Maintenance strategy – a crucial piece of the jigsaw for the industry of the future

As industry enters a period of faster technological development, rising sustainability requirements, and a pronounced shift in the skills that are needed, the importance of strategic maintenance is growing. For Maria Stockefors, CEO of Svenskt Underhåll, it is clear that maintenance is now a central component of an organisation’s long-term development – a matter for executive teams and boardrooms, not something relegated to the margins of day-to-day operations.

When Maria Stockefors describes current developments in industry, she does so with clear conviction: maintenance is no longer an operational support function. It is a strategic foundation that affects the entire organisation’s ability to be sustainable, profitable and competitive.

– It’s about building robust and resilient maintenance. When you do that, you create operational reliability; then sustainability, profitability and competitiveness follow, she says.

For more than fifty years, Svenskt Underhåll has followed developments in industry. But it has also seen how maintenance has long been regarded as part of production rather than a strategic issue. That view is now undergoing a fundamental change.

Why maintenance must be addressed at management level

In many businesses, the focus has traditionally been on production: how much can be manufactured, how efficiently is work carried out and how quickly can output be increased. However, as technological development accelerates and demands for sustainability and safety increase, maintenance becomes a question of resilience.

– Management teams need to understand that maintenance is an investment, not a cost, Stockefors explains.

She continues:

– When you invest in maintenance, you get everything that creates stability in a business.

She believes that many companies have historically lacked focus on maintenance in their strategic plans. This has created a situation where decisions have been made with an eye on the short-term, and long-term value has been lost. Incorporating maintenance into the planning phase of new initiatives is crucial to avoiding costly rework.

The challenge: technological shifts and skills loss

Meanwhile industry is undergoing a major shift in skills requirements. Many of the employees with practical knowledge built over decades of hands-on experience are approaching retirement. At the same time, new technology, AI, digitalisation and faster processes have changed working methods. Younger technicians are entering a world where both traditional machines and advanced digital systems must be understood and managed in parallel.

– We need to ask ourselves what skills we have and whether we can embrace new technology. There will be a void left by the many people who are retiring. That’s why the transfer of genuine expertise is extremely important, Maria Stockefors says.

These conditions create a complex skill set where knowledge transfer becomes just as strategically important as technological investments. For Maria Stockefors, it is about building a culture where cooperation, communication and common goals unite the operational and the strategic. Maintenance cannot be developed in isolation; there needs to be a shared understanding of what robust maintenance means and why it is crucial to the business.

– Production and maintenance must work as a team. It’s about understanding why you do things together and what that leads to, she says.

Strategic maintenance in the future

When Stockefors describes what strategic maintenance actually means, she repeatedly returns to words such as robustness, operational reliability and long-term thinking.

– Doing it right from the start is not a cliché; rather, it is one of the foundations of modern maintenance work, she says.

It’s about planning maintenance work as early as the design and investment phase, so that you do not have to take detours or make costly corrections once the systems are up and running. It is also about collecting data that provides a basis for decision-making, so that investments can be justified and prioritised with precision.

When she looks ahead, she sees an industry that is growing in importance and becoming increasingly attractive. The human factor is becoming even more important, especially as concepts such as ‘Maintenance 5.0’ emerge. This is a development in which technology and people must strengthen each other.

– The people behind the technology are key. New technology is the future, but we must decide how to use it.

At the same time, there is an increasing demand for data-driven decisions. A long-term strategy requires good data collection, analysis and step-by-step prioritisation. Not everything can be done at once, but everything needs to be done properly.

– This is where the role of operational management becomes clear. In order to make strategic decisions, you have to view maintenance as an investment rather than a cost. Those who dare to look ahead and include maintenance in their long-term business plan will also have a business that is better equipped to meet the demands of the future. This is particularly true when digitalisation and new technology require both new working methods and new skills, Maria Stockefors says.

Why the Maintenance Strategy Conference matters more than ever

That is precisely why Underhållsstrategi, the Maintenance Strategy Conference, plays such an important role in industry’s development. It not only offers knowledge and inspiration, but also an opportunity to get the broadest possible perspective on maintenance.

– The conference aims to raise maintenance work to a strategic level. We want to provide a holistic view so that people can see what proper maintenance really leads to, she says.

This is where leaders, technicians, managers and specialists meet to share experiences. Both the successful examples and the more complex ones. Maria Stockefors describes the maintenance community as open and transparent, with organisations happy to show how they work and what they have learned. This openness makes the conference a place where strategic maintenance becomes concrete and understandable, not as a concept on paper, but as something that is already making a difference in real businesses.

– I would like to see several people from the same company attend, so that they can continue the conversation back at their organisation. Strategic maintenance is a task that will never stand still. It requires curiosity, skills development and a willingness to collaborate across functions and roles, she concludes.

Underhållsstrategi, the Maintenance Strategy Conference, is organised by Svenskt Underhåll and Underhållsmässan

Find out more and book your ticket for Underhållsstrategi.

(The conference is in Swedish)