This comprehensive guide explains the definition of preventive maintenance, its types, strategies, and why it matters. As the saying goes, “prevention is better than cure,” and in maintenance, that couldn’t be more true.
Regular inspections and servicing of equipment help prevent unexpected failures, protect production flow, and reduce long-term costs. While the idea itself is well established, many companies now improve their maintenance processes using mobile-first technologies. At Resco, we focus on supporting these efforts by helping organizations digitize inspections, planning, and field data collection in a way that’s simple and efficient.
Types of preventive maintenance
We could further divide preventive maintenance into three distinct categories, each primarily covering the time aspect of the procedure.
1. Time-reliant maintenance
This type of preventive maintenance follows a calendar-based schedule. The maintenance procedure is initiated irrespective of whether or not the machine needs to be worked upon.
With a time-based preventive maintenance system in place, the maintenance team can follow a pre-planning schedule. This lets them know when and which tasks to perform on a piece of equipment to keep it running in an optimum condition.
You can set up your planned preventive maintenance schedule by using the calendar to determine the interval between each maintenance task. For instance, if you want your tools to be updated each month, a 13-day maintenance interval would allow your software to be updated every 47 days.
2. Condition-based maintenance
Condition-based preventive maintenance (CBPM) uses a machine’s state data to decide what activities are to be performed on the tool. The determining condition of an appliance could also be used to run scheduled preventive maintenance courses on the device.
CBPM is an effective strategy for improving overall reliability, reducing costs, and increasing productivity.
3. Usage-based maintenance
Usage-based preventive maintenance depends on an asset’s exposure to environmental conditions. It uses information about the daily usage of equipment and forecasts a due date for future inspection or repair tasks.
This preventive maintenance procedure makes complete sense for machines and devices under constant operational usage. Such appliances are more likely to be affected by external or internal damage.
Maintenance strategies
An efficient preventative maintenance strategy requires planning and scheduling maintenance of equipment ahead of time or before a problem occurs. Here are some practical maintenance strategies that you could use/involve:
Get the stake holders on board
Before running any preventive maintenance initiative, it is critical to take stakeholders into confidence. It’s important to involve stakeholders early on, since they usually fund and support maintenance initiatives. If they’re left out, it can lead to misunderstandings or resistance later. Getting their buy-in from the start helps build trust and opens the door for useful feedback that can make the whole program stronger.
CMMS preventive maintenance
To make preventive maintenance work well, a CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) should include a few main features:
1. Work order management: This module should allow users to generate, track, and manage work orders.
2. Inventory management: This module should help users track inventory levels and manage stock.
3. Asset management: This module should help users track the age, location, and condition of assets as well as schedule preventive maintenance tasks for those assets.
Pilot project
Choosing the right CMMS is an important first step toward better preventive maintenance—but it’s best to start small. Running a pilot project lets you see how the system works in your day-to-day operations and whether it truly fits your needs.
For example, Bayer CropScience evaluated several solutions before choosing the one that worked best for their field staff. They needed a system that could easily integrate with Oracle Siebel CRM, support third-party tools, and allow custom development. In the end, their decision was based on user feedback, overall design, costs, and how quickly the system synchronized data.
By testing the system on a limited scale, you can understand its real-world benefits and ensure it’s the right choice for your organization.
Why is preventive maintenance important for companies?
There are a few factors that influence companies to go for preventive maintenance. These include the age of the asset, how often it’s been used, its condition, and the cost of repairing or replacing it.
Preventive maintenance is typically more cost-effective than corrective maintenance, so companies try to schedule it as often as possible. Some of the factors include:
Closer to failure mode
Companies often perform preventive maintenance when an asset is closer to failure mode. This type of maintenance is meant to stop or detect an issue before it becomes a bigger problem. It can also help avoid unplanned outages and keep production running smoothly.
Affecting the operation
The best time for a company to carry out preventive maintenance is when an asset starts showing signs of affecting operational activities. By carrying out work on the asset before it breaks down, the company can avoid incurring major repair costs or even having to replace the asset entirely. Other considerations might include cost-benefit analysis and the asset’s importance to the company’s operations.
Tend to fail in future
Most companies usually opt for preventive maintenance when an asset is not constructed for heavy-duty and is most likely to fail in the future. Businesses can prevent or minimize future failures by performing preventive maintenance on these types of assets.
In this way, instead of the cost associated with corrective repairs or replacements, companies are only investing in the upkeep of their assets. You can nip the issue in the bud and stop it from becoming a bigger problem later by fixing or replacing the parts that have already degraded, damaged, or broken.
