivity byreducing machine downtime and increasing thelife of equipment. Differences between theoperational and maintenance workers could befound not only in their skills, but even in waysof thinking and attitudes. During productiontime, maintenance workers conduct routinetasks or keep records. As distinct from opera-tional staff, maintenance staff work hard whena machine is down and production is at astandstill

In the modern work environment, main-tenance is redefined as a highly specialisedactivity aimed at reaching a balance betweeneconomic considerations (losses caused bymachine downtime, costs of spare parts and ofmaintenance staff) and technical ones(production time-table, speed and load of amachine, the life-span and degree of wear ofthe machine parts). R)r instance, increasedmachine output can be reached at the expenseof deferred maintenance. However, this oftenresults in premature wear and increased costsof replacement of parts and in higher lossesfrom machine downtime. The term "productivemaintenance" is often used to highlight theimportance of this function to the manufactur-ing process.

There are various reasons for which capitalproductivity rises, thereby raising the impor-tance of maintenance. Firstly, machines arevery costly, and are becoming even more so.Secondly, many companies, in order to keeptheir competitiveness in the fast changingmarkets, now emphasise small batch manufac-turing, which requires continuous retuning ofequipment.2 Since retuning usually entails anincrease in idle time and an additional reduc-tion of ou tput, production schedules have to be

closely linked to maintenance schedules. Main-tenance functions, meanwhile, are surpassingoperational tasks in terms of sophistication,with computer assistance playing a key role atmany levels.

A. Dimensions of the maintenancetask

Several gen ?sal maintenance concepts at dif-ferent levels of sophistication have beendeveloped.

The simplest concept is corrective main-tenance, also known as "emergency" or "un-planned" maintenance, which is carried outwhen a failure occurs. Machine downtime canbe minimised if repair procedures are plannedin advance and the required tools and partskept in reserve.

The goal of preventive maintenance is adecrease of the likelihood of equipmentfailure.3 The uaderlying principle here is that"prevention is cheaper than cure". Problemsare identified and corrected before break-downs occur. The programme which follows aset schedule, includes the inspection and re-placement of parts according to projections ofreasonable operating lifespans. Individualmanufacturers often provide informationabout the fife expectancy of the equipment.

Predictive maintenance examines the condi-tions in which machines operate, often apply-ing sophisticated techniques of noise, vibra-tion, and gas analysis, according to establishedschedules. The accuracy of predictive main-tenance is a considerable asset. It allows partsto be repaired or replaced not according to theaverage life-spans, but immediately beforetheir breakdowns, thus significantly reducing

9

their consumption.4 This approach is popularin the United Kingdom, where approximatelyhalf the companies have implemented someform of condition monitoring and analysis.5

Many problems, of course, can be avoided ifthe machinery and production process arewell-designed to begin with. This considerationended up with a new approach known as designout maintenance, which is aimed at improvingthe maintainability of installations through thebetter design of equipment, maintenanceprogrammes, and operations. This is an ongo-ing process, based on a continual accumulationof knowledge about the workplace and cor-roponding modification in machines andmethods.

Making a choice between these approaches forreal-life conditions requires high level main-tenance skills and knowledge of management.The most important considerations are the costof the losses of one hour machine downtime (interms of would-be produced output), the costof spare parts and maintenance services andthe level of maintenance skills available. Someexamples of the different decisions will begiven in Chapter II.

Making an option of the maintenance conceptrequires a serious appraisal of the skill level ofthe staff. For example, if corrective main-tenance is applied, then simple maintenancetasks can be carried out by a machine operatorwithout the use of specialised tools or parts.Here the distinction between operative andmaintenance functions is murky. Skilledworkers or technicians can undertake diag-nosis of breakdowns and minor technicalrepairs and conduct standard part replace-ments. By contrast, in the case of preventivemaintenance, the need for higher qualifiedpersonnel such as technicians and the time oftheir physical presence near the machines ismuch larger. They carry out lubrication accord-ing to lubrication maps and routine machinechecks, readjust measuring devices and keeprecords on the life-time of components in ac-tual working conditions. The most criticalrepair and preventive tasks may require a teamof engineers.

In general, the role of more specialised tech-nicians has expanded dramatically. Becausemachines are becoming increasingly self-pat:4 many basic maintenance tasks are dis-

appearing or diminishing in importance. Butthe remaining tasks tend to be highly complex.Instead of relying on their own personnel,some firms find it necessary to hire a main-tenance subcontractor to perform specialisedwork.6 This is very much the case in the UnitedKingdom, where more than 70 per cent of firmshire outside specialists for some of their main-tenance needs! For instance, most computermaintenance is carried out by service organisa-tions, with little involvement on the part of theclient. Repairs are typically made in

workshops, not on the client's premises.8

Maintenance, then, has become a complex andmultifaceted process. Many companies nowappoint maintenance managers, who areresponsible for establishing a viable pro-gramme of maintenance. Their work includesthe development of technical documentationcapacity (data sheets, breakdown checklists,etc.), the mobilisation of a forecasting andprogramming staff, and the acquisition of toolsand equipment. Spare parts management, forexample, requires developing a stack of criticalparts, based on computer records of previousbreakdowns. The establishment of a bank ofcritical parts helps to reduce repair delays andoptimises output.

B. Qualifications and skills required

The maintenance staff of a modern firm typi-cally includes managers and supervisors, en-gineers and technicians, planners, skilled andsemi-skilled workers.

What kinds of skills must an employee possessin order to become a productive member of thisgroup? Maintenance work depends on theability to solve problems. The core element ofmaintenance skills, therefore, is knowledge ofthe equipment and its modes of failure.

Problem solving is a knowledge-based functionthat embraces much risk and uncertainty. Itresists routinisation. The more complicated themachine, the more problems may arise. Forexample, in the paper industry of Australia, theUnited Kingdom and the United States theproportion of maintenance Workers hasreached 20 per cent of the total workforce inthe plants surveyed because of the increasedvariety and complexity of machines. This hasbeen accompanied by an increase in skill re-quirements.' Nevertheless, some maintenancefunctions could be simplified and routinescould be assigned to less skilled staff.10 In ad-dition, machines can perform some of thesetasks. For example, the advent of self-diagnos-tic devices and the use of modular componentreplacements in telecommunications areeliminating the need for the traditional skills offitters and electricians.

Despite the fact that maintenance work is get-ting increasingly specialised raising the needfor specialist maintenance qualifications andskills, training programmes for workers oftenfocus exclusively on traditional contents,without demonstrating how a particular skillcan be applied to maintenance tasks. In Ger-many, for instance, the curriculum for the oc-cupation of industrial mechanic still largely

;lects general maintenance concepts.11 Thisapproach is at odds with the increasingly prag-matic and specialised nature of the modernworkplace.

Maintenance practice now requires changes incraft training programmes. Many workers findthemselves struggling to apply informationtechnology without ever having been in frontof a computer keyboard. Side by side with thenew maintenance philosophy, there is a greatdeal of new bewildering terminology found inthe modern maintenance environment. That iswhy training lasts long and, for example in theU.S., on average from six to 12 months areneeded to effectively use the installed main-tenance systems.12

These factors are at work at all levels of themaintenance profession. Firstly, maintenancehas become specific laiowledge to be taught.

The maintenance manager, engineer and tech-nician have to be aware of the above-said main-tenance concepts in order to be able to makethe right choice and take all the advantages ofit The possession of a respected engineeringor technical degree does not automaticallyenable someone to make the right main-tenance decisions under real-world conditions.Secondly, the knowledge and skill content ofmaintenance are industry and technologyspecific. A maintenance engineer from a papermill can not readily maintain a sugar factory.The maintenance of computers and robots isquite different from that of pumps and boilers.For these reasons, managerial and technicaltraining programmes now tend to reflectspecialisation. State-of-the-art trainingprogrammes do not teach "maintenance con-cepts. Corrosive maintenance, fleet main-tenance, gas and oil transportation main-tenance, nitrogen fertiliser maintenance, orpetrochemical maintenance are currentspecialisations.13 It means that maintenanceconcepts should be taught over and above solidtechnical education.

Thirdly, the more complicated the main-tenance is applied, the more specialised theskills learned have to be. The emergence ofpreventive and, especially, predictive main-tenance has imposed new requirements on thetraining of engineers and technicians. As theability to diagnose a machine and monitor itsworking conditions in their entirety assumesgreater importance, new subjects (e.g. vibra-tion, gas analysis, and non-destructive testing)must be added to the curriculum. Theheightened role of financial considerations ininfluencing maintenance decisions neces-sitates a familiarity with enterprise economics.

Industrial countries are witnessing the gradualemergence of a consensus on how to meet thechallenges of modern maintenance. It is widelyagreed, for instance, that universities shouldestablish maintenance curricula for engineersand managers. Similarly, the creation of a na-tionally-recognised qualification of "main-tenance mechanic," to be linked withappropriate training, is considered of primaryimportance in countries where this does not

1 1

already exist.m The development of conditio4-monitoring maintenance systems has focusedattention on the training of control and instru-ment technicians.15

Because in-house maintenance crews must befamiliar with several fields in order to conductdiagnoses of an entire machine, it is nowgenerally recognised that technician trainingcannot be limited to basic mechanical andelectrical skills. It must also include hydraulics,pneumatics, electronics and other relevantsubjects.

Many new trends in maintenance educationare occurring in industry. 'Raining in the main-tenance of new machines is now increasinglyprovided by their suppliers.16 Because moderntechnology is always in a state of flux, specialistsrequire continuous learning and upgrading oftheir skills. For example, a practicingelectronics engineer may need as many as 300hours per year of extra training in order to keepabreast of developments.

