From mission to milestone: 25 years of Value Driven Maintenance

Mainnovation started the revolution of creating value in maintenance

In November 2000, two young men with a technical background and a passion for maintenance founded Mainnovation. The consultancy firm quickly grew into an important player in the field of maintenance and asset management. Companies around the world in industry, fleet, and infrastructure saw that an improved maintenance strategy based on the VDM methodology led to economic added value. The notion that maintenance is inherently a cost was thereby dismissed.

Now, 25 years later, Mainnovation, with its headquarters in Dordrecht, is a consulting firm with 50+ consultants and clients all over the world. Exactly according to the plan of founder Mark Haarman. ‘We had a mission: we wanted to change the way people considered maintenance. We wanted to be able to demonstrate that maintenance can contribute to the company’s performance.’

Value creation in Maintenance

The seed for this approach was planted during Haarman’s studies at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. ‘Professor Klaas Smit ignited my passion for maintenance. The way he talked about the possibilities of professionalising maintenance was very inspiring. That was still in its infancy. Improvements were mostly from a technical and managerial perspective. The idea to create value had not yet been introduced.’
Haarman took up the challenge to integrate the concept of ‘economic added value’ into maintenance. ‘No one had ever done that before, even though there was a huge need for it,’ Haarman explains. ‘Maintenance managers felt as if they were swimming against the current. Maintenance was a cost issue. They could not demonstrate that good and smart maintenance actually provided significant added value.’

The Holy Grail

It was also clear that this need would only grow. Many factories date back to just after the war. And the older a facility, the more wear and tear, and the more frequent the breakdowns. Haarman started to search for ‘the hidden treasure’ and came up with ‘the Holy Grail’: Value Driven Maintenance.
In 2003, the book ‘VDM, Value Driven Maintenance – New Faith in Maintenance’ was published. The message: if you organise your maintenance department correctly, make decisions aligned with business objectives, ánd translate this into euros, it is possible to create value. This message was easy to explain to management. After all, there is value in preventing breakdowns, but also in organising work more intelligently and achieving savings. ‘Thanks to VDM, the maintenance manager speaks the language of the executive board and can better demonstrate the importance of maintenance.’

Early adopters

Mainnovation was thus the driver of a new vision on maintenance, and many companies embraced this approach. DSM and Port of Rotterdam are loyal clients from the very beginning. Haarman: ‘That DSM – already a large, leading organisation at the time – had confidence in VDM and gave us full freedom to further develop this, immediately gave us international recognition.’ After DSM followed Volvo Cars, and Port of Rotterdam also adopted the VDM methodology. And they joined in the evolution towards VDM^XL. In 2015, the new book ‘VDM^XL – Competing with Aging Assets’ was published, which marked the shift from maintenance to asset management.

Future plans

As of 2025, the consultancy firm with offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France provides its services and digital solutions (such as the Control Panel, the Process Map, and AMprover) to clients all over the world. Haarman is especially proud of the Mainnovation team. ‘We have a strict selection policy. Our consultants—working on a project or interim basis at companies in industry, fleet, and infrastructure—are the best in the business. And yes, we want to continue growing, but quality always comes before growth.’

And further plans for the future? Haarman: ‘Our name is built from the words Maintenance and Innovation. We do not stand still and continue to align with market trends and needs. Every year, we conduct at least one market research; think of digital trends in maintenance and the integration of sustainability in maintenance and asset management.’ The digital solutions are also being further expanded, and a third book is coming. ‘We are far from finished, and the mission to continuously elevate maintenance to the next level remains ongoing.’

On December 11, 2025, we will celebrate this 25th anniversary. During this festive gathering for customers and valued partners, clients from the early days will share how the collaboration has strengthened their organization. The latest developments within VDM will also be explained. Read more on the event page.