Advantages of preventive maintenance
Preventive maintenance is clearly an advantageous deal. From financial benefits to safety measures, preventive maintenance keeps you covered up.
Improved equipment life
Preventive maintenance is a proactive way to increase the life of your equipment. It’s easier than ever to keep your machines running smoothly; thus, your operational procedures are well-maneuvered.
Since preventive maintenance involves executing undersized jobs from time to time, it allows your safety-critical assets to function at their peak performance.
Reduced cost
One of the preventive maintenance benefits is less overall expenditures on tools and apparatus.
Preventive maintenance has reduced cost impacts, saving you money in the long run. Therefore, investing in this vital but often overlooked cost indeed makes sense.
Well-installed preventive maintenance services can help you avoid the need for expensive repairs when the machines break down. The temporary break in product supplies may also have an enlarged impact on your markets and, thus, the financial reserves of the firm.
Less energy consumption
What if a single investment gets you savings on utility bills along with other benefits?
Preventive maintenance is one such proactive investment. Continuous technical practices on machinery result in increased efficiency that contributes to energy conservation.
Once the various equipment owned by the company operates at peak efficiency, there is a massive saving on electricity consumption. Therefore, the utility bills assume a pocket-friendly shape.
Reduced safety risks
Preventive maintenance is not all about saving money, but it also contributes to reduced safety risks. It helps protect the safety of your employees, customers, and the general public. Regular inspections can uncover potential hazards before they lead to an accident.
Boosts production
Boosted production is a fair possibility of proactive preventive maintenance planning and management. Preventive maintenance ensures a timely response to equipment malfunctions and avoids costly production delays.
Unexpected downtimes hold back production on a timely basis, disturbing the smooth product flow from the factories to consumers.
Disadvantages of preventive maintenance
Unfortunately, we can claim nothing in this universe to be perfect and fault-free. Similar is the case with preventive maintenance. Despite its numerous benefits, there are a few disadvantages to the preventive maintenance package.
Lengthy procedure
Preventive maintenance is a lengthy procedure involving coordinating and organizing regular repairs and inspections. Scheduling this job can be difficult, especially when there are many customers and responsibilities to take care of daily.
It also requires multiple hours of pre-planning to obtain essential knowledge about the appliances and decide what repair methods will be selected.
Relies on additional resources
Preventive maintenance costs can be high, and staffing and other resources may not be readily available. It might require more time and skillful staff.
Difficult to organize
You may have seen the preventive maintenance importance, but where does it start? Preventive maintenance begins with planning and ends in execution.
Unfortunately, planning requires building a great deal of statistical data. Bringing a good plan in place is crucial and dedicating a tremendous amount of time to the task is necessary.
Examples of preventive maintenance
Here are some specific or practical preventive maintenance examples.
Cleaning
Cleaning is a critical part of preventive maintenance. Ultimately, taking care of your equipment and your resources can save you time and money in the long run. Without regular cleaning, dirt, grime and other materials can build up and damage your property or make it malfunction. Neglecting to follow through on your cleaning schedule could result in these expensive repairs or replacements as well.
Lubrication
Lubrication is typically considered a form of preventive maintenance. The purpose of lubrication is to reduce friction and wear on mechanical components. Keeping parts well-lubricated makes them less likely to fail prematurely or experience excessive wear.
Proper lubrication can also help improve efficiency by reducing the energy required to operate machinery. In some cases, it can even help prolong the life of equipment by protecting against corrosion and other forms of damage.
Repairing
Repairing assets “on schedule” is one of the most important ways to ensure they last as long as possible. You won’t require more expensive and time-consuming repairs later on.
You can also avoid the headache and the cost of taking the asset offline for a longer period to complete extensive repairs.
Replacing
Replacing asset parts can be an effective way of performing preventive maintenance. It is mainly suggested for certain types of equipment, like HVAC and machinery.
However, some experts recommend against routinely replacing certain types of assets, such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and machinery.
Instead, they suggest only replacing parts when needed to avoid unnecessary downtime and expense. For instance, it’s recommended to replace filters routinely instead of entire units in the case of HVAC systems.
Software update
Preventive maintenance software updates keep your operating system (OS) and all other software current with recent releases and versions. Many organizations defer deploying updates out of fear that new versions will break existing functionality or introduce new security vulnerabilities. But each time you skip an update, you risk exposure to known and unknown threats. This is why it’s good to sign up for beta tests, if you can. Testing enables the opportunity to “see & try” specific features before deploying into the production. You can catch early bugs, ask software vendor for their fix, and lately update your solution with peace in mind.