Some companies, seeking to encourage theircraftsmen to expand their horizons, have intro-

duced distinctions between different areas ofskill. In the iron and steel industry of the U.IC.,for instance, three main categories haveevolved. "Workshop craftsmen" are highlyskilled in a traditional skill area, such as that ofelectrician or fitter. "Plant craftsmen" areresponsible for diagnoses and repairs in dif-ferent sections of the plant. "Process controlcraftsmen," meanwhile, must possess a broadelectromechanical background and a good un-derstanding of plant processes and problemsolving."

These developments in the industrialisedeconomies are impressive. So much so, in fact,that some DCs appear to be falling behindmore than ever both in operation and main-tenance of their imported machines. The gapis widening. The DCs which are concernedabout sustained production and servicesshould be attentive in observing the latestdevelopments in maintenance. New demandsfor maintenance skills and qualifications can-not be avoided particularly for importedsophisticated technologies. Otherwise, theirscarce capital will be wasted and debts in-creased.

What is wrong with maintenance in developingcountries?

A. Different technologies require dif-ferent maintenance

1. Selecting technologies

The economies of many DO combine a smallnumber of public or semi-public enterpriseswith a large number of small firms and artisanunits. The latter employ between 40 per cent -

80 per cent of the total working population ofthese nations. However, the major infrastruc-ture and service industries, including transport,communications, power, water and construc-tion, are of fundamental importance. In LDCs,where manufacturing remains madly un-developed, infrastructure and publ lc servicesconstitute the greater part of all indisstry.1 Theability of small business and artisan sectors tointroduce any kind of planned maintenance isalmost negligible, though they can benefit fromapplying the essentials of maintenancephilosophy and practice. Yet, large public com-panies, despite greater capabilities, frequentlyignore or underestimate the importance ofmaintenance questions, thus dooming them-selves to suffer from many technical and finan-cial problems.

DCs acquire new techrologies from threesources: purchase, donor gifts and, in somecases, domestic production. It is reasonable forany country or firm to limit itself to tech-nologies which it is capable of supporting.Many DCs, in fact, realise this. But the ques-tion is not without complexities. In some cases- for instance, the airline or coal mining in-dustries - only the most advanced technologiesare appropriate or available. As a result, DCsat differing economic levels operate similarinsollations, though with varying efficiency.While the maintenance of ordinary projects inDCs can - and should - be reasonably simple,the more advanced technologies cannot dis-

pense with sophisticated maintenance systemsand skilled staff.

In some cases, there is a strong link betweenmaintenance and safety. Production and ser-vice technologies often have the potential toendanger people and environments. Obviousexamples include chemical products manufac-turing, aircraft transportation, shipbuilding,and coal mining. At the same time, breakdownof the public service indu.stry, e.g. water supply,may also end with disastrous consequences.For example, because of a cable fire in KafueGorge in Zambia the hydroelectric power sta-tion was immobilised for almost a year. It hadhappened because the high tension cables hadpassed their secure life-time age. But the Zam-bian government did not allocate foreign ex-change for the purchase of the new ones,despite the station's importance to the nationaleconomy.2

Maintenance of machines in public infrastruc-ture and potentially dangerous technologies isof absolutely critical importance, anki shouldonly be entrusted to specially trained spe-cialists. Unfortunately, in many DCs safety isnot always taken seriously. In many cases, thesole ambition is to get projects into production,leaving maintenance systems and proper train-ing unattended. In the sixties and seventies, forexample, LDCs invested heavily in turn-keyfactories. Such contracts facilitated the rapidacquisition of production units. However, theywere not accompanied by the acquisition oftechnical know-how and knowledge, or themastering of maintenance skills.3

All too often, the economies which supply DCswith new technologies also have an inadequateappreciation of systematic maintenance. 'Run-key projects implemented by industrialisedcountries, for instance, usually neglect to em-

13

phasise the maintenance training component.Suppliers, facing intense competition, at-tempted to secure contracts by slashing theprice of their offers. This meant, naturally, aconcomitant reduction in services. Main-tenance was the first to go, mainly because ofits lack of short-term impact. At the time ofconstruction and start-up, nobody was worriedabout deterioration.

Lack of awareness at the policy making levelleads to failure to address maintenance issuesduring contractual negotiations and theprocess of purchasing equipment. The conse-quences emerge later, affecting such areas astechnical documentation, spare parts, trainingof personnel, and standardisation of equip-ment and parts. After several months of thenew machines functioning in DCs, breakdownsoccur and it is stated that maintenance hasbeen forgotten. lbchnical documentation ismissing: operator and maintenance manuals,inspection sheets, trouble shooting instruc-tions and spare part lists. While costly spareparts are sometimes in stock, small parts maybe miming. Qualified personnel is also missing:task and job descriptions are not established,while the number and qualifications of neces-sary maintenance personnel are unknown.Maintenance policy and organisation is alsonon-existent.

As one expert puts it, between 40 and 60 percent of the firms in DCs have no structuredmaintenance services. lbchnicians are sm.-tered around, executing repairs and somelubricating work. Between 20 and 30 per centhave a separate maintenance service, which isconsidered as a necessary evil. It usually haspoor financial and human resources. Only be-tween ten and 20 per cent of firms have or-ganised maintenance installed from the verybeginning with external help.4

DCs therefore should explore the vital linkbetween the equipment they buy and theirability to maintain it. Before this can happen,though, solid maintenance awareness at thepolicy making level must be established. Suchawareness will, hopefully, enable DCs to recog-nise inappropriate technologies and to outline

ways of adapting foreign maintenance systemsto local conditions.

2. The need for skills in stand-ardisation

One crucial problem affecting DCs is the be-wildering mix of equipment, tools and spareparts found at many sites. Old machines tendto be exploited long past their expected life-span; as these machines age, it becomes dif-

ficult to obtain spare parts. Meanwhile,well-meaning donors often present LDCs withmachines and parts which are incompatiblewith the established operations. The problemis exacerbated by a lack of technical documen-tation. Many DCs simply cannot afford toproperly document a plant, since the cost ofsuch an undertaking may constitute more thanten per cent of the total investment. Moreover,the documents for foreign parts are typicallywritten in the language of the country thatproduced them, and good translations may notbe available. Large firms were found to havemuch better maintained equipment lists thanthe others. Small companies with less than 200employees have rarely organised maintenanceservices and no systematic equipment inven-tories.5

DCs can best confront these problems bydeveloping awareness of necessary stand-ardisation for imported machines and domesticmanufacturing. This entails, among otherthings, the training of experts in stand-ardis ation.6

3. The challenge of natural condi-tions

The climate and environmental conditions ofmany DCs are strikingly different from thoseof industrialised countries. This factor intro-duces added problems which do not exist in thecountries from which most equipment is.

delivered. In India, for example, the com-puterised controls of CNC machines in themaintenance workshops are obliged to func-tion at temperatures well in excess of the safelimit. Hot, wet conditions cause very rapid cor-rosion in all equipment made of mild steel. For

1 4

this reason, in some parts of India, passengercoaches and freight vehicles become complete-ly unserviceable after a short time. Distance,isolation, communication problems and theresultant delays exacerbate the effects ofnatural conditions.7

The sugar industry in Sudan is a typical exampleof the challenges posed by hot and dustyclimates and of serious efforts to cope withthem.8 The rise of plant automation in theindustry has led to a greater role for main-tenance. Indeed, the proportion of main-tenance staff has now readied ten per cent ofthe total number of employees. Sugarmanufacturing is seasonal. Its maintenance,therefore, consists of two major stages: on-cropmaintenance and off-crop overhaul main-tenance. Nearly 80 per cent of enterprises haveintroduced versions of a planned maintenancesystem. Routine preventive maintenance isconducted daily, weekly and monthly. Over-hauls are carried out at the end of the season,in accordance with the equipment manu-facturer's manual. However, lead times for or-dering spare parts range from 13 to 18 months.

Maintenance of agricultural machines in hotand dusty conditions is very demanding. Forexample, in these conditions, the daily servicefor a John Deere model 4250 tractor includeschecking the engine and transmission oil levels,monitoring the battery electrolite level and theamount of radiator coolant, cleaning the airfilter and oil cooler condenser, and drainingwater and sediment from a fuel tank. Engineoil must be changed every other week (100hours); engine oil filter. must be replaced everysix weeks (300 hours).

In Sudan, skilled engineers and technicians arevery scarce. This is unfortunate, since many arerequired for proper maintenance of advancedsugar machinery. 'lb a great extent, the trainingof maintenance staff is conducted on the job.Maintenance engineers and supervisorsreceive training in the Sennar Sugar 'RainingCentre, which has established a continuousmaintenance training programme. Some of the

engineers and supervisors are sent to Egypt,Germany and India for advanced training.

This case illustrates that in the conditions ofDCs's remoteness from spare parts manufac-turers, planned maintenance acquires evengreater importance. Some machine manufac-turers have adjusted maintenance recommen-dations to the DCs climate. Companies in DCswhich have managed to develop sound main-tenance organisations and took maintenanceguides seriously have been better off as regardscrops and manufacturing compared to manyothers, examples of which are given below.

B. Distorted incentives penalisemaintenance

Maintenance is an element of the economyand, as such, it is inevitably linked to produc-tivity concepts. One of the major causes ofpoormaintenance in some DCs has been the so-called "crisis of governance", in whichbureaucracies provide no incentives fordeveloping productivity.9 In addition, somegovernments have negative attitudes 4owardsmaintenance. Administrators in thesecountries prefer to be associated with theglamour of new construction rather than withthe more mundane responsibilities of properlymaintaining existing facilities. Systematicmaintenance cannot take hold in distortedeconomies where inefficiency is pervasive andincentives for good (and disincentives forpoor) work do not exist. For example in Moroc-co, enterprises were found to be maintenance-conscious, while economic policies of highcentralisation and control employed by thegovernment preclude them from benefittingfrom maintenance expenditures.18

The link with economics suggest that marketdevelopment and privatisation, with their built-in incentives, are vital to the establishment ofproper maintenance. In general, the record ofmaintenance in public enterprises has beenunimpressive. Such enterprises are rarelypowered by market forces. Instead, theydepend on simple discipline and the presumes

15

of central planning. Maintenance performedby profit-driven enterprises, by contrast, seemsto be much more reliable and long-term.

