Preventive Maintenance: Definition, Types, and Benefits
Contents
Preventive maintenance is important when it comes to asset management or equipment maintenance. It is a strategic approach designed to reduce the downtime and to solve other upcoming issues. When an asset breakdown it becomes the cause of business loss. In this digitally advanced and competitive environment facing any loss can affect business survival. Therefore using advanced strategy is crucial for the business operations and smooth workflow. Preventive maintenance is common today but not all the businesses or facility management firms use it. Here we understand what PM is and how asset management can get benefits from it.
What is Preventive Maintenance?
Preventive maintenance is a maintenance philosophy that uses regularly scheduled maintenance tasks to prevent equipment failure and unplanned downtime. It’s a form of planned maintenance, when the work is arranged ahead of time rather than being prompted by a surprise breakdown. It is popular due to its inexpensive cost and ease of installation. especially in manufacturing and other businesses that depend on sophisticated, pricey equipment.
Preventive maintenance ” in practice ” is a planned system that includes lubrication, adjustments, cleaning, and replacement of parts on a timetable or usage basis. It should be well documented and carefully planned to track maintenance history and plan future work.
Types of Preventive Maintenance
There are major two types of preventive maintenance: one is usage-based and the other is time-based.
Usage-Based Maintenance
The machinery that has a set of instructions for its usage like how many run time or operating hours, cycle count and distance covered. If these instructions are with any particular machinery then it comes under usage-based maintenance. So preventive maintenance is based on the frequency of use of the machine. This process is often automated and when a machine reaches a particular count, its state will trigger a message for the team to execute a maintenance check.
Another benefit of this form of maintenance is that it prevents what is known as “over-maintenance”. It is when some machines get more regular attention.
Some examples of usage-based maintenance: production based machinery, any robotic assembly machine or CNC machinery.
Time-Based Maintenance
Preventive maintenance works based on time or calendar at predefined scheduled times. This is a recurring calendar based task and it can be daily, weekly, monthly, bi-annually etc.
Triggers are normally created just before the maintenance is to be done. And this trigger tells the necessary parties and they get on it. Recommendations from manufacturers can also provide benchmarks, and benchmarks depend on the sort of machine being considered.
The goal of such a PM is to make sure that the most important equipment of the firm is regularly inspected and maintained. “Hopefully teams will have good histories of past maintenance efforts. Therefore, decision-makers can better determine how to allocate funds to PM duties.
Some examples where time-based maintenance is required: HVAC system maintenance, equipment cleaning, safety equipment maintenance, and conveyor belts.
When to Employ PM and What Assets are Included in a Preventative Maintenance Plan
Probably the single most efficient technique to reduce maintenance and downtime expenses is to establish a preventive maintenance program. Equipment problems can be identified and solved proactively, potentially saving firms hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
The first step for manufacturers wishing to transition from reactive maintenance to a preventive maintenance approach is to identify the assets that will benefit most from a PM approach. Industrial assets lend themselves nicely to preventive maintenance:
Crucial for Facility’s compliances: You also need to do preventative maintenance on assets that are crucial to your facility’s compliance or that have certain regulatory standards that need to be met. This could be safety equipment, boilers, environmental control systems, electrical systems, etc.
That has predictable wear and tear: If you can easily foresee when an asset will need to be repaired, it is worth putting it on a preventative maintenance schedule. This includes equipment such as robotic arms, hydraulic presses, pumps and compressors.
Machinery Important for operations: Look at assets your factory can’t run without. Such as conveyor belts, HVAC systems, and assets critical to the manufacturing of products (e.g. extruders, rollers, mixers).
High Cost of Failure: When an asset is down, and output is not happening, or the asset is expensive to replace – put it on your PM list. Assets with a high cost of failure include compressors, extrusion machines, power generation systems and CNC machines.
Working of Preventive Maintenance
The procedure of preventive maintenance is described below. Here is the step-by-step process.
| Steps | Process |
|---|---|
| Identify the Assets | All assets that require maintenance are recognized and cataloged. This can include listing equipment such as HVAC systems, IT servers, or production machinery. |
| Determination of Needs | For each asset, the exact maintenance tasks to be performed are identified based on manufacturer recommendations, industry norms, or historical data. For instance, a generator may need to be oiled every 500 hours of operation. |
| Scheduling | Maintenance tasks are performed at appropriate intervals, which might be time-based, usage-based, or condition-based. This can be automated with preventive maintenance software and ensures the duties align with operational needs. |
| Implementation | Technicians performing the maintenance are trained and may carry out inspections, repairs, or replacements as needed. |
| Documenting | Every maintenance operation is tracked, including what was done, when it was done, and by whom. This documentation is important for recording the history of each asset and planning future maintenance, particularly preventive maintenance. |
Preventive maintenance plays a key role in the maintenance management. A facility manager must apply the above mentioned steps with preventive maintenance best practices to achieve the goal of business.
