Status of Maintenance Engineering in Ghanaian Manufacturing Industry

Abstract

The intent of this paper is to investigate maintenance engineering practices of manufacturing firms in Ghana, an area of research that does not seem to have received adequate attention in the past. Owing to technological pressures many firms now employ ever-increasing sophisticated machinery for production and the application of sound maintenance engineering principles has become necessary in order to assure cost effectiveness and enhanced operational and technical efficiency. The descriptive survey design approach was adopted in the study with a questionnaire sent to 60 firms but returned by 30 of them, supplemented with material from the literature. Data gathered were analysed using descriptive statistics involving frequency counts and regression analysis via MS Excel and Stata10. In addition graphs were plotted for visual effect. The results reveal such problems as the inefficient methods of training maintenance staff in most firms in most firms, resulting in their inability to retain knowledge for repair of some types of faults and the non-application of modern tools and techniques in maintenance. Further, larger firms show a greater tendency to follow standard maintenance procedures more regularly than smaller ones and use of contract maintenance is increasing in Ghanaian manufacturing industry. These findings may be interpreted to mean that firms need to chart strategy for developing capacity through relevant training and practice for coping with highly sophisticated industrial machinery and for managing the balance between the ever increasing sophistication production machinery and technical skills development.

Keywords: Status; Maintenance; Engineering; Manufacturing Industry; Ghana