1. Cement industry in Uganda

Many enterprises in DCs fall short of theirrated productivity levels, and a lack of propermaintenance is often the culprit. In Africancountries, for example, an estimated 30 percent of production capacity losses is due tomaintenance problems. In some especiallysevere cases, enterprises require completerehabilitation because of poor maintenance.The cement industry in Uganda is an ex-ample.11 'Dm major cement plants in thatcountry have a combined installed capacity of450,000 tons per annum. Yet actual productionoutput remains at between four and six percent of that figure, mainly because of a lack ofplanned maintenance. Neither the operationalstaff (especially mill operators, burners,electricians and quality control personnel) normaintenance workers have received vocationaltraining. The results are conspicuous. Kilns rununder uncontrolled temperatures. Cranes,pumps and compressors are damaged. Opera-tions tequently come to a halt because of in-sufficient energy and water and the non-availability of raw materials. Spare parts areunavailable because of a lack of foreign ex-change. About half the workers are idle at anygiven time.

2. Food industries in Burkina Fasoand Cameroon

Poor management and organisation in someDCs have always been serious reasons behindinsufficient maintenance. For example, aCameroon brewery went bankrupt as no main-tenance organisation was established. Theplant was left 100 per cent overcrowded bylow-skilled workers. The new equipment wasquickly left in poor shape. One boiler explodedas all security devices were eliminated. In thecorn mills of Burkina Faso, maintenanceworkers only know day by day what repairs toexecute. There is no planned maintenance.Very often maintenance workers have nospecific tasks as they are practically integrated

in the production teams. All this means that theneed for maintenance specialist skills andqualifications is not well-understood.12

3. Maintenance development projectln Ethiopia

The Hficulties faced by countries lacking adeveloped market economy are well illustratedby Ethiopia's attempts to introduce a long-term maintenance development project.During the project's initiation stage about 950managers, supervisors and ministry officialstogether with 7000 maintenance mechanicsand drivers undertook various forms cf trainingin maintenance. More than 85 enterprises con-ducted maintenance development projectswith the help of external advisors. These effortsended up with large increases in the availabilityof equipment and a reduction in maintenancecosts.1T But subsequent evidence has shownthat many enterprises which had introducedmaintenance under pressure from theauthorities soon lost interest.14 Withouteconomic incentives, there was little reason forthem to bother. Though the EthiopianManagement Institute trains about 100

managers in maintenance every year, , most ofthem have still not established appropriatemaintenance.15

Proper maintenance in Ethiopia was found tosurvive in two industries: sugar and petroleumrefining.16 In both cases, maintenance was es-tablished a long time ago, and has continuedthrough the years in the form of daily, weeklyand monthly routines. Periodic inspections arecarried out. The guidelines established by themanufacturers' manuals are followed. Soundmaintenance plans are developed, and the staffis thoroughly trained.

Success in these industries originated with theentrepeneurs who founded them. They werewell-educated in their fields and had clear goalsin mind. They accepted good standards ofpreventive maintenance from abroad, andtrained capable workers to keep accuraterecords and conduct annual overhauls. In addi-tion, maintenance workers were well-paid;their comparatively high salaries and generous

6

bonuses encouraged them to remain at theirjobs. After the departure of the entrepreneurs,these sound pructices were carried on by theworkers.

The Ethiopian food manufacturing industrytells a very different story. Management hasbeen characterised by a lack of technicalknowledge and a preoccupation with shortterm investments. From the beginning, main-tenancewas regarded not as a beneficial investment, but as a source of high costs - hence,something to be avoided. Few inspections tookplace. lbols and parts were not acquired,manuals were ignored, and maintenanceworkers were burdened with the lowest wagesin the entire industry. The absence of skilledengineers ensured that an awareness of thebenefits of maintenance would never develop.Repairs were made only when equipment hadbroken down and a crisis had erupted.

This example says that sound economic incen-tives for sustaining productivity improvementare the best environment for nurturing soundmaintenance practices. However, even in thediscouraging conditions of planned economies,the role of educated and ambitious managersand engineers to create sustaining main-tenance cultures has been significant. Thatmeans that it is a good idea to educate as manypeople as possible in maintenance. The effortwill pay in the long run.

C. Cultural limitations to main-tenance awareness

The world of maintenance embraces a varietyof ideas, skills and know-how. Some are rathersimple, others quite complicated. For manytechnologies, learning maintenance tasks takesmore time than putting them into practice.17 Inany case, their implementation in DCs requiresa certain level of literacy and general skills ofthe staff.

Unfortunately, it is a fact of life in some DCsthat education and training are rarely ap-preciated. Many production workers in charge

of modern machines are illiterate or semi-literate. Obviously, they have trouble readingmaintenance guides and processing main-tenance information. Their understanding ofthe diagnosis and inspection of machinery isbased on an unsatisfactory framework of lowtechnical skills. Their backgrouad in generaleconomics is . rely sufficient for the im-plementation of maintenance economics 18 Inaddition, they have not been taught to workeffectively. How can such employees be ex-pected to perform demanding maintenancework?19

Most DCs do not have much in the way ofindustrial traditions and experience. Thepopulation has typically grown up in a rural,non-technical environment, with little ex-posure to machines, instruments and mechani-cal procecses. Their formal schooling -

assuming they have had any - has idled few ofthe gaps. Thus, many individuals have no in-nate sense of what is "normal" and what is"wrong" in the production units. They maysimply assume, for instance, that the noise ofmachinery is normal. Such employees fre-quently disregard safety precautions and paylittle attention to the maintenance require-ments of tools, machinery and equipment."

In many DCs technical education does notreceive priority, representing a small fractionin education and training programmes. For ex-ample, in Cameroon, only one young person infour is being trained for a technical career.21

Experts have noted that maintenance ideas arebetter appreciated in certain DCs than else-where. Asia, generally speaking, is a main-tenance skill surplus area; Burma, India,Pakistan and Sri LLnka have demonstratedspecial aptitude. By contrast, Africa is a main-tenance deficit area, though not uniformly so.As one source puts it, "those who know Nairobiand Lagos airports will be at a loss to under-stand why one is as good as new while the otherappears to be suffering from neglect".22

A number of factors are at play here, especiallycultural values which seem to be strongly re-lated to the nature of the maintenance concept

17

and practice. For instance, many LDCs repre-sent the kind of society in which achievementat work is not much valued.23 Therefore work-related personal success and wealth are to bediscouraged. According to this world view,achievement and hard work are neverrewarded; power and authority are the guaran-tors of survival.24 Therefore, there is littlereason to care about improving work habits orproductivity. Work incentives, whatever thetype, have little effect. The only concept whichholds any value is "status" or "authority." Notsurprisingly, maintenance and repair work areheld in very low esteem. Machine operators, infact, would consider it an insult to be heldaccountable for the cleaning of theirmachines.25

Another type of society is characterised by aneglect of procedures, standards and plans.26Accounting, measuring, and the collection andprocessing of information are given peremp-tory treatment, and performed without ac-curacy or care. A research study conducted byUNRISD in 1973 has identified specific typesof industrial behaviour in countries where thisworld view prevails. 'lb begin with, theemployees frequently have a r3or sense oftime. There is also a lack of working accuracyand precision, and a resistance to followinginstructions. lasks which require quick adjust-ments, correct measurements, and detailedprocedures pose considerable difficulties. Theemployees often fail to comprehend the neces-sity of sequential maintenance procedures(doing first things first), and are inclinedtowards improvisation. They tend to becomebored with the systematic repetition of tasksinvolved in daily maintenance or periodic in-spections.27

In a real sense, then, there is a "clash of cul-tures". The cultural values of the country are atodds with the values required to establish,operate and sustain maintenance systems.Maintenance concepts are alien, there is littlein the way of precedent to guide behaviour,role models are lacking, and incentives areweak. In such cases, developing a successfulmaintenance system requires considerablymore than providing instruction in appropriate

practices. Cultural values have to be addressedon a broad front. Specific maintenance prac-tices have to be embeded in organisationalpractices which contribute to creating a "main-tenance culture".

However, it is worth emphasising that thoughcultural values are important for the develop-ment of the maintenance culture, the reward-ing power of economic stimulus should not beunderestimated. The experts reviewing main-tenance practices in 12 African countries arguethat the "maintenance state of mind" is onlyrarely spontaneous."

D. Lack of skills and ambition formaintenance

Maintenance standards in some DCs are con-siderably different from those of industrialisedcountries. What passes for a "maintenanceprogramme' in Ghana or Nigeria would bemore accurately described as simple repair: theworkers make no attempt to inspect machinesfor signs of future breakdowns, and remain idleuntil an emergency occurs. Multinationals,however, like Cadbury (Nigeria), Guinness(Nigeria), or Nestle (Ghana) appear to workunder different maintenance concepts more aswe have defined them so these concepts might

then trickle into local enterprises." Some na-tional firms were also found to keep up main-tenance practice. For example, the Zairiancopper mines, the Indian Steel industryS.A.I.L., the Tunisian cable factory and electriccomponent plant have well-established main-tenance organisations with computerised sparepart filing. A gold mine in Burkina Faso and atextile industry in Indonesia were also found tohave well-maintained equipment.38

Some DCs - for example India - have decidedto introduce preventive maintenance on abroad scale, and have organised training cour-ses with this in mind (largely at the technicianand maintenance engineer levels). ManyAfrican DCs, on the other hand, have focusedon breakdown maintenance, offering trainingprimarily to operatives and low level tech-

18

nicians capable of undertaking standard partreplacement and minor preventive main-tenance, including machine checks and lubrica-tion. Some specialised courses are alsoconducted for engineers and technicians deal-ing with renovation or reconstruction.31

At this point, we may find it useful to examine.1 detail some specific cases in which DCs haveattempted to introduce maintenance systems.The first example, Sri Lanka, demonstrates theimportance of technology and skill considera-tions. By contrast, the experience of Nigeriahas been largely conditioned by attitudestowards technical education. Iran, Mexico andthe Sultanate of Oman - all high-income DCs -provide examples that illustrate what happenswhen national income and maintenance prac-tices fail to match. In contrast, the case of aZambian mine hospital provides evidence thatsound maintenance could be established by theindividual public companies even in discourag-ing environments.

