Model for Simulating the Financial Viability of a Just-in-Time Maintenance Program in an Agribusiness Company

Abstract

Research Question: The objective of this article is to present the model for simulating the financial viability of a Just-in-Time Maintenance Program in an agribusiness company.  Motivation: Maintenance management in agro-industrial environments lacks effective systems to optimize the production process. The existing maintenance program have proven to be ineffective, from the point of view that unscheduled production downtime continues to occur. It is important to highlight that the types of maintenance used today, considering that their characteristics are not able to reduce or minimize the errors caused by human limited capacity, which has contributed to the increase of unscheduled production stoppages, causing equipment unavailability, low quality of final products and, mainly, failing to deliver products as agreed with customers. Idea: The maintenance program called Just-In-Time Maintenance Program - Maintenance Just in Time – consists of an integrated system for monitoring physical phenomena, with sensors installed in the equipment, connected to a central diagnosis able to predict failures in real time. With this program, it is possible to know in advance what may happen, taking the necessary measures regarding the acquisition of parts, repairs, and personnel allocation, among others, making these stops compatible or readjusting them with the production plan to minimize the undesirable stops. Data: The choice of the company participating in the research is made due to its continuous production process. The present study used a non-probabilistic sample for convenience with that provided by the observed company. The information collected in the agribusiness regarding the selling price, cost of raw material, cost of electricity, and total expenditure on maintenance, refer to the year 2020. Tools: A mathematical model was developed that estimates variations in the company's productivity and the consequent financial impacts. The results, operational and financial, of the model allow assessing the feasibility of implementing each of these programs. Findings: The results obtained indicate losses with the current maintenance program and show the potential for implementing the Just-In-Time Maintenance Program. This research concludes that it is possible to reduce unscheduled stoppages that cause production interruptions, increasing profit, with the implementation of the Just-In-Time Maintenance Program. Contribution: This article contributes to the literature as it presents an equipment maintenance model based on operational conditions, in contrast to other existing maintenance programs.