Also, regular software updating is an important part of any organization’s cybersecurity posture. New patches and vulnerability updates are released frequently to address flaws discovered in various programs. Deploying these updates promptly helps keep your systems safe from opportunistic attackers who may try to exploit them.
Preventive maintenance vs. predictive maintenance
Preventive maintenance (PM) is a scheduled maintenance action to prevent an unexpected breakdown or malfunction. On the other hand, predictive maintenance (PdM) is a data-driven maintenance strategy that uses condition monitoring tools and techniques to foresee when equipment is likely to fail.
While PdM can be more effective than PM in some cases, Preventive maintenance is generally considered the better option for several reasons.
Budget-friendly: Preventive maintenance is less expensive than PdM because it does not require the same investment in technology and data analysis.
Less-disruptive: Preventive maintenance is less disruptive than PdM because it can be scheduled during periods of low usage.
Track record: Preventive maintenance has a proven track record of effectiveness, while PdM is still relatively new and untested.
Preventive maintenance workflow
The preventive maintenance workflow is a process that helps keep equipment and machinery functioning properly. By regularly following these steps, maintenance teams can prevent problems from developing into more serious issues.
In order to achieve this, it follows a four-step workflow.
Inspection
Any good preventive maintenance workflow should involve regular inspections. This is important for two reasons. First, it helps ensure the safety of workers who might be exposed to potential hazards. Second, it protects the property from damage caused by neglect or poor maintenance.
For example, Stony Valley, a company supplying aggregate and construction services, converted more than 20 paper forms into mobile questionnaires to streamline inspections. This move has enabled the company’s technicians to collect richer data, including photos, documents, or signatures in one app. Solutions like Resco Inspections help digitize these processes and keep maintenance routines efficient even without internet access.
Also, the reporting time has been reduced from days to minutes which is key in thorough preventive maintenance management.
Detection
Identifying problems early in the preventive maintenance process is crucial. By identifying a problem early, you can conserve both time and money on repairs later.
For instance, detecting a minor water leak promptly can prevent the need to replace drywall and flooring, while ignoring the issue might result in structural harm and mold development.
Correction
You must have heard, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Of course, some things can be unpredictable and can’t always be corrected on time. But having a well-organized and effective preventive maintenance plan in place makes you much more likely to avoid any major shutdowns or system failures.
By correcting small issues as they arise, you prevent not only the equipment but also your team from experiencing a worst-case scenario like the entire operation calls off for a long period.
Challenges
Preventive maintenance is a necessary but often overlooked aspect of facility management. While the benefits of preventive maintenance are well known, the challenges associated with it can be significant.
Here are some common challenges faced when implementing a preventive maintenance program:
No insight
Regardless of being a mechanical or electronic system, each equipment has distinct “preventive maintenance” tasks.
Without thorough documentation of the actions taken on each piece of equipment previously, it may be challenging to develop an effective preventative maintenance plan.
Moreover, lacking information on your equipment’s performance over time makes it difficult to determine if your preventative maintenance plan is truly effective.
Lack of training
One big obstacle is simply a lack of training. Things will quickly start to collapse unless everyone on the team knows what they need to do and how often they need to do it.
The mishandling of the task leads to mistakes that can potentially cause injuries or equipment damage. Furthermore, some workers may ignore safety laws and rules in order to save time, which can put them and others at risk.
Regular process
Preventive maintenance (PM) is a regular, scheduled process intended to identify and correct potential problems before they become serious. Many people consider preventive maintenance to be a one-time event, but it’s something that should be done on a regular basis in order to be most effective.
Poor planning
The main challenge of preventive maintenance is that it’s only effective if it’s planned and carried out in a consistent, structured manner. Often, the outcomes of preventive maintenance are reduced if proper planning is ignored.
This includes having the correct parts on hand, sufficient manpower to complete the tasks, and proper scheduling so that the tasks can be completed on time.
How preventive maintenance software helps
Spending time maintaining long records and tracking the history and efficiency of the equipment is not easy. But it is essential to keep your equipment running smoothly and avoid costly repairs.
Preventive Maintenance Software is the one-stop solution to enhance your equipment’s life. The software makes it easy to create and schedule work orders, monitor the machine’s performance, track your progress, and stay within your budget.
Scheduling
Scheduling work orders through software helps ensure that the work is done efficiently. It also prevents any overlap or conflict in terms of maintenance schedules.
Civtec, a company specializing in directional drilling, power, water, gas, telecommunications, and light civil works, uses digital solutions to track their jobs.
