What is Preventive Maintenance? 4 Useful Types

Preventive maintenance (PM) is the routine maintenance performed on assets and equipment to keep them in good working condition and avoid unplanned, expensive downtime due to unanticipated breakdowns.

It is necessary to plan and schedule equipment maintenance before a problem for a successful maintenance strategy. Keeping track of previous inspections and equipment service is essential to an effective preventive maintenance plan.

 

What is Preventive Maintenance?

In a simpler way, we can define preventive maintenance as fixing things beforehand to avoid a breakdown in the future. 

Preventive Maintenance is the act where we perform all the scheduled maintenance activities to prevent any breakages in the future time. Now that we have defined Preventive Maintenance, let us move our discussion to some examples.

Examples of Preventive Maintenance:

Why not look at some examples of preventive maintenance for a clearer understanding of ‘What is Preventive Maintenance?’

• Every six months, a work order is made to clear the gutters (calendar-based)

• Every 5,000 miles a fleet vehicle travels, a technician is given a service order for an oil change (runtime-based)

• A shaft is shaking more than usual, according to a sensor on the equipment. The creation of a work order is directed to the inspection and potential replacement of the bearings (condition-based maintenance)

Why is Preventive Maintenance Essential?

Preventive Maintenance actions should be included in your management plan to ensure that everything functions correctly in the workplace. Machine failure can be very inconvenient, as well as expensive and time-consuming.

For the following benefits, you should use the preventive maintenance approach for your business.

• Improve the employee safety

• Avoid costly repairs in the long run

• To not alter the equipment’s operation

Requirement of Preventive Maintenance

Depending on the equipment and the task it is performing, preventive maintenance will be necessary in a specific way. The industry uses standards to help decide maintenance schedules to prevent assets from failing untimely. These recommendations will also address the nature of the required inspections or maintenance.

In an ideal world, a preventive maintenance schedule should ensure maintenance is done before something starts to break. This is to ensure that the maintenance is to be done before something has started to fail.

Following a preventive maintenance schedule necessitates the correct recording of inspections and service against an awareness of the lifespan of a specific piece of equipment. These records will aid in identifying the timing of Preventive Maintenance.

Kinds of Preventive Maintenance

Preventive Maintenance is divided into four main categories. Although they are all arranged and scheduled differently to meet various business operation needs, each is based on planned maintenance. So, let’s see the types of preventive maintenance.

1. Usage-based Preventive Maintenance

Utilizing an asset in its total capacity initiates usage-based preventive maintenance. This kind of maintenance forecasts a future inspection or maintenance task’s due date by considering an asset’s typical daily usage or exposure to environmental conditions.

2. Calendar/time-based Preventive Maintenance

This type of preventive maintenance is based on a calendar or a set amount of time. Maintenance action is initiated when the due date approaches and the required work orders have been prepared.

3. Predictive Maintenance

Before a problem occurs, corrective maintenance procedures can be scheduled. The team must first assess the equipment’s condition to estimate when maintenance should be carried out. After that, maintenance chores are planned to avoid unplanned equipment breakdowns.

4. Prescriptive Maintenance

In addition to predicting when a breakdown will occur, prescriptive maintenance can also give reasons for the causes of the failure. To reduce any danger to the operation, this sort of maintenance assists in analyzing and determining various possibilities and probable results.

How Does Preventive Maintenance Work?

The process can be streamlined by planning and accounting for every component and maintenance resource. It is quite easy to create and implement a preventive maintenance strategy.

By planning preventive maintenance, businesses can avoid expense overruns. Moreover, for a preventive maintenance workflow, a team is required to implement new maintenance procedures and the manufacturer’s recommendations.

• Managers schedule the PM program according to usage or dates on the calendar, frequently per the manufacturer’s advice.
• Teams turn off their equipment at a specific time and date. Then they use that piece of equipment to carry out the defined activities. PM programs can have time-based and breakdown triggers configured by managers.
• Alarms are set off by CMMS software to notify staff of needed maintenance.
• When equipment cannot be utilized until maintenance is performed, the software initiates a breakdown in preventive maintenance.
• Scheduled maintenance is commenced when the calendar advances to a set date with a time trigger.
• Manufacturers of forklifts, for instance, might recommend repair after 150 to 200 hours of operation, creating a time-based trigger. By carrying out this maintenance, you may be able to increase production, enhance overall efficiency, and cut maintenance expenses.

Pros of Preventive Maintenance

It is crucial to describe the advantages of a PM program and show how a Preventive Maintenance schedule will make the work of technicians, mechanics, and engineers much more manageable for the group.

Preventive Maintenance increases your likelihood of staying ahead of issues before they arise, which is undoubtedly one of its most evident advantages. Isn’t that the whole point? However, if you’re still not persuaded, here are a few particular benefits you might want to think about:

• Keeping track

Following a timetable, you can maintain your building while adhering to a budget. Additionally, you will be able to keep track of all your equipment and determine when it needs to be replaced.

• Improved Safety

Asset Maintenance reduces the risk of injury and subsequent liability lawsuits by preventing potential equipment failure.

• Greater Equipment Lifespan

By making sure that the equipment works according to the rules, you will help the asset last longer. Your kit will last less time if some parts fail, demanding costly repair or replacement.

• Improved Productivity

Poor maintenance, according to statistics, can lower a company’s output capacity by 20%. You may stop this decline in output and lessen downtime to increase efficiency and production by adhering to maintenance standards.

• Cost-saving

According to estimates, running a piece of machinery until it breaks down can cost ten times as much as routine maintenance. The cost results from unanticipated outages and maintenance. Knowing what has to be maintained allows you to plan necessary repairs or part replacements at an appropriate time. You will notice that you are spending less money over time because you won’t need to repair equipment as frequently or cope with last-minute breakdowns.

• Less risk factor

Your building and its apparatus are less likely to malfunction suddenly since they are routinely inspected. Resulting in a workplace that is safer for workers.

• Extended Equipment/building life

The lifespan of equipment is extended when it is tested and maintained to keep it in top condition. You may also increase your structure’s lifespan by regularly inspecting building components like pipelines, boilers, and roofing.

• Prevent mould and debris

You may prevent further damage to your property by detecting roof leaks early and fixing them before they lead to the growth of mould and debris.

• Energy saving

Generally speaking, if the equipment is not maintained in the finest conditions, it will use more energy, increasing your utility cost. Your equipment will save you money and energy if it is kept up properly. The energy bill can be decreased by maintaining the lighting and cooling/heating systems.

Cons of Preventive Maintenance

Although preventive maintenance is an important part of any strategy for maintenance yet there are constraints to preventive maintenance that must be considered.

• More Time Needed to Plan

A preventive maintenance strategy requires skill, time, and effort to create. This project needs committed resources, which might not always be easy.

• Hike In Costs from Excessive Maintenance

When maintenance is performed on equipment that doesn’t require it, it increases labour expenses, downtime, and part usage. The reliability of your assets may also be decreased by incorrect re-assembly, misalignment, or other faults brought on by unimportant interactions.

• Budget Constraints

The high software cost and the expense of employing outside expertise have led several smaller firms to believe that modern digital maintenance solutions are prohibitively expensive. Starting a PM program will cost more than waiting for something to break down to maintain the building and its equipment. Due to such financial concerns, some people now view preventive maintenance as a luxury rather than a need. 

• Additional Resources Required

Regular preventive maintenance may call for more personnel, supplies, and labour. Due to this requirement, some businesses will limit their preventive maintenance to only the most important, business-critical assets.

• Time-Consuming

Preventive maintenance can take time, as was already indicated. Some people may attempt to avoid performing necessary inspection and maintenance tasks since inspecting intricate equipment can be hard.

• Organizational Difficulties

Preventive maintenance planning can be challenging, especially if you have hundreds or thousands of assets to keep up. However, adopting a maintenance software application considerably reduces these challenges. A dedicated preventive maintenance tool eliminates the need for paper binders and individuals to remember what needs to be done and when.

• Over maintenance

Due to the regular plan, it is possible that products are not checked as frequently as anticipated. If this is the case, you can modify your maintenance strategy to check the particular machinery or locations less frequently while adhering to a timetable.

• More workers

Regular inspections are a must for preventive maintenance. Hence more staff are needed. In contrast to reactive maintenance, a one-time remedy only requires a phone call. Instead, this approach necessitates constant worker presence and regular work.

Challenges in Preventive Maintenance Task

The timing of inspections is a key consideration when developing a preventive maintenance schedule. Ultimately, making too little or too much maintenance wastes time, resources, and money.

Be patient and keep pushing yourself to discover the sweet spot because determining the best time for your maintenance will take some time. When you do, everything will go without a hitch.

What’s the difference between Preventive and Predictive Maintenance?

There is a tendency to think of predictive and preventive maintenance as completely different things. Sadly, this attempt to simplify the relationship by comparing preventive maintenance to predictive maintenance ignores a crucial element.

Predictive maintenance is a more refined version of its predecessor, preventive maintenance. Both types make an intentional effort to foresee and stop mechanical breakdowns. In contrast, predictive maintenance expands upon the idea.

Understanding by example:

Take a single piece of industrial machinery into consideration. Suppose we perform preventive maintenance on that equipment. In that case, we may create rough time estimates for when regular maintenance should be performed using broad knowledge about that make and model of equipment. We would be able to estimate when maintenance is necessary.

On the other hand, because predictive maintenance is much more accurate, it necessitates more data. The lifespan of that equipment model is estimated together with its performance records. With this additional information, its models can produce accurate forecasts that inform operators when system faults will occur.

Furthermore, since repairs scheduled by predictive maintenance are carried out precisely when required (rather than by a general timeline), no unneeded repairs are undertaken, which keeps maintenance budgets tighter.

In conjunction with IoT, predictive maintenance thrives. These maintenance models are now receiving the information they require to create critically important maintenance forecasts, thanks to machines constantly updating us on their actions and condition.

Comparing Preventive Maintenance to Reactive Maintenance

Timing is a key factor in distinguishing between preventive and reactive maintenance. Reactive maintenance follows the “run-to-fail” philosophy, delaying any maintenance until a piece of equipment breaks down. The necessary repair must then be made as quickly as possible.

On the other hand, preventive maintenance aims to foresee unexpected equipment failure and take appropriate measures before mechanical breakdown. If reactive maintenance weren’t so expensive as preventive maintenance, the strategy chosen—preventive maintenance or reactive maintenance—wouldn’t matter nearly as much.

Understanding by example:

Think of the analogy of car maintenance and the example of a car that doesn’t require regular maintenance only to experience a catastrophic, multi-system breakdown that requires immediate, lengthy, and costly repairs.

Preventive maintenance is usually worth it in an industrial setting because unforeseen repairs can quickly halt production and result in lost revenues, even if they entail investment in regular service operations and possibly the installation of a CMMS.

Measures of Preventive Maintenance

How to Create a Preventive Maintenance Plan?

• A successful preventative maintenance program revolves around fine-tuning the frequency of maintenance so that you only schedule work when it’s essential.
• Finding the ideal balance between performing a scheduled maintenance activity too frequently (expensive and unsafe) and insufficiently often (you’re likely to miss failures between inspections) is essential.
• Using the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) framework is an effective strategy for improving your Preventive Maintenance routine.

Step by step:

Plan: Investigate the recommended OEM guidelines, repair histories, criticality, usage patterns, and equipment failure to establish a baseline for preventive maintenance frequencies.

Do: Stick to your plan to get accurate outcomes.

Check: Evaluate the failure indicators for each asset to see if your strategy is effective.

Act: Increase the frequency of the preventive maintenance schedule if asset malfunctions between preventive maintenance tasks and decrease the frequency if no failures are found between PMs.

What is Preventive Maintenance Software?

Let’s know what preventive maintenance software is. With the help of preventive maintenance software, you may plan maintenance, notify the appropriate individuals when work is approaching its due date, and improve resource availability and allocation to complete planned activities more quickly and efficiently.

Without CMMS software or a computerized maintenance management system, Preventive planning maintenance can be extremely difficult. It’s challenging (nearly impossible) to manually collect such data because Preventive maintenance schedules are activated after a specific amount of time or use, especially if you’re working with numerous vital equipment.

As a result, you can streamline procedures that support the development of preventative maintenance. AI-driven work order software advances this analysis by sifting through thousands of preventive maintenance schedules to identify the ones to blame for breakdowns, delays, and other issues so you can address them immediately.

What are the benefits of a Preventive Maintenance Program?

Here are a few benefits:

1. The program for preventive maintenance will assist in reducing costs. A competent preventative maintenance software package will lessen expensive machine downtime, and ensure all necessary equipment and components are available before the preventive maintenance schedules are started.

2. Productivity can be raised by utilizing software for preventative maintenance. To complete PMs more quickly, better work planning and scheduling optimize crew efficiency.

3. When you have a list of chores for your maintenance plan that still needs to be finished, you may have a backlog. With preventive maintenance software, you can clear your backlog and ensure that your equipment operates at its best. 

4.  With excellent software, you can centralize your asset management, user manuals, and client data so that your technicians are never left in the dark. When you establish this immediate access to information, you improve your accuracy while simultaneously saving some of your own time. 

What should Preventive Maintenance software include?

• Preventative Maintenance Plan– Every piece of equipment should have a maintenance plan specifying all necessary inspections and preventive maintenance tasks that users can create using the software.
• Work orders – Any preventative maintenance software should have the capacity to create work orders because they are the foundation of PMs.
• Reporting capability – Good CMMS systems let users generate custom reports that help them monitor performance and identify problem areas.
• Checklists – A preventive maintenance program’s direct access to checklists makes it easier to guarantee that maintenance tasks on a piece of equipment are completed and recorded.
• A mobile application-A preventative maintenance CMMS mobile app can be a big-time saver and allow users to add images directly from the maintenance floor to PM jobs, even though it may not be a “must-have” for many businesses.

How to track Preventive Maintenance?

Keeping accurate records is crucial for the success of preventive maintenance. In the past, businesses stored this information in handwritten documents or spreadsheets. But now, companies see the advantages of doing this with a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) with preventive maintenance software.

The future of Preventive Maintenance with AI and IoT

The use of remote monitoring and analytical modelling has already led to a net decrease in the number of resources allotted to carrying out preventive maintenance chores, making it evident that these technologies will positively impact preventive maintenance in the future.

With the advent of modern AI and IoT solutions, manufacturers have had access to more specific data collecting and analysis, which has increased the reliability of their operations and products.

Asset operators may better understand the quality of the assets they are deploying into operations, generating new asset lifecycle strategies that remove underperforming assets from their operations and eventually reduce costs and downtime.

Key Takeaways

In this article, we have predominantly talked about ‘What is Preventive Measurement?’