1-18.4 Maintenance Concepts

Maintenance concepts are based on the product, its complexity, and how it will be used. The goal of the maintenance concept or strategy is to assure the operational availability specified by the client. A wide variety of support options are available to the maintenance planners, ranging from 100 percent supplier support to 100 percent Postal Service support. Product reliability, availability, and maintainability factors will drive determinations of levels of maintenance, skill sets, staffing, diagnostic equipment, tools, parts, consumables, and quantities.

A key factor often overlooked when developing a maintenance concept is that many products also use related consumables or supplies, such as cleaning supplies and computers. Demand analysis to establish sourcing, quantities, and storage location decisions must also be performed for these products. The maintenance concept will be formalized into a maintenance plan and documented in a joint integrated logistics support plan (ILSP), in accordance with Management Instruction AS-520-2004-10, Integrated Logistics Support for Capital Equipment.