How does capacity constraints influence/is influenced by maintenance in operations?

In this paper we will seek to answer the following question, how do capacity constraints influence maintenance in digital operations? Maintenance plays a critical role in ensuring there is a minimal downtime thereby increasing organization capability (Lazakis et al. 2010). Capacity constraints in digital operations are particularly important in formulating maintenance strategies. The constraints may entail technological capabilities, equipment, and workforce to effectively carry out maintenance. The advent of technology has enabled organizations to be able to leverage on the use of digital twin (Dong et al., 2023). Digital twins act as a virtual identical copy of the physical entity enabling the company to quickly predict a fault that may take place on the physical entity. Also, digital enables maintenance teams in testing various scenarios and solutions in a digital environment before rolling on physical assets. Within wind renewable energy industry there is a high importance of ensuring maximum availability of wind turbines yet reducing maintenance cost (Zhang, C., & Yang, T. 2020). Zhang highlights the importance of dynamic scheduling of maintenance to reduce points of failures by changes in the environment. Efficient resource allocation and coordination is important to ensure maintenance tasks are carried out since they require special tools, transport, and qualified technicians. According to Zonta et al. (2020) it is crucial for organizations to promote predictive maintenance instead of breakdown maintenance since maintenance costs account between 15 – 60 % of operational costs. An enabling factor of predictive maintenance is the availability of data which can be harnessed to reduce downtime, maintenance cost and improved operational efficiency. The article by Alsyouf (2007) looks at how maintenance policies can drive productivity and profitability within manufacturing industry. Furthermore, Alysouf highlights maintenance should not only be viewed as a cost center but also as a profit generating activity. This is because maintenance can avert inferior quality production thereby saving the business from financial losses which it may experience. To effectively conduct the academic synthesis, the paper has relied on applied research to solve practical problems relating to capacity constraints on maintenance of digital operations.