Agile Methods in Industrial Maintenance

Abstract

Agile has become a popular term in organisations and businesses, beyond the IT sector. Characteristics of agile ways of working such as the assumption that boundary conditions and requirements might (and will) change make them attractive to applications in dynamic environments in general. Methods such as Scrum or Xtreme Programming turn agile values into actionable descriptions, originally intended for software development. This work offers a literature-based assessment of the suitability of agile methods for the maintenance of industrial production systems. In addition a process draft for the introduction of agile methods into maintenance practices is outlined. The findings show that so far there has been a relatively limited attention to agile methods in an industrial maintenance context but at the same time suggest the potential for their application.