1. Maintenance of constructionequipment In Sri Lanka

Breakdown maintenance, preventive main-tenance and a combination of the two were themajor approaches targeted by the authoritiesresponsible for implementing changes. Locallyproduced water pumps, as low value equip-ment, were put under a *breakdown system"based on the replacement of failed units. Fortractors, as a higher cost technology, preven-tive maintenance was chosen. For cutter sec-tion dredgers - a very high cost technologyrequired to work 24 hours a day and 6.5 days aweek - a combination of breakdown andpreventive maintenance was adopted.

In purchasing cutter section dredgers,preference was given to the diesel-electrictype, rather than the diesel-hydraulic type, be-cause of the local staff's limited hydraulicsskills. The supplier's agent provided trainingwhile the equipment was being assembled. Itwas also agreed that the supplier would providemaintenance during the first year of operation,

to compensate for the local staff's lack of skills.

As a rule, manufacturer's maintemince recom-mendations do not work well in many Dr .4

mostly because of their poor capabilities.During the introduction of preventive main-tenance in the suction dredger project, themanufacturer's recommendations were usedonly as guidelines. This policy had some unfor-tunate consequences. For instance, fuel oftenbecame dirty because of careless transfer to thetank, necessitating more frequent inspectionsand replacing of filters. The transmission andhydraulic oil tanks, located on either side of theoperator's seat, were often filled with the in-correct grade of oil. 'lb compensate for the lowquality of the available lubricant, the cuttershaft's underwater bearings had to be greasedevery two hours. But in fact, the maintenancecrew did so only twice a day. The result: abnor-mal wear of the cutter shaft.32

This case shows, that even in low-income DCsa good understanding and proper selection ofmaintenance concepts could be achieved.However, the usefulness of maintenanceroutines should be well undentood at the su-pervisory and craftsman levels. Besides skills,right attitudes towards maintenance shouldpervade the local staff.

2. The low status of technical educa-tion in Nigeria

In most Nigerian enterprises, breakdownmaintenance has continued to prevail, and ef-forts to introduce preventive maintenancehave stalled. The low social status of technicaleducation is largely to blame, since it hasresulted in an insufficient level of maintenanceknowledge among policymakers and entre-preneurs. The higher education institutionsprovide graduates with a general engineeringprofile, on the assumption that they will ac-quire maintenance skills in industry. But thatnever happens. Meanwhile, experienced main-tenance technicians who were trained in-ser-vice are not rewarded with proper wages andhigh esteem.

The problem is compounded by a lack ofpolicies for technology transfer. Since mostequipment is imported, there are the usualproblems with applying the manufacturer's in-structions. Maintenance engineers and tech-nicians are rarely involved in the selection andpurchase of equipment and ordering of spareparts. A national body charged with raisingmaintenance standards, establishing qualifica-tions and drawing up syllabi might help al-leviate matters, but none exists. No publictraining resources are specifically allocated tomaintenance.33

3. Petrochemical industries of high-income developing countries

Iran, Mexico and the Sultanate of Oman are allcountries with highly capital-intensive andtechnologically complex petrochemical in-dustries. A variety of specialised skills are re-quired to operate and maintain the range ofprimary and auxilliary equipment installed atall leveLs, from the multi-million dollar oilrefinery to the simple pump station. Main-tenance is complicated by the fact that most oilfields in some of these countries are found inremote areas characterised by temperature ex-tremes, dusty and humid atmospheres, andsalty air - all of which are detrimental to thewell-being of equipment.

These countries can afford to invest heavily insophisticated machinery. Unfortunately, theirspending power does not always match theirlevels of maintenance practices. Some com-panies use breakdown maintenance, whichmay be the most appropriate system for unat-tended remote installations, where equipmentis run non-stop until it breaks down. Moreover,preventive maintenance in these countries isoften labour-intensive and expensive. Spareparts are especially costly, and the standards ofpreventive maintenance often require replac-ing them before their useful service life hasbeen exhausted.

Theoretically, preventive maintenance is

capable of minimising downtime, reducing thecost of spare parts, and eliminating the un-

necessary disruption of equipment. Thesebenefits, however, cannot be achieved withouta high level of skills and commitment. In somecompanies, neither are widely available. Forinstance, poor maintenance skills can lead toaccelerated equipment deterioration afterseals and bearings have been disturbed. As aresult, the equipment may actually end up inworse condition than was the case prior tooverhaul.

The countries in question have different stand-ards of maintenance. For instance, main-tenance practices in the Sultanate of Oman arerelatively well-established and sophisticated.Mexico also enjoys comparatively good main-tenance. In Iran, by contrast, it is judged to beof generally poor quality. The reasons behindthese disparities are complex. All threecountries depend largely on oil exports tofinance development. However, they are atdifferent stages of industrial and humanresources development. Their priorities vary,along with the amount of proven reserves andthe supply of skilled or trainable workers.

For example, Oman has only recently estab-lished an oil industry. Its reserves, in fact, arestill quite modest. Lacking both skilled andunskilled workers, Oman has had to depend onthe expertise of Royal Dutch Shell. From amaintenance viewpoint, this has provenbeneficial. The multinational helped organisegood training for maintenance staff, and imple-mented preventive maintenance procedureswhich have provided a high degree of equip-ment availability and reliability. Maintenanceprocedures were a form of technology transfer.

The situation in Iran is strikingly different. Itsoil industry has flourished for over 40 years,and reserves are plentiful. However, poormaintenance practices have led to a significantloss of machinery and production volume. Al-though appropriate models of maintenancecould readily be found in industrialisedcountries, the National Iranian Oil Companyhas chosen to rely on its own (irmdequate)methods of planning and project management.As a result, activities remain more or less un-coordinated, to the continuing detriment of

2 0

production and equipment. A supportingmaintenance culture has not been developed.

Mexico is more industrialised than either Iranor Oman. Its petrochemical industry, while lessmature than Iran's, is more solidly establishedthan Oman's. The high level of maintenance isclearly linked with the high percentage ofPetroleos Mexicanos managers and engineerstrained in the U.S., where they encounter somevery sophisticated petrochemical technologies.Of the petrochemical industries in thecountries examined, only Mexico appearscapable of employing the most complex predic-tive maintenance systems with good results.34Of course, this greater familiarity with ad-vanced maintenance practices is just as muchthe result of Mexico's widespread industrialisa-tion which is not at all comparable with that ofthe other two countries mentioned.

4. Sound maintenance in Zambianmine hospitals

The public sector in Zambia is facing greatdifficulties in providing sustainable medicalequipment services. In public hospitals, about20 per cent of medical equipment is working atfault and 40 per cent is completely out of opera-tion. There are no medical instrumentationtraining courses available for public sector per-sonnel, and training for plant maintenance islimited to one reftigeration and air-condition-ing certificate course.

The Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines(ZCCM) have established a health care systemof their own, separate from the public sectorand consisting of 11 hospitals and 58 healthcentres. Despite the poor national main-tenance practice, ZCCM have developed agood maintenance system for medical equip-ment (which happens to be of the same age asthat in the public sector). Their ability toachieve this has been due to the following fac-tors:

Being a private company, ZCCM have es-tablished working pi actices which en-courage good performance from their

21

staff, combined with strong supervisionand incentives. They offer better condi-tions of service for staff than the publicsector, and staff retention is higher. Theyprovide salaries which are 25 per centhigher and various fringe benefits.

They recognise the importance of main-tenance in both operation and health careactivities. Due to the higher efficiency ofthe private mine sector, the mine hospitalsare significantly better financed than theirpublic sector counterparts and thereforereceive adequate maintenance budgetsand foreign exchange.

ZCCM have separated and centralisedmedical equipment maintenance andsafety policies, spare part procurement andmaintenance and user training from themine operational divisions. lechnical andhuman resources, maintenance andmanagement expertise from industrial in-strumentation have wisely been applied tomedical applications.

Initial training in management and main-tenance for the health care specialists wasconducted by the mine operational staff.At present, some operational maintenancestaff are seconded to the mine hospitals.Special maintenance teams for medicalequipment are being developed. Since1971 one of the ZCCM training schools hasintroduced biomedical training and 3-5 daymodular maintenance training courses onmedical equipment for the experienced in-strumentation technicians. A 36 weekcourse for maintenance technicians hasrecentlx been developed and is due to startshortly.'5

This case gives another example of how soundmaintenance could be established by the in-dividual companies, which transfer apprecia-tion of maintenance from production sites toeven health and care equipment. Good main-tenance is catching due to the sound manage-ment and well-established training system.

5. Applicability of various main-tenance systems In DCs's

skill contexts

The "operating to failure" policy is probably theonly viable system in those DCs, where localengineering and craft skills, management andresources are inadequate to follow preventivemaintenance schemes.

