Cost of poor maintenance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose and discuss cost of poor maintenance (CoPM), as a concept for managing the improvement of maintenance performance within manufacturing industry. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on literature studies and two workshops with representatives from industry and academia. Findings CoPM is proposed as a new concept for maintenance performance improvement. The concept is derived from established practices in quality costing and hence it should be easily accepted in industry. Practical implications By using CoPM as a concept for maintenance performance development, manufacturing companies may identify the potential financial impact of the development work. The CoPM concept should provide a good viewpoint for identification of deficiencies in the maintenance performance within a given manufacturing system. Originality/value By adopting a well‐known measure from the research area of quality development, a financial measure for maintenance is proposed in this paper. The measure shows which parts of the maintenance costs are justified and which costs relate to poorly performed maintenance. In this way a more balanced view of the financial contribution of maintenance activities may be achieved, even at board level of the company.