Organizational Context, Structure, And Performance Of Plant Turnaround Maintenance In Malaysian Processbased Industries

Plant turnaround maintenance is a crucial asset management that is practiced in large
process-based industries. The unprecedented large and expensive maintenance event is
carried out to revitalize, maintain, and improve the plant Facilities for optimal and
efficient performance. The event is characterized by a multi-facetted business process
comprising engineering, business, and organization. Typical problems that are linked to
the dismal performance of the plant turnaround maintenance include schedule slippage,
work scope growth, cost over run, concerns on regulatory compliance, inadequate
resources, and startup problems. These depictions imply that the turnaround
maintenance event requires efficient organization, coordination, and control of the
turnaround organizational resources to ensure its successful implementation.
The present study examines the effect of congruent relationship between plant
technology, organizational size, and structuring processes on the performance of plant
turnaround maintenance of process-based industries in Malaysia. The study was based
on quantitative data collected from 54 companies using questionnaire-aided survey. A
research framework is developed and 25 research hypotheses are put forth, which
suggest the relationship of plant technology, organizational size, structuring processes,
and organizational performance of turnaround maintenance.
The findings indicate that the congruent relationships between organizational size and
level of formalization and centralization in the organization of turnaround maintenance
contribute to high level of' organizational performance. Establishing the appropriate
level of formalization and centralization that commensurate with the organizational size
of the turnaround is pertinent to the turnaround maintenance performance. It offers
organizational theorists and managers with a prescription of' strategic organizational
choice in managing one of the factors of production of the companies in the processbased
industries in Malaysia, namely plant technology.