ABSTRACT
Industrial plants increasingly use available front-end technologies, as they work toward total automation. Although they can expect more qualitative and quantitative production possibilities and better services, they must invest significantly in equipment. As a result of the high cost of these investments, company managers try to optimize production capacities to maximize the return of investment. The shutdown of production due to a failure of important equipment compromises production, generating a loss of performance and increased expenses. The global cost of maintenance is the total value of a company's management of all maintenance, including equipment, installations, etc. A company with a high global cost most likely has poor maintenance management. Downtime (DT) caused by the nonavailability of equipment and equipment breakdown is among the most common unanticipated factors having a nontrivial impact on equipment productivity and project and organizational performance.
