Book excerpt: Planning and Control of Maintenance Systems is the first book to address maintenance and repair from an engineering perspective. Using the innovative concept of total productive maintenance (TPM) and written by three renowned experts in statistics, operations research, and engineering, it is an essential tool for planning a maintenance system using statistical and optimization techniques in order to avert equipment failure. Suitable for engineers and managers in capital-intensive industry, as well as for first-year graduate students and undergraduates in mechanical or industrial engineering.