Preventive maintenance could be a realisticmodel for DCs with considerable manufactur-ing experience but suffering from a shortage ofequipment diagnostic skills, though havingtechnicians and craftspeople capable of follow-ing maintenance programmes. Maintenanceschedules could be established on the basis ofmachine manufacturer recommendations. Theapplication of preventive maintenance couldbe limited by the general and technical literacylevels, because technicians need to be able toread and understand maintenance manuals.Besides, records need to be kept on machineoperation. Otherwise there is a danger of"overmaintenance", which DCs can not afford.

Maintenance cost statistics would be more im-portant in some DCs, than in industrialisedeconomies, providing reasoning for obtainingforeign exchange from public funds for spareparts." Many firms with poor maintenanceunderstanding but with access to scarce publicfunds or donors's budgets, buy spare parts "forsafety's sake" which is of no use and just costsmoney.37 Another consideration, which mayrequire additional skills from local technicalstaff is that equipment manufacturers recom-mendations do not always fit the conditions inDCs well. Given the shortage of their engineer-ing skills, they would need assistance fromforeign experts to modify preventive main-tenance programmes.

In contrast to the others, predictive main-tenance is applicable only when good engineer-ing skills in electronics, hydraulics, mechanicsand pneumatics are developed and motivationfor planning, collecting and processing data isthere. Engineers and technicians should alsobe trained in methods of machine diagnosticsand condition-monitoring. Application of this

costly maintenance approach makes sense onlyfor very expensive equipment, like oil-refineryand paper machines, provided that a numberof necessary conditions have been developed.

Design-ow maintenance can considerablyreduce the need for maintenance activities inDCs. Some DCs have begun to actively par-ticipate in the preparation of specifications formachines to be designed or re-designed fortheir use. In some machines designed for ports,new provisions preventing rust have been in-troduced on the basis of proposals fromDCs.38Design-out maintenance means a long historyof well-established links between the machinemanufacturers and users and, clearly, solidlocal research and engineering resources arerequired for this.

E. Why are some DCs better at main-tenance than others?

Some middle and low-income DCs are be-sieged with a number of hard to solve problemslike hunger, lack of water, diseases, unemploy-ment. In general, maintenance ideas have notbeen emphasised in these countries, becausethey represent a long-term perspective and donot give an immediate solution to some ofthese most urgent problems. Besides, soundmaintenance requires an entire package to beput together - special tools and spare parts,specialist training and incentives, which someDCA are often unable to provide. Instead, themajor benefit of maintenance - reduced down-time - may bring new problems to solve, suchas the need for more raw materials to feedmachines or improved productivity may be ac-companied by greater redundancy.

Every country has its own set of specific condi-tions. Nevertheless, we can isolate and sum-marise some of the general trends and factorswhich are likely to influence the cuality ofmaintenance systems:

The form of economic ownership plays acrucial role. Private property, as a rule,

22 begets a higher concern for maintenance.

Market-driven proprietors are likely totake care of their capital investments. Incontrast, managers of public enterprisesare less inclined to do so. Maintenance andproductivity are related. Therefore,economic and administrative incentives forimproving productivity can also be ex-pected to have a beneficial effect on main-tenance.

The level of economic efficiency of anenterprise determines whether it will havethe foreign exchange capabilities necessaryto plan and carry out maintenance withoutexternal financing. In planned economies,where hard currency for purchasing spareparts is provided by ministries, any flexiblemaintenance programme can be stalled bycentral planning rules, according to whichspares need to be ordered several years inadvance.

Even the most carefully designed pro-gramme may easily fail if not supported byappropriate cultural values. Belief inachievement and respect for accuracy andlong-term planning are the foundations onwhich good maintenance can be built.Maintenance awareness, together with therequisite skills, can be transmitted throughvocational education and training. In theworkplace, prestige and a decent salary arekey elements of a positive maintenanceenvironment.

The national system of education andtraining in some DO has enabled them todevelop sound maintenance standards.Respect for higher technical education, theintroduction of maintenance qualificationsand maintenance skill developmentprogrammes together with maintenancemanagement courses have been very in-fluential for that.

The elements of human personality,though very hard to quantify, can be vitalto the success or failure of any enterprise.The right people in the right places mayprove capable of establishing relativelygood maintenance even when the

socioeconomic or cultural forces areagainst them.

Mature maintenance involves a well-balancedcombination of management, economics, andindustrial engineering. No single factor isenough to ensure the success of a maintenanceenterprise. Even strong market or administra-tive pressures may be of limited effect if thecultural values are unfavourable or the wrongpeople are in positions of authority. On theother hand, one or two solid prerequisites mayform a basis for establishing the others. A plantmanager, operating within a framework ofsound incentives for productivity and main-tenance, may undertake the gradual develop-ment of a new organisational culture suitablefor maintenance. In some cases, beneficial cul-tural attitudes may be undercut by a lack ofeducational input, resulting in the degenera-tion of sophisticated capabilities into moreprimitive sldlls, such as cleaning or greasing. Insome high-income DCs, neglect of main-tenance know-how is the one factor hinderingthe introduction of sophisticated systems ofpredictive maintenance.

As we have already emphasised, maintenanceconstitutes an entire system of knowledge. Acertain logic governs the introduction of main-tenance systems into any country, the first stageof which should be building of awareness.Though it may not be identical to the logic thatapplies in industrial countries, it Ls equally vitaland cannot be bypassed. A long lead-in periodshould be anticipated, during which standardsof accuracy and cleanliness are established.Every single enterprise must decide what levelof maintenance sophistication it can support,given its specific conditions. Many enterprises,having failed to take this into account, arecurrently unable to achieve much beyondsimple repairs.

Maintenance should be taught to policymakers, proprietors, managers, engineers,technicians and craftsmen aiu., T ke any otherfactor, awareness is not a patacea. Withenough commitment, it may allow the fulfill-ment of the other prerequisites.

23

III. Can training Improve maintenance in developingcountries?

A. New concepts for maintenancetraining

Because they depend so heavily on foreigntechnologies, DCs should anticipate a need toprovide maintenance training for three majorgroups. The first of these embraces policymakers, national planning and trainingspecialists and local investors.1 'Rainingprogrammes should focus on maintenancepolicies development, national spare partsplanning and standardisation, technologytransfer arrangements, and the respective costsand budgets.

The second group consists of maintenance en-gineers and managers capable of carrying outfeasibility studies, choice of technology andmaintenance schemes. For example, theproperly trained engineer or manager willrecognise that expensive centrally lubricatedbearings are only justified in situations wherethere is no possibility of developing the skilledstaff necessary for the use of manually servicedbearings. 'Raining should encompass methodsof standardisation and evaluation of spareparts needs, and should create familiarity withthe technical documentation involved in run-ning and maintaining imported plants. Fmally,managers and engineers should learn todevelop specifications and establish conditionsrequired for the local manufacture of spareparts.2 In many DCs, for example in Zaire,general maintenance engineers are often morein short supply than other sixcialists.3

Managers and engineers must be trained toanalyse various approaches to maintenanceand identify those whicb are most appropriateto the conditions in their particular industryand country. Should on-site maintenance befavoured over external contracts? Shouldpreventive and breakdown maintenance be

combined? These are the kinds of questionseffective training should prepare them toanswer.

Technicians and craftsmen make up the thirdgroup. They require less knowledge of main-tenance theory but specialised training in themethods of machine control (vibration andlubrication monitoring, crack detection) andmachine tooling (fitting and grinding), electri-cal repair, welding and oxycutting, and in com-puter applications. They also need to be taughtspare part and technical documentationmanagement, in areas of storage, coding, stockcontrol and technical documents use and up-dating.4 The most difficult level in training isthat of foremen. They largely acquire theirskills through a long period of practical ex-perience. Leadership training is also necessaryfor those technicians and craftsmen assigned tosupervisory positions.5

This means that there are certain differencesbetween the qualifications of a "general en-gineer" and a "maintenance engineer" as wellas between the qualifications of a "technician"and "maintenance technician". The moresophisticated technologies and maintenancesystems are in use, the more training and up-grading maintenance specialists might need.

The issue of interest to us is what kind oftraining policy would be the best suited todevelop maintenance specialists in less in-dustrialised DCs.

1. institution-based education andtraining

The main problem with institution-basededucation and training in some DC3 is that itoften fails to prepare potential engineers, tech-

nicians and managers for the world of main-tenance. Analyses conducted at several portsin DCs indicate that maintenance managersare usually equipped with general technicaleducation. They are, by and large, graduates ofuniversity engineering programmes. Junicrmanagers may have a polytechnic degree, orsome other equivalent qualification. But mosthave not received specialised training in main-tenance or management.6 Insufficient know-ledge of the economics of the enterprise isoften the major reason for considering invest-ment in maintenance as a mere cost with nofruitful impact on productivity. Therefore, asolid approach to maintenance cannot be ex-pected.

