Uncovering Interrelationships In MRO-Related Industrial Service Delivery Employing Interpretive Structural Modeling

Maintenance, repair, and operation (MRO) related services for industrial machinery represent a crucial factor in ensuring smooth operations in manufacturing companies. However, the complex interrelationships between a range of factors in the MRO service delivery process often pose significant challenges for industrial service providers, especially in context of digital platforms. This paper utilizes interpretive structural modeling (ISM) to uncover these interrelationships and offers insights for improving service delivery. The hierarchical structure of the interrelationships between the factors helps service providers to identify critical factors that impact their service delivery and develop innovative strategies to optimize these. This paper combines theoretical rigor with expert interviews to provide new insights relevant to practice. By utilizing five variables from service deployment literature, (1) reliability, (2) timeliness, (3) range of services, (4) service quality, and (5) efficiency, divided into their service object and service activity related attributes, the analysis reveals a strong hierarchy among the variables, identifying important dependent and independent factors, as well as important mediators. Overall, the derived structural model serves as a starting point for future quantitative research in the field of service provision.