Company role is to allow the maintenance department to perform the needed maintenance when required thru breakdown & preventive measures. This should also include training for the maintenance department concerning the equipment used in the facility. In a lot of cases, the company must take a hold of the purse strings to control equipment maintenance & have management for maintenance justify the sometimes overwhelming cost that can be often times seen.
The most important role they can play is to include maintenance as part of their overall strategy of doing business. By elevating maintenance to a strategic function you open the door to interdepartmental cooperation and begin building a partnership focused on reliability and, in the end, a more productive company.
The true function of Maintenance is to Maintain Equipment and Production Systems in a continuously improving state of reliable operation that meets its functional specifications and requirements of the Organization by minimizing unscheduled downtime, increasing throughput or (fleet performance etc), quality, safety and environmental compliance at the best cost per asset achievable.
The function of the Organization is to adopt Maintenance as a part of an Asset Management Business Strategy.
Maintenance can and should be as much of a value added function as any of the systems it supports! I.E. Asset Management, Quality, Safety, Environmental Compliance and of course Production Throughput...
Company Management should view it as nothing less than the Critical Foundation for all Operations.
A lot of times I seem to see it as a "PAY ME NOW OR PAY ME LATER" issue with the equipment. If you can control things & do big or major repairs to the equipment is not needed or can be cycled out of service. You should be able to control the cost easier as opposed to the other option of trying to make the needed repairs when the equipment is needed to run production the most & you find yourself loosing production due to increased downtime for a repair.