The pace of dissemination of proper main-tenance practice in DCs significantly dependson maintenance education. Fustly, the intro-duction of maintenance subjects into the cur-ricula of higlux education institutions,technical colleges and vocational schools is anabsolute necessity. For instance, severalAfrican nations (Cameroon, Gabon, Mali andSenegal) have decided to establish highereducation diplomas in maintenance.7 Second-ly, the general engineering skills as well asmaintenance skills C graduates need furtheradjustment to the technological conditions ofparticular firms. As few firms in DCs can offersuch in-plant comses, except in particularlysophisticated industries, specific technolopy-related skills need to be further developed inspecialised training institutions, which could beorganised, for example, by employers' groups.Unfortunately, maintenance qualifications donot receive national attention in most DCs.8

In medium and high-income DCs, main-tenance ideas are promoted through a multi-

tude of maintenance management andup-grading courses offered mainly by produc-tivity centres. Since maintenance managementprogrammes often do not focus on particulartechnologies, they can be offered to variousindustries. For example, in Markey, training inmaintenance for engineers and technicians isprovided by the Small and Medium Size In-dustries 'Raining Centre (SMITC), MiddleEast Tbchnical University and quite a few other

public and private institutions. SMITC con-ducts about 2000 maintenance trainingprogranunes in the areas of management,pneumatics, hydraulics, CAD/CAM, flexiblemachining systems, and electrocics.9

In Brazil, some modular courses have beendevelor.d for corrective and preventive main-tenance. New training programmes have beenintroduced for automated technologies pro-cessing chemicals and petrochemicals, fortransport (with the participation of "Mer-cedes"), for CNC and CAD machine-tools androbotics systems, for microprocessors andperipheral equipment. 'Raining in electronicshas been extended in the existing curricula.°

2. The importance of general techni-cal training

Let us begin with a hypothetical example. Avendor arrives and conducts a trainingprogramme on the operation or repair of acertain type of pump. The maintenance stafflearn very little, and the vendor is blamed for apoor programme. The real culprit, however,may be the students' lack of basic knowledge:what a pump is, how to oFerate it, and whatsafety procedures to follow. The vendor as-sumed a certain level of knowledge which theschools, in fact, have not provided.

Many technicians in middle and low-incomeDCs lack general technical knowledge andskills to perform routine mechanical servicingand repair, let alone the more complex tasks ofmaintaining hydraulic and electronic com-ponents. These countries are frequently bur-dened with a scarcity of skilled workers in suchareas as electronics, automation, pneumatics,hydraulics, and inventory management. DCsurgently reed maintenance technician andcraftsman training programmes for appren-tices and adult trainees who do not possessbasic tezhnical skills. These programmesshould cover indispensable subjects, such astechnical drawing and other symbolic displays.A clear understanding of maintenance manualsis necessary. These are often written in aforeign language. Therefore, all technical

()4-- 4.)

training curricula should include some form oflanguage study.

For example. 'in Sri Lanka, there are no formalmaintenance qualifications either for en-gineers or for technicians. lhchnicians andcraftspeople are trained mainly on the basis ofapprenticeship programmes without particularemphasis on maintenance ideas. There is notradition for craftspeople being multiskilled.Formal training for technicians, craftspeopleand foremen is provided by the institutes,developed with external assistance from Ger-many, Japan, Sweden and the World Bank,some of which are trying to introduce Diplomasin maintenance.11

'lb avoid this kind of situation, technical andvocational schools in some African countrieshave decided to expand courses for techniciansat the general craft level. Cote d'Ivoire andMauritius have included maintenance subjectsin their technician education programmes.12Algeria and India are in the process of estab-lishing maintenance training institutes.Guinea, Niger and Mali are creatingworkshop-schools.13 Burundi decided to intro-duce sections of maintenance in vocationalschools and to establish an institute responsiblefor preparation of training programmes onmaintenance.14 In liinzania, maintenance andrepair courses are being introduced in voca-tional schools.15 As school-based training inmany other DCs cannot be relied on toproduce properly trained workers, solid in-plant courses and apprenticeship schemes mayoffer the only realistic solution.16

UNIDO has developed interregional program-mes in this field based on the activities of na-tional centres of excellence.17 Normally,training for a maintenance technician lasts 4-6weeks. In some industries, like aircraft orpetrochemicals, training could be much longer- up to 12 or even 48 weeks. Usually all thecourses demand that the trainees should haveup to three years of industrial experience. Butthis is because many trainees from DC3 do notpossess necessary levels of technical education.In any case advanced courses need to includegeneral technical subjects in their programmes.

It 6

At present, most maintenance training coursesare very often a means of correcting shortcom-ings of technical and vocational education. 'lbthe extent that maintenance subjects will be-come a part of school .based treining, mosttraining courses should switch to upgradingand retraining in maintenance.

3. Employer training

Large enterprises and multinationals in someDCs provide a lot of training in maintenance intheir own training centres, though it is oftentoo narrow, leaving out many important com-ponents, such as maintenance organisation andspare part management.18 As for small andmedium enterprises, they normally cannot af-ford to employ maintenance specialists and aretherefore obliged to contract out maintenanceservices to larger enterprises or specialist firms.For example, one of the UNIDO projects inVietnam is dealing with training of a mobileunit for provision of maintenance services forthe small business sector. Most medium andsmall enterprises cannot afford expenditureson external training. For them some form ofapprenticeship would be the only viable op-tion. However, in some countries maintenancepractice in the informal sector was sometimesfound to be better than in public enterprises.In addition greater awareness of maintenancedue to private ownership prevails in informalfirms. Another reason for this was found to bethe higher cost of credit for the informalsector's investment in equipment, compared tothat for the formal one.'9

4. Results-oriented training: the caseof Ethiopia

This particular trainer training method wasdeveloped and successfully practiced inEthiopia" and Tanzanian. The essence ofresults-oriented training consists in managersand supervisors being taught maintenance sub-jects to become "transmitters" of maintenanceskills for their 10-15 subordinates. This methodhas the following advantages compared to theothers:

The supervisors are involved and not by-passed by the training scheme as is oftenthe case. Instead of resenting or being un-dermined by new subordinates' skills theybecome more knowledgeable and have toknow their subordinates' work in detail.For example in Ethiopia, foremen par-ticipated in two-week courses - one weekfor upgrading in general technical skillsand one week for training in maintenance.

The training period is much shorter. This isbecause an external consultant dealsdirectly with experienced people who laterbecome the trainers themselves. This in-itiated a wide multiplication effect. In duecourse, the training done by the transmitteris shorter because only topics directlyrelevant to the situation are dealt with.

For eaampie, several hundred Ethiopianmanagers and supervisors and 6000 mechanicsand drivers were trained in maintenance in fourmonths. Amongst the maintenance staff inEthiopia only 30 per cent undermnt trainingin courses, while 40 per cent learned main-tenance from peers ("transmitters"), 20 percent from reading manufacturers's manualsand the rest learned from other sources. Inaddition, training courses in Ethiopia had beendesigned on the basis of diagnoses of main-tenance problems. This, too had helped to sig-nificantly reduce training programmes. Forexample, for the training of the "lbyota"vehicle mechanics this permitted dealing withonly 23 critical maintenance items instead of62. The training modules, prepared by the ILO,were used, however, after some adaptation.

Despite the fact that tailor-made training isvery narrow and presumes low flexibility ofmaintenance workers across enterprises andsectors, it is capable of solving some immediatemaintenance problems of DCs, although manyconditions have to be favourable for its success-

ful implementation.

27

5. Training for spare part manufactur-ing and reconditioning

The ability to renovate complete machines,assemblies and individual components coulddramatically improve conditions for manyenterprises in DCs. The life-span of com-ponents is limited, especially in agro-industries.When these components are large, heavy andexpensive, and the supply source is remote, itis much better to renovate than to replace.However, this requires special training inreconditioning techniques, such as metallisa-tion and welding, the rewinding of large electri-cal motors, and metal deposition. Localtechnicians and craftsmen can be familiarisedwith the high level skills required to performmajor mechanical and electrical renovation.The development of reconditioning andmanufacturing specialists also has the potentialto increase the employment of the localworkforce.

6. The need for multiskilled main-tenance specialists

Inasmuch as machines are generally becomingmore complicated, better diagnostic skills andan understanding of complete systems are in-creasingly valuable. This, in turn, creates aneed for craftsmen to acquire flexibility acrossa number of trades. A new qualification ofmultiskilled specialist - the maintenancemechanic - is the most likely beneficiary of theemerging trends. International organisationsare now working with some DCs to establishthis new qualification in places where it doesnot already exist. Such work has been carriedout in Algeria, Morocco and Nigeria, with thegoal of achieving recognition of maintenanceas a separate industrial occupation and secur-ing the inclusion of maintenance skills in tech-nical training syllabi. In most national systemsof vocational education and training, main-tenance is not presently seen as a distinctqualification or subject."

The broadening of maintenance skills may im-pinge on traditional craft boundaries and may,therefore, affect labour relations and employ-ment policies. As in industrialised countries, in

DCs the inclination to employ more peopleand preserve job fragmentation is a powerfulfactor. 'Raining of separate skills is often morelikely to win acceptance than creation of acombined trade. In Pakistan, where there is asurplus of craft skills, multi-skilled training hasreceived little appreciation. By contrast, at-titudes in Nigeria and Singapore appear to bemuch more favourable.23

B. Upgrading of maintenance skillsthrough technical assistance

For many DCs, maintenance ideas are trans-mitted through multinationaLs and foreign aid.However, the fffst ahn of the projects is toproduce as soon and quickly as possible. Theusual picture is therefore that the foreign con-structor starts the new plant or installation, andonce the guarantee-production level is reachedwith the help of highly qualified expatriates,the well-running equipment is left in the handsof poorly instructed and qualified people.24Much can be done to speed the acquisition ofnew maintenance capabilities through technol-ogy transfer and reconstruction joint projectswith foreign firms.

1. Involving local maintenance staffis not enough

The best way for local staff to start learningmaintenance is through participating in theconstruction and installation of new projects.This involvement can occur both on-site and atthe supplier's works. But, firstly, many sup-pliers were found to have no experience eitherin operation or in training, particularly in con-ditions of DCs, which represent a very limitedmarket for them.25 And, secondly, a full cycleof maintenance work is never conductedduring the installation and start-up stages. 'Thatis why the future maintenance staff shouldpreferably be trained by the users of eluivalentequipment than by manufacturers.' Whileconstructing its first large shipyard, for ex-ample, South Korea sent fifty workers to ashipyard in Scotland to gain hands-on ex-perience. Similarly, Brazil's decision to send

many technical personnel for training at apetrochemical plant in France greatly ex-pedited the start-up process for its ownproject.27 Most Japanese firms are willing toarrange training programmes in Japan for tech-nical staff from countries that adopt their tech-nologies. In addition, the Japanese govern-ment encourages technical training withinDCs, with particular attention given to middle-level technicians.28

2. Creation of a national main-tenance infrastructure in Nigeria

In Nigeria, some industries with the support offoreign companies and multinationals are en-couraging development projects that includemaintenance training components." For ex-ample, mechanics in towns all over the countryare being tizined to service Peugeot cars, whichare assembled in Nigeria. In big towns, sparepart depots and service centres for the main-tenance of Caterpillar and Fiat-Allis construc-tion equipment and agricultural machineryhave been introduced. The standardisation ofequipment and spare parts manlfacturing isnow underway.