Benefits of Preventive Maintenance
Here we share the perks of having a planned preventive maintenance.
Longer Asset Life:
Following the manufacturer’s planned maintenance schedule and requirements extends machine life. This reduces harm to the equipment while it runs on its course. This means that organizations will not need to repair equipment as often.
Reduced Downtime:
Downtime is a huge cost for many production plants since operations are paused and production stops until the fault is fixed. This results in production and revenue losses. In addition, repair professionals may need to work extra, increasing labor costs. This allows maintenance to be scheduled during off-peak hours, hence improving overall efficiency. Because preventative maintenance is scheduled in advance, the job can be done more quickly.
Better Safety at Work:
Often there are government limitations on the usage of specific machines, for they present a significant safety and accident risk. When you keep your machines up on time, you’re more compliant.” You’ll enhance your accident and safety records, making the work environment better for your staff.
Cost Savings:
Well scheduled preventative maintenance can also give organizations cost savings. Unplanned maintenance frequently leads to a higher demand for replacement parts. But with the proper spare parts at the right time you will have a well-maintained machine that will work optimally. Your inventory management will also be better.
Reduced Energy Consumption:
A machine is most efficient when it is working at its optimum capability. That means efficiency, which means less energy used, which means cheaper utility bills and less impact on the environment.
Increased Uptime and Productivity:
Uptime is the reverse of downtime. It is the time during which your machines are operating at full capacity, producing more than without it. Uptime is more products, which is more stuff to sell. So the uptime as a consequence of work and efficiency of preventative maintenance can be good for your revenue.
To know more about preventive maintenance read the ultimate 2026 preventive maintenance plan.
Implement the PM strategy and Streamline Maintenance
Preventive maintenance becomes so much easier to execute with the correct software help. You need a solution that gives you a complete, real-time picture of asset data, instantly notifies technicians to mechanical issues, helps you conveniently schedule maintenance work, and lets workers readily exchange insights on a single dashboard. Factech’s computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) can make preventative maintenance a seamless operation.
- Our CMMS software can automate PM work orders based on date, meter readings or runtime hours. Notifications so you never miss a PM.
- Technicians may perform PM work on their mobile devices, even when they’re offline, and the data syncs automatically when a connection is available.
- Real-time PM activities recording, automatic audit trails and dashboards providing compliance rates, overdue tasks and completion trends.
- CMMS will also be able to set aside required parts for PMs in advance, avoiding last-minute delays and tracking consumable use over time.
Contact us to know more about maintenance management software and to get a free demo.
The bottom line
Addressing possible problems proactively helps firms minimize costs, enhance efficiency and maintain asset reliability. To maximize operations and remain competitive, it is important for any organization to invest in a strong preventative maintenance system and to utilize preventative maintenance software.
Preventive maintenance is a smart move for long-term performance, including benefits such as reduced downtime and longer asset life.
FAQs
Q: What is the difference between predictive maintenance and preventive maintenance?
Preventive maintenance is done at predetermined intervals irrespective of equipment condition. Predictive maintenance employs real-time data and analytical tools to estimate when maintenance will be needed, so teams only intervene when symptoms of degradation arise.
Q: How does a CMMS help you stay compliant with preventive maintenance?
A CMMS may automatically schedule preventive maintenance, send reminders to professionals, and track completion in real time and dashboards that display overdue jobs and compliance trends. This eliminates dependence on people’s memory and manual logging.
Q: How often should you conduct preventive maintenance?
How often you do it will depend on a number of criteria including manufacturer recommendations, criticality of the asset, operating environment, and how hard the asset is being worked. Some equipment may need weekly checks, and others may only need servicing periodically or annually. Regularly reviewing equipment data helps dial in the correct intervals.
Q: What is the most common preventive maintenance?
One of the most common duties performed in a PM service is equipment inspections. It is then usual to clean the equipment and lubricate the moving parts.
Checking the machines’ power supply is another common preventive maintenance duty. Lastly, to optimize machine performance you should repair and/or add extra parts before it breaks.
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