Abstract:
Fertilizer Industry is one of the major contributing factors to the growth of sustainable
agriculture in Pakistan. Fertilizer Production plants in Pakistan make up 3.9 % of the
Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSMs) firms. Maintenance excellence and strategy in the
production plants lowers the production cost, minimize equipment downtime, improve
quality, increase productivity and result in achieving organizational goals and
objectives. The study aims to identify the most important maintenance criteria and the
most suitable maintenance strategy for the fertilizer production plan located in
Pakistan. The research initiative/endeavor adopts a case study approach in a production
plant located in Pakistan to obtain the opinions of the expert on maintenance strategy
selection in Agri-Chemical / Fertilizer production plants. Analytic Hierarchy Process
(AHP) used in the study is the most studied Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM)
technique for maintenance strategy selection in a variety of industries. Criteria for AHP
hierarchy were identified through literature and expert consultation. The study
concluded that the maintenance strategy developed from literature and expert
consultation that consists a mix of Preventive Maintenance, Corrective Maintenance,
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and other types may be the most suitable
maintenance strategy for the fertilizer production plant with its own unique inherent
factors. The study may be evaluated using Analytic Network Process (ANP) and other
hybrid MCDM techniques, furthermore maintenance performance indicators can be
developed and analyzed.