3. Strategies of reconstruction

The differences in maintenance awareness be-tween LDCs are most evident at the level ofreconstruction and modernisation. In Africa,for example, an impressive number of produc-tion units are being reconstructed. In 1984, forinstance, European companies carried outseveral such projects, including an oil-mill inthe Congo, a textile mill in Mozambique, apineapple cannery in Guinea, an ammoniaplant in Algeria, and textile plants in Chad andCameroon. Unfortunately, the rehabilitationof these units was accompanied by very little, ifany, maintenance training for the local staff.Another cycle of misoperation is to be ex-pected.

By contrast, the modernisation of old plants inIndia has been carried out with the direct invol-vement of local engineers and technicians. In-dian companies, before signing contracts with

foreign interests, demand preliminary studies,though they are often very costly. Indian in-dustrialists prefer to remain in charge of themodifications. This approach is a proven wayto acquire broad expertise in modernisationand other levels ofmaintenance.3°

4. Interpreting foreign mairtenancemanuals

Local staff in DCs should be trained to becautious in their view of manuals provided byforeign suppliers. Many of these manuals arenot appropriate to local conditions. In addi-tion, technicians unused to reading technicaldocuments may find them hard to comprehend.Some countries insist on approving main-tenance and operating manuals before thefinalacceptance of equipment. Of course, inspec-tion of manuals requires high level skills fromlocal engineers, and must be carried outtogether with the contractor's specialists.31

5. including training specifications incontracts

Most technology transfer contracts, in address-ing training specifications, provide little morethan a vague estimate of the number of staff tobe trained. Therefore, it is hardly surprisingthat the training provided by manufacturers isvery inadequate. In one DC, a port has investedmillions of dollars in new equipment, whileLppointing only one (part-time) training of-ficer to the project. This example is not at allatypicul. As a rule, training specificationsshould play as important a role in contracts astechnical specifications. The previous trainingand current skills of the relevant personnelshould be described in detail, so that supplierscan structure their programmes and teachingmethods.32

6. Training methods

New methods of maintenance training are tobe encouraged. Currently, workers with lowliteracy and little experience seldom receivesatisfactory training in DCs, whethe within the

framework of industrial projects or in vocation-al training courses. Strictly cognitive instruc-tion is less successful than instruction whichcombines all aspects of task performance.33 InJapanese firms, where language barriers im-pede communication with firms in LDCs,"learning by doing" has proved more attractivethan reliance on printed instructions.34

Modular training is an effective approach, be-cause of the suitability of maintenance routinesto modularisation. A training module on main-tenance is included, among the other 34 units,in the "Modulae programme for aupervisorydevelopment", prepared by the IL0.3' In addi-tion, with the ILO's guidance, 230 modularunits have been developed for use in projectsdesigned to enhance maintenance skills of su-pervisors and managers in the automotive andheavy equipment industries.36 At the craftlevel, a modular training programme for thecategory of general maintenance mechanicsuitable for trainees with a relatively high levelof general education, has been developed inthe ILO.

Generally speaking, distance learning shouldalso contribute to the rapid expansion of main-tenance knowledge in firms where the traineesare highly committed and possess strong self-

discipline.37 In industrialised countries, videotapes and computer-based training (CBT)programmes have been developed and success-fully used by some industries in maintenancecraft training. At the management level, forinstance, a comprehensive maintenance train-ing kit/package has been developed for in-structing engineers, either as a distancelearning tool or a course of instruction. It iscomprised of work books, audio and video cas-settes, hands-on manual test and work kits.However, the costs of these materials are stillprohibitively high and most companies do nothave the resources to support them. Someprogrammes are available on hire though.38

However, middle and low-income DCs seem tobe much worse equipped with training pro-grammes appropriate to their conditions. Forexample, it seems necessary to developmodular training programmes combining both

29

maintenance, supervisory and craft skills forthe qualification of maintenance technician tobe used specifically in middle and low-incomeDCs. In addition, machine manufactulas withlarge involvement in DC markets may find itcost-effective to develop modular or distancelearning training programmes, for the main-

tenance of the equipment they export. Suchprogrammes could be used for in-plant trainingwith the help of instructors. Given the remote-ness of DC3 from suppliers and their shortageof training funds, such training would be morepervasive and cheaper to carry-out.

IV. Implications for training policies

For many developing countries bringing in im-ported technologies has become one of themajor hopes for their economic and social sur-vival. However, some of them have been un-able to take advantage of modern machinerydue to their inadequate capacity to maintain it.The more frequently modern equipment is in-stalled in various sectors of developingcountries - in industry, agriculture, educationand health and public utilities - the more evi-dent are the effects of the shortages of sys-tematic maintenance skills and awareness ofthe general topic of maintenance. In somedeveloping co,,ntries, machines were found tobe out of operation more than two thirds oftheir work time. Frequent equipment break-downs lower productivity, create shortages ofthe most urgent services and result in wastingthe countries's scarce foreign exchange andincrease indebtedness. For this reason, improv-ing maintenance practices seem; to be a verycost-efficient investment alternative, com-pared to new investments. However, it has tobe well-organised and sustained by well-trained and committed staff.

Developing countries have shown significantdifferences in their attitudes towards main-tenance. It was found that even well-plannedlong-term maintenance development strate-gies cannot help countricz with distortedeconomies which produce no incentives forproductivity improvement. Perfect main-tenance is of little interest to a finn whichcannot benefit from it. Administrative pressurealone is not sufficient to ensure committedmaintenance. An economically conducive en-vironment must be established, in whichenterprises are penalised for the practices thatallow frequent breakdowns and excessivespending on spare parts and, finally, shortenequipment life. FffMS and individuals musthave incentives to adopt constructive main-tenance practices.

31

Some developing countries suffer from the in-adequacies of their national technical andvocational education. Lack of solid generaltraining precludes success in implementinggood maintenance programmes. In suchcountries, maintenance training is generallylimited to craftsman training, leaving themshort of the sets of skills required for moresophisticated maintenance modes. In thesecountries, technicians rarely receive training inmaintenance skills. Policy makers, investors,engineers, supervisors and managers seldomreceive any training that would make themmore aware of the benefits of maintenance.Maintenance skills learned through simple ap-prenticeship schemes are useful mainly forrepairs, but not to undertake broad and farreaching maintenance programmes andpolicies.

In the prevailing command economies andcentralised public training sectors of manydeveloping countries, maintenance can betterbe introduced through the expansion of theirtechnical education and by including generalmaintenance subjects in the curricula of highereducation, technical colleges and vocationaltraining schools. The introduction of qualifica-tions such as maintenance engineer and tech-nician needs to be encouraged. A trainingpolicy aimed at fostering maintenance aware-ness could play an important role in any nation-al strategy. It is a good idea to teach main-tenance to as many people as possible. Theeffort will be worth it in the long run.

However good school-based maintenancemight be, a certain period of in-service main-tenance training is absolutely necessary. Un-fortunately, except in multinationals and largeenterprises in developing countries, firm-basedtraining is little developed. Many enterprisesmainly rely on public training funds andprogrammes, where possible. Employers' as-

sociations must take the lead in establishingspecialised training centres on a cost-sharedbase and introduce training and up-gradingprogrammes for maintenance staff. In the poordeveloping countries, efforts need to be madeto establish solid apprenticeship schemes formaintenance specialists.

In many developing countries, values and at-titudes that are unfavourable to good main-tenance prevail. These include disrespect forplanning and work procedures, and a lack ofachievement motivation. In fact, failure to im-plement appropriate maintenance practicesmay not be because of the lack of know-howand information. Failure often results from in-appropriate attitudes - a conflict with culturalvalues and distorted economic policies. Thequestion of cultural values is a delicate one andcreating an attitude favourable to maintenancecannot be done overnight. The greatest chal-lenge may be to develop the context in whichan appropriate maintenance culture can benurtured. This requires full commitment on thepart of the firm, a sound price and wage system,adequate incentives, strong leadership andsolid training and up-grading.

In some developing countries little effort hasbeen made to harness the enthusiasm and am-bitions of local specialists, employers and facul-ty staff in the diffusion of maintenance ideasand values. Bringing together people fromvarious levels who share an interest in main-tenance facilitates a healthy interplay of ideas.In turn, this kind of exchange aids the develop-ment of maintenance qualifications, spe-cialised skiil standards and diplomas andtraining courses. The establishment of associa-tions of maintenance engineers and managersshould be encouraged. Such organisationspromote maintenance development and helpensure public recognition.

Some developing countries continue to installmodern machines while failing to foster thenecessary maintenance capabilities. Machineswill not work reliably without proper main-tenance, no matter how sophisticated the tech-nology. Before purchasing a new installation,every government, donor or local enterprise

must be alerted to the danger of not meetingthe maintenance requirements. Will it be pos-sible to deploy a sufficient number of main-tenance engineers, technicians and craft-workers, as well as workers capable of produc-ing the necessary spare parts? How quickly canmaintenance employees be trained, and howmuch will they cost? Generally speaking, if anenterprise is not serious about maintainingmachines, they should not be purchased. How-ever, the broad spread of maintenance aware-ness and skills in both public and private sectorsof developing countries seems to be the onlyway of avoiding the wrong import practices.