Thanks to that, company’s field technicians have access to their customer bookings in real-time when scheduled in CRM or ERP system.
Also information like type of work required, customer details, specific site instructions, or access route directions, enable them to conduct a preventive maintenance program.
Tracking
Monitoring the history of each piece of equipment helps you gain insight into when a specific component may require replacement or maintenance.
Tools such as Resco Resco Docs can automatically produce maintenance documentation and reports derived from completed work orders or inspection information. This aids in guaranteeing that no details are overlooked and that documentation remains consistent and prepared for audits.
This data can subsequently be utilized to create upcoming work orders, guaranteeing that only essential replacements or services are performed.
Streamlining
Finally, a streamlined preventive maintenance process makes it easier for everyone involved — from managers to workers — and can save your business time and cost.
Overall, preventive maintenance software provides a significant return on investment through improved efficiency and reduced downtime for equipment.
Preventive maintenance checks
Creating a preventive maintenance checklist is a wise decision, as regular inspection and servicing of your equipment can help improve its lifespan and prevent unexpected issues.
However, there’s no one-size-fits-all checklist for maintenance. But the points of a preventive maintenance checklist will vary depending on the specific needs of whatever facility or equipment you’re using.
Here are some tips on how to get started.
Inspect regularly
The first step is to make sure you inspect your equipment regularly. This will give you the insight to identify any potential problems before they arise to major damage or render the equipment unusable.
Find the equipment history
Another essential step is to discover the history of the equipment you’re working with. If it has been well-maintained in the past, chances are it will continue to function in the future too.
Prioritize the tasks
Now, it’s time to determine what tasks need to be performed to keep your facility or equipment in good working order.
Prioritize the tasks according to how often they need to be performed and how crucial they are to keeping your facility or equipment operational.
Scheduled preventive maintenance
Preventive maintenance involves a planned service appointment to clean, examine, adjust, test, and/or swap out parts and components of the machinery. It avoids premature failures and prolongs the lifespan of the machinery.
Depending on the complexity of the equipment and the associated risk of its malfunction, preventive maintenance plans can range from straightforward monthly visual checks to intricate overhauls performed quarterly.
Establishing and adhering to a routine helps guarantee that your equipment receives the necessary attention to remain effective over time.
A method for establishing a preventive maintenance plan is to utilize a tool such as CMMS software. CMMS preventive maintenance software has emerged as a vital tool for industries to monitor all the various components and systems within your facility and determine when each requires servicing or repair.
Having all the necessary information readily available makes it simple to create and adhere to a preventive maintenance plan.
How to make a preventive maintenance plan
Create a baseline
If you want to carry out preventive maintenance effectively, you need to first create a baseline. This is a record of all the maintenance that has been carried out on your equipment and systems, and it provides a reference point for future work.
To create a baseline, you need to gather information about your equipment and systems, including:
Details of the make, model, and age of each piece of equipment
- The manufacturer’s recommended servicing schedule
- A history of past servicing and repairs
- Any current problems or issues with the equipment or system
Once you have this information, you can start to plan your preventive maintenance regime.
Implement
When it comes to your PM plan, consistency is key for accurate results. Document everything you do during each maintenance activity to track your progress and ensure that all PM tasks are being completed as scheduled. Also, don’t forget to evaluate your plan regularly to identify any potential improvements or updates that may be needed.
Assess
The best way to assess your preventive maintenance is to look at the failure metrics for each asset. They provide a good indication of whether or not your plan is working.
If you see a high rate of failures, it’s likely that your preventive maintenance program isn’t doing its job. Conversely, if you see a low rate of failures, it’s probably because your preventive maintenance program is working well.
Improvise
Review your current PM schedule and make sure it makes sense for your specific operations. Are there any areas that could benefit from more frequent attention? Conversely, are there any areas where PM can be scaled back without jeopardizing safety or reliability?
Stay up-to-date on new technology and trends in preventive maintenance. There are always new techniques and products that can help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your PM.
Industries that could benefit from implementing preventive maintenance
Preventive maintenance is vital for all industries, but it is particularly crucial for those relying on heavy machinery or complex equipment. Some industries that use preventive maintenance services include:
Manufacturing
By performing regular preventive maintenance inspections and tune-ups on machines and equipment, the manufacturing industries can prevent small problems from turning into big ones. You can keep your machinery in factories and warehouses running at peak efficiency and avoid costly downtime.
With preventive maintenance services, including regular cleaning and lubricating moving parts, you can extend your machine’s life and reduce wear and tear. If there is a problem with your equipment, having a recent history of preventive maintenance on file can make diagnosing and fixing the issue easier.
