Requirements for developing a simulation game for maintenance planner training

[Truncated abstract] Today increasing market competitiveness has forced manufacturers and primary industries to compete on price and reliability. At the same time, there are greater complexities and risks associated with the purchasing, installing, and maintaining assets. These are some of the factors, which have lead to an increase in industry practitioners' and academics' interest in the study of asset management. Asset management itself is defined by Asset Management Council as "the life cycle management of physical assets to achieve the stated output of enterprise". One of the key roles in the in-service phase of the life cycle is the maintenance planner. The planner input is vital in selecting and deploying the right maintenance tasks and sequences to ensure an asset's function is delivered at the optimal cost. One way to increase the effectiveness of the maintenance planning process is to improve the competency level of the maintenance planner. However, improving training and qualification systems is not straightforward. The lack of agreement on the maintenance planner tasks is one of the reasons why it is difficult to find a specific course for planners. Developing an effective training package for mainten~nce planners needs to consider planner competencies, cost, infrastructure, time flexibility and the content of the training itself. This could be achieved by developing a better understanding of maintenance planner role. Hence, a survey has been carried out to collect data of maintenance planner tasks from companies in different market sector and from literatures. Analysis of this data is then used to define a recommended set of maintenance planner tasks, skill sets and competency levels...