Fifty years of maintenance optimization: Reflections and perspectives

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO), we share our perspectives and reflections on maintenance research. We review the main methods and techniques for optimizing when and what to maintain, providing concrete examples as illustrations. We also discuss the optimization of the logistics support system surrounding the act of maintenance. In doing so, we highlight the multidisciplinary nature of maintenance research and its interface with other domains, such as spare parts inventory management, production scheduling, and transportation planning. We support our reflections with basic text-mining analyses of the archive of the European Journal of Operational Research, the journal published in collaboration with EURO. With this paper, we introduce interested researchers to maintenance optimization and share opportunities to close the gaps between the current state of research and real-world needs.