Maintainability: A Key to Effective Serviceability and Maintenance Management

BENJAMIN S. BLANCHARD is Professor of Engineering and AssistantDean, College of Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute andState University. He is Chairman of the Systems EngineeringGraduate Program, responsible for the College's off-campus graduateengineering programs throughout Virginia, and coordinates theCollege's continuing education program activity. He teaches coursesin systems engineering, reliability and maintainability, logisticsupport, maintenance management, and life-cycle costing. ProfessorBlanchard has worked in industry as a design engineer, fieldservice engineer, staff engineer, and engineering manager. He isauthor and coauthor of numerous textbooks and journal articles, andis a frequent lecturer throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and theUnited States.

DINESH VERMA is Senior Research Associate, Industrial and SystemsEngineering Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and StateUniversity. He manages the Systems Design Laboratory and ispursuing research activities in systems engineering,maintainability and maintenance management, logistics, and fuzzylogic. His sponsored research activities have included thedevelopment of design evaluation software tools, and he haspublished a monograph and numerous technical papers in this andrelated areas.

ELMER L. PETERSON is an officer and private consultant with IntecAssociates, Inc. He has taught many courses in systems engineering,maintainability, and logistics throughout the United States,Europe, and Asia for various universities and professionalsocieties. Mr. Peterson has many years of industrial experience asa project manager for aircraft and space systems. His areas ofexpertise include: logistics, interim contractor support, systemsengineering, and maintainability. Before joining industry, he spenttwenty-one years in the U.S. Air Force as a maintenance andtraining specialist.