Purpose The need for smart maintenance (SM) is increasing as the manufacturing industry digitalizes. To facilitate the transformation of maintenance in digitalized manufacturing, scholars have developed a strategy development process (SDP) for implementing SM. However, the SDP must be tested and evaluated, as manufacturing companies and industries need explicit guidance and empirical evidence on how to use it. Design/methodology/approach This study employed action research to facilitate collaboration between researchers and maintenance professionals in a large Swedish manufacturing company, testing and evaluating the SDP for SM implementation. The study was conducted in multiple phases over two years, focusing on the real-world implementation of key activities in an industrial setting. Findings Implementing SM in the manufacturing industry resulted in a refined SDP. The study revealed synergies between the implementation steps, from concept to practice. This refined process advances benchmarking (Activities 1.1–1.4), streamlines goal setting, prioritization and planning of key activities (Activities 2.1–4.1) and ensures authorized elevation and cross-functional communication (Activities 5.1–5.2) for digitalization of maintenance. Practical implications The theoretical implications refine the SDP and confirm the value of creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge within maintenance organizations, thereby facilitating SM implementation with empirical evidence. The practical implications offer recommendations for factory and maintenance management, providing explicit guidance to manufacturing companies in developing maintenance for digitalized manufacturing. Originality/value The refined SDP is an evolutionary process that requires continuous learning. This reinforces the focus on organizational development rather than solely technological transformation, i.e. becoming a learning organization when implementing SM.
Larsson et al. (Tue,) studied this question.