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Marrakech – The Cluster Maintenance 4.0 launched ReliX, a new industrial reliability framework designed to modernize maintenance practices across Morocco and the African continent.
The announcement, made at an event in Casablanca on Thursday, was accompanied by the signing of two partnership agreements with national and international industry bodies.
ReliX introduces a proprietary methodology called the Hexagon, structured around six interconnected dimensions: Perceive, Predict, Prescribe, Perform, People, and Planet.
The framework also includes a five-level maturity model, ranging from reactive to autonomous operations, and a seven-principle code intended to define the cultural foundation of reliability practices at industrial sites regardless of size or sector.
The initiative responds to a gap identified through consultations with Moroccan industrialists. The Cluster found that maintenance across the sector remains largely dependent on reactive and calendar-based approaches.
This persists even as artificial intelligence, digital twins, and data analytics have reached sufficient maturity for industrial deployment. A new generation of Moroccan engineers is trained in these technologies but struggles to apply them at facilities designed decades ago.
Abdenour Jbili, president of Cluster Maintenance 4.0, framed the initiative in operational terms. “There is no industrial performance, no productivity, and no competitiveness without good maintenance and good performance of production units,” he said.
He explained that ReliX aims to unite the national ecosystem around best practices in maintenance and reliability to build a framework with African reach.
Jbili also pointed to the absence of an existing reference framework adapted to African industrial conditions. “Until now, there has been no framework specific to Africa that takes into account the particularities of our industries,” he indicated, citing constraints related to supply networks, spare parts availability, and operating conditions that make foreign-developed models difficult to apply directly. “We have therefore rethought this process to create a framework adapted to our constraints,” he added.
Partnerships, roadmap, and a continental ambition
The Cluster Maintenance 4.0 was established in 2021 by a consortium that includes OCP, OCP Maintenance Solutions, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Maghreb Steel, ADD, MBTEC, CETIM, and the Marrakech-Safi Regional Investment Center (CRI).
Alongside the ReliX launch, the Cluster formalized two agreements. The first is a partnership convention with the FIMME, Morocco’s federation of metallurgical and mechanical industries, tied to the SISTEP 2026 trade fair.
That event, the International Exhibition of Productive Technological Solutions, is scheduled for September 9 to 12 at the Casablanca International Fair grounds.
Under the agreement, the FIMME will provide the Cluster with a free 12-square-meter exhibition stand and integrate the Cluster’s branding into official communications.
Cluster members will also benefit from a preferential rate of MAD 1,000 ($100) per square meter, compared to the standard rate of MAD 1,800 ($180). The Cluster committed to mobilizing at least 15 member companies for the event. The convention was signed by FIMME president Abdelhamid Souiri and Jbili.
The second agreement is a letter of intent with France’s AFIM, the French Association of Maintenance Engineers and Managers, signed by Jbili and AFIM president Jean Goutierre.
The letter outlines four areas of collaboration: knowledge sharing and best practices, cross-participation in events and technical workshops, networking between member communities, and joint work on training and skills development in maintenance professions. The letter constitutes a first step toward formal cooperation, with specific projects to be defined jointly.
Over the next 12 months, the Cluster plans to roll out an activation program that includes monthly podcasts, thematic webinars, expert-led masterclasses, and the creation of regional community chapters across North, West, and East Africa. The program will culminate in the first edition of the ReliX Summit Africa, currently in preparation.
The launch comes weeks after the African Development Bank (AfDB) named Morocco as Africa’s industrialization leader in the 2025 edition of its Africa Industrialization Index, unveiled at the bank’s annual meetings in Brazzaville in late May.
That designation reinforces the rationale behind ReliX, which positions the country as a continental hub for advanced industrial maintenance through a locally developed framework intended for progressive export across Africa via industrial, academic, and institutional partnerships.
