Yes, I agree.

The need for maintainability is becoming more important than ever before because of the alarmingly high operating and support costs of equipment and systems.

Some of the objectives of applying maintainability engineering principles are to reduce projected maintenance time and costs, to determine labor-hours and to determine the related resources required for performing the projected maintenance, and to use maintainability data to estimate equipment availability or unavailability.

When maintainability engineering principles are applied successfully to any

product, results such as reduction in product downtime, efficient restoration of the product to its operating state, and maximum operational readiness of the product can be expected

http://www.uotechnology.edu.iq/dep-production/branch3_files/6r.pdf

Yes, I agree.

The need for maintainability is becoming more important than ever before because of the alarmingly high operating and support costs of equipment and systems.

Some of the objectives of applying maintainability engineering principles are to reduce projected maintenance time and costs, to determine labor-hours and to determine the related resources required for performing the projected maintenance, and to use maintainability data to estimate equipment availability or unavailability.

When maintainability engineering principles are applied successfully to any

product, results such as reduction in product downtime, efficient restoration of the product to its operating state, and maximum operational readiness of the product can be expected

http://www.uotechnology.edu.iq/dep-production/branch3_files/6r.pdf

Dear Amir Causevic,

Look the link. May be useful

https://books.google.az/books?id=v2HLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PP8&lpg=PP8&dq=Do+you+agree+that+maintainability,+maintenance,+and+reliability+of+systems+and+products+have+become+more+important+than+ever?&source=bl&ots=20h-OsoeNM&sig=wT0yjzv0VOOldOtgt_j-K6nffII&hl=ru&sa=X&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAGoVChMIpc6xnZiCxwIVrhfbCh1qiw-i#v=onepage&q&f=false

Regards, Shafagat

Huge number of  technical products and systems are unity of software, electronics and mechanical components. Maintainability is the ease in which something can be maintained or restored to its functioning state. 

Dear Amir,

Maintainability of systems has been always important theoretically and practically. The problem is that permanent destruction of the biosphere attained such a level when there remained very little time for healing. Unfortunately, even this thread cannot help the situation because not discussions but immediate interventions are necessary.

I beg your pardon because my answer comes from industrial chemistry (one of my fields of interest).

Effectiveness is a measure of value received or how well the product/process satisfy end user demands. To estimate effectiveness, Berger (1993) suggested this simple equation:

Effectiveness = availability * reliability * maintainability * capability

In other words, effectiveness equation is the product of (i) the chance the equipment or system will be available to perform its duty, (ii) it will operate for a given time without failure, (iii) it is repaired without excessive lost maintenance time and (iv) it can perform its intended production activity according to the standards.

Consider these elements of the effectiveness equation for general industrial chemical plants. In many continuous process industries, availability is high (~85 to 98%), reliability is low (~0.001 to 10%) when measured against turnaround intervals, and maintainability is high (~50 to 90%) when measured against the allowed time for repairs, and productivity is high (~60 to 90%). So the weakest element that harms effectiveness is the reliability component. Therefore, R & D ought to target improvement of reliability.

Reliability, maintenance,maintainability, and capability are components of the effectiveness formula.

'Maximizing equipment effectiveness requires complete elimination of failures,defects, and other negative phenomena—in other words, the wastes and losses incurred in equipment operation.'

Reliability is a team sport that requires support from multi-disciplined professionals focused on short- and long-term improvements.

If managed properly, the self-sufficient approach is more economical than using contractors.

Although humans have felt the need to maintain their equipment since the beginning of time, modern engineering maintenance seems to be big step ahead in this field.

No, I don't agree that the need for reliability and maintainability of products is greater, but I do agree that these two jobs have become infinitely more difficult.

Even multiple hundreds of years ago, people had to be able to fix a broken wagon wheel. The main difference is that when a wagon wheel broke, it would not result in catastrophe (most of the time), and repairing or replacing the broken one was a relatively straightforward job.

It's a whole different problem now.

Similarly, if a horse becomes lame, and can't tow the wagon, the problem is easy enough to diagnose. If now, a processor chip in your car goes bad, most people wouldn't have a clue where to look. So the maintenance/diagnostic aspects of designs are way more complicated. But ultimately, even back then, no one wanted to get stranded in the middle of nowhere, with a broken wagon.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303484302_Relevant_Costing_Can_the_Method_Coincide_with_Different_Industries

Article Relevant Costing: Can the Method Coincide with Different Industries?