Empirical Study of Maintenance Strategy Selection and Plant Availability in the Nigerian Brewing Industry

This research empirically examines the relationship between maintenance strategy selection and plant availability performance in Nigerian brewing companies, contributing to the evidence base on maintenance management in a capital-intensive food and beverage manufacturing context. The Nigerian brewing industry, with major production facilities concentrated in states including Lagos, Oyo, Cross River, and Anambra, has experienced substantial investment in recent years, raising the strategic importance of effective maintenance management for protecting asset value and ensuring reliable production. This study employs a mixed-methods research design, combining a structured survey of maintenance managers and engineers across nine brewing plants with in-depth case studies at three selected facilities. Maintenance strategy profiles are characterised using a validated strategy classification instrument covering reactive, preventive, predictive, and reliability-centred approaches. Plant availability data are extracted from computerised maintenance management system records where available, or reconstructed from maintenance logs. Regression analysis reveals that the proportion of predictive and reliability-centred maintenance activities in the maintenance strategy mix is a significant positive predictor of plant availability, controlling for plant age and production volume. Case study evidence reveals that plants with dedicated vibration analysis and oil analysis programmes achieve availability rates six percentage points higher than plants relying predominantly on time-based maintenance. Keywords: maintenance strategy, plant availability, brewing industry, predictive maintenance, empirical study