ABSTRACT
Maintenance seeks to optimize the use of assets during their life cycle, which means either preserving them or preserving their ability to produce something safely and economically. In recent decades, maintenance management has evolved and, nowadays, it is not just a simple activity, but a complex and important function. Its importance is due to the great number of operational and support costs incurred on systems and equipment. The United States, for example, used to spend approximately 300 billion dollars every year on the maintenance of plant and operations (Levitt, 1997).
