Agile Integrated Facilities Maintenance Approach to Apparel Sector

Abstract

Facilities managers in apparel sector face numerous uncertainties due to the unpredictable nature of facilities maintenance. In this context, apparel industry practitioners urge for an effective facilities maintenance strategy to minimize uncertainty and opt to adopt strategic changes in maintenance approaches in recent past. Agility is one such systematically designed-in capability to accomplish flexibility and responsiveness in an unpredictable turbulent environment. This paper investigates the synergy between agile concept and facilities maintenance to propose agile integrated facilities maintenance (AFM) approach. A literature review followed by in-depth interviews with six experts in leading apparel sector organizations, factory observations and document reviews were carried out to investigate the applicability of agile concept for facilities maintenance and hence to develop AFM approach for apparel sector. Gathered data were analyzed using code-based content analysis. The agile integrated facilities maintenance approach developed in this study consists of agile principles, strategies, processes, linkages and people, and will deliver more responsive and flexible facilities maintenance service to the apparel sector.