Maintenance schemes will be unavoidably dif-ferent in developing countries. Their ex-perience has shown that similar equipment canbe serviced in many different ways. Main.,tenance schemes may range from the verysimple to the very complicated. However, inthe case of modern technologies the choicesare no longer wide. Only firms that manage todevelop maintenance schemes of considerablesophistication and motivate well-trained andcommitted staff can succeed. Wheneverdeveloping countries opt or are forced to optfor these complex technologies, they may nothave the choiat either. These machines mightrequire complex maintenance procedures,even when installed in poor countries. In thesecases, the countries have to make the effort tomaster the maintenance skills or avoid thesemachines altogether.

In general, good maintenance practices havebeen found in developing countries with heal-thy economies and favourable cultures, provid-ing incentives for enterprising managers andengineers. By contrast, maintenance practicesare the wors: in poor developing countries,which can least afford to waste their resourcesand capital. The demand for better main-tenance is manifest. However, the estab-lishment cf sound maintenance in suchdeveloping countries is handicapped by the;ame reasons as are other general economicand social matters like productivity, environ-ment, health, education. Yet, the exceptionspresented by the examples of successful firmsin these countries give evidence that some

32

enterprises have managed to sustain relativelygood maintenance and productivity levels evenin non-rewarding environments. The crucialreasons for that have been the presence ofsome well-educated, trained and ambitiousmanagers and technical staff. Since the im-plementation of radical economic reforms isbeyond our scope, the second-best solutionwould be an expansion of the movement

towards productivity and maintenance aware-ness in order to focus scarce education andtraining investments on human resourcesdevelopment. The training investment in crea-tion of maintenance awareness and skills wouldbe able, at least, to generate generous revenuesjust by helping to improve the countries' andfirms' policies regarding their technological im-

ports.

Notes

Introduction1. A.Goskun Sam li. Technology transfer Geographic, economic, cultural, and technical

dimensions (London, Quorum Books, 1986).

2. UNIDO. Summary of 12 case studies on human resources development in industrial maintenancein Aftica (Vienna, 1987). ID/WG.46917.

3. De Groote, P. "Industrial maintenance in developing countries" in Maintenance ManagementInternational, 7 (1988).

4. UNIDO. 'Raining manual for leaders of seminars on industrial maintenance in developingcountries (Vienna, 1986).

5. "A low priorny means higher costs" in Financial Tunes, 15 June,1990.

6. Rane G.P. Unpublished paper prepared for the ILO: Raining for maintenance in the thirdworld (Bellboy, 1991).

7. Summary, op.cit.

8. Perrin J. Raining for industrial maintenance work in the developing countries. A contributionto the Experts's Meeting on Ruining of Industrial Manpower (Paris, UNIDO, 1986).

Chapter I1. Berniker E Understanding technical systems. Paper presented to the Symposium on Manage-

ment 'Raining Programmes and Methods: Implications of New lbchnologies. EconomicComission for Europe, Geneva, ILO, November, 1987.

2. "A low priority means higher costs", op.cit.

3. Penin, op.cit.

4. UNIDO. Raining manual for leaders of seminars on industrial maintenance in developingcountries, op.cit.

5. "A low priority means higher costs", op.cit.

6. Perrin, op.cit.

7. "A low priority means higher costs", op.cit.,

8. Penn R. "Skilled maintenance work at British lelecom: findings from the Social Chan e andEconomic Life Research Initiative" in New Technolov, Work and Environment 5(2), 1 p.135-143.

I

9. Penn, op.cit.

10. Berniker, op.cit.

11. Maslankowski W. Paper presented to the Second Consultation on the Thining of IndustrialManpower (Paris, UNIDO/ILO, 1987).

12. Robinson C.J. "Changing trends and new challenges in maintenance due to technology"; inMaintenance Management. Ed. by E. Hartmann (Atlanta, Norcross GA, Institute of IndustrialEngineers, 1987), p.277-280.

13. Changing maintenance requirements in the iron and steel industry. A Report of a ResearchStudy carried out by Industrial lta'ming Service on behalf of the Iron and Steel Indltstry 'RainingBoard (London, 1979).

.3 4

14. UNIDO. 7kaining manual for leaders of seminars on industrial maintenance in developingcountnes, op.cit.

15. Crofton M. The role of human resourses development for industrial maintenance.A Paperprepared for UNIDO, 1986.

16. UNIDO/ILO. Report of the Second Consultation on the Raining of Industrial Manpower(Paris, 1987).

17. Changing maintenance requirements in the iron and steel industry, op.cit.

Chapter II1. Crofton, op.cit.

2. Wallberg B. Letter to the ILO, SIDA, Education Division, 1991.

3. Dahlman CI., Ross-Larson B., Westphal LE. Manahing technological development. Lessonsfrom the new4, industrialising countries. World Bank Staff Working Papers. No.17 The WorldBank. Washington, USA, 1985.

4. Declercq C. Unpublished paper prepared for the ILO (Belgium, 1991).

5. Declercq,

6. Perrin, op.cit.

7. Crofton, op.cit.

8. Ahmed S.E.D. Maintenance in the Sudanese sugar industry. Unpublished paper prepared forthe ILO (Khartoum, 1990).

9. Rigther R. "Grassroots growth - the only hope for Africa" in The Tunes, 22 November, 1989.

10. UNIDO. Summary, op.cit.

11. Malhotra K.K. ?Mining for maintenance in Uganda and Nigeria. Unpublished paper preparedfor the ILO (Jammy (Thwi), India, 1991).

12. Declercq, op.cit.

13. Donarski LA. Maintenance development project in Ethiopia. Unpublished paper prepared forthe ILO (Warsaw, 1991).

14. Debela D. Raining for maintenance in Ethiopia. Unpublished paper prepared for the ILO(Monsteras, 1990).

15. UNIDO. Ethiopia. New directions of industrial policy. Industrial Development Review Series(Vienna, 1991).

16. Debela, op.cit.

17. Dahlman et al, op.cit.

18. Crofton, op.cit.

19. A. Goskun Samli, op.cit.

20. Ulrike von Buchwald et al. Vocational training in developing countries: a survey of expertexperiences. An Institute Staff Study (Geneva, UNRISD, 1973).

21. Summary, op.cit.

22. Crofton, op.cit.

23. G. Hofstede. Culture's consequences. International differences in work-related values. London,Sage, 1980.

24. Goskun Samli, op.cit.

25. Ulrike Von Buchwald, op.cit.

26. Hofstede, op.cit. 35

27. Ulrike Von Buchwald, op.cit.

28. Summary, op.cit.

29. Kwevi C.P Rainingfor maintenance in Ghana. ULpublished paper prepared for the ILO(Accra, 1991).

30. Declercq, op.cit.

31. Perrin, op.cit.

32. Meemeduma D. Raining for maintenance in Sri Lanka. Unpublished paper prepared for theILO (Mount Lavinia, 1991).

33. Anyanwu LA. Raining for maintenance in Nigeria. Unpublished paper prepared for the ILO(Jos, 1991).

34. Moeller C.H. Maintenance in petrochemical industries of high-income developing countries.Unpublished paper prepared for the ILO (San Diego, 1991).

35. ibmple-Bird CL Raining for maintenance in Zambian mine hospitals. Unpublished paperprepared for the ILO (Bnghton, 1991).

36. De Groote, op.cit.

37. Wallberg B. Maintenance issues - a draft ana4,sis and plan of action (Stockholm, SIDA,Education Division, 1989).

38. Thomas et al., op.cit.

Chapter III1. UNIDO. UNIDO's training activities in the area of industrial maintenance. ID/WG.46913

(Vienna, 1987).

2. Perrin, op.cit.

3. Summary, op.cit.

4. Summary, op.cit.

5. DGS International: Raining courses in maintenance (Belgium, 1990).

6. Thomas et al, op.cit.

7. Perrin, op.cit.

& UNIDO. Ruining manual for leaders of seminars on industrial maintenance in developingcountries, op.cit.

9. Colakoglu M. Raining for maintenance in Thrkey. Unpublished paper prepared for the ILO(Ankara, 1991).

la Acero L Raining for maintenance in Brazil and Argentina. Unpublished paper prepared forthe ILO (Buenos ikires, 1991).

11. Meemeduma, op.cit.

12. Summary, op.cit.

13. Perrin, op.cit.

14. ler Seminaire National sur la Maintenance Industrielle au Burundi. Synthese des Ravaux.(Bujumbura, 1991).

15. Summary, op.cit.

16. Thomas et al, op.cit.

17. UNIDO. Guide to training opportunities for industrial development (Vienna, 1991).

18. Summary, op.cit..0;

19. Islam R. Letter to the ILO, Asian Employment Programme, New Delhi, July, 1991.

20. Donarski, op.cit.

21. Summary, op.cit.

22. imam. Report of the second consultation on the training of industrial manpower, op.cit.

23. Crofton, op.cit.

24. Declercq, op.cit.

25. Wallberg, op.cit.

26. Crofton, op.cit.

27. Dahlman et al, op.cit.

28. A. Goskun Samli, op.cit.

29. Malhotra, op.cit.

30. Perrin, op.cit.

31. Thomas et al, op.cit.

32. Thomas et aL, op.cit.

33. Perrin, op.cit.

34. A. Goskun Sandi, op.cit.

35. J. Prokopenko & J. White. Modular programme for supervisory development (Geneva, ILO,1981).

36. UNIDO. Report of the Second Consultation on the Raining of Industrial Manpower, op.cit.

37. Ian Vallely. "Has distance learning anything to offer you?" in Works Management, January1992, p.32-33.

38. Costello Wi. Raining methods for maintenance. Unpublished paper prepared for the FLO(Dublin, Rochester Consultants, 1991).

3 7