Construction
Preventive maintenance can also help construction industries reduce the risk of accidents and injuries. Heavy machines like bulldozers, trucks, and cranes are less likely to break down when they’re serviced regularly, which means that workers will have fewer delays and can work more productively.
Additionally, routine checks help identify any damage early on. This doesn’t only ensure workers’ safety but allows construction projects to proceed seamlessly without any unnecessary interruptions.
Transportation
Without a doubt, preventive maintenance services help transportation sectors in numerous ways. It aids in avoiding vehicle malfunctions and engine breakdown. Additionally, preventive maintenance such as oil changes and chassis lubrication improves the vehicle’s performance and helps prevent expensive repairs later on. Moreover, it may extend the lifespan of your vehicle, ultimately saving you money over time.
Utilities
A Preventive Maintenance program is particularly crucial within the utility industry. This is due to the fact that utility companies handle essential resources, including electricity, water, and gas. If something goes wrong with the equipment, it will bring big trouble for those who will depend on these services. With regular assessments, companies can prevent catastrophic accidents and downtime by being aware of the conditions of both equipment and systems. Preventive maintenance allows for the efficiency of equipment while ensuring that critical assets remain safe and continue to be used for a number of years.
Healthcare
In the healthcare industry, where HVAC systems are mission-critical, preventative maintenance can mean the difference between life and death. Maintaining a comfortable and safe environment for patients, staff, and visitors is essential to providing quality care — simply impossible without properly functioning HVAC equipment.
By catching issues early and performing routine maintenance, healthcare organizations can save on high-value equipment repairs or replacements. Aside from financial benefits, preventive maintenance can improve patient and staff safety.
Preventive maintenance planning tools
Preventive maintenance tools are an integral part of the process, as they can help ensure that equipment is properly maintained and reduce the likelihood of failures. Many different preventive maintenance tools vary according to the nature of equipment or service, but some of the most common include:
Manuals
Preventive maintenance is a critical component of any asset-intensive organization, and manuals play an important role in these programs. Manuals assist in identifying potential problems and areas of wear and tear. By understanding how the equipment is intended to be used, operators can develop a keen eye for when something is not working as it should.
Software
Preventive maintenance tools help streamline the process by providing a standardized way to track and manage maintenance activities. Software plays a central role in these tools, providing a platform for storing and accessing data, scheduling inspections, and generating reports.
With task automation software, businesses can improve their overall efficiency and profitability.
Some of the tools that companies use to streamline preventive maintenance are:
IoT sensors and connection layers from Emerson or IBM
The advance of technology allows to use connected sensors for remote condition monitoring.
Big enterprises like Emerson, IBM, or SAP offer IoT sensors & interoperability layers for the devices to be able to communicate with digital scheduling tools and automate work order planning.
CRM and ERP software like Microsoft Dynamics 365
A lot of considerations and variables come into preventive maintenance planning.
To have an overview of asset history, technician availability, or inventory database, companies integrate CRM and ERP systems like MS Dynamics into their operations.
Wearable and ruggedized devices like RealWear or Zebra
Digital technology has become vital for managing preventive maintenance. But at the same time, it’s important for technicians to keep their hands free for actual maintenance and don’t interact with a tablet or laptop too often.
Or don’t break it on the first job.
That’s where smart headsets and rugged devices help technicians schedule, complete, and report maintenance tasks more easily.
Checklist
Preventive maintenance can be carried out by the equipment owner, operator, or maintenance staff. A checklist is usually used in preventive maintenance context. It checks that all the jobs are done and that the right jobs are being done in the right sequence and that nothing is being forgotten. Checklists are very important in ensuring that there is standardization in the preventive maintenance of the asset. Using digital forms from Resco Resco Forms, maintenance teams can design forms that are specific to a certain type of equipment or a certain type of maintenance activity to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of data collection in the field.
Some of the tasks in the checklist may include; cleaning, checking for adequate lubrication, examination of belts and pulleys, inspection for leaks and others.
If you need a head start, you can always check out the Resco Template Library, which offers a number of ready-to-use forms for inspections, safety checks, and equipment maintenance that can be easily customized to meet your team’s work processes.
Staying ahead with smart maintenance
Preventive maintenance is not merely about replacing parts before they fail; it is about designing a better, safer, and more economical way of doing business. With the right tools and a little bit of planning, maintenance is no longer a painful process, but rather a part of a long-term strategy for success. At Resco, we assist organizations in this endeavor by simplifying inspections, planning, and data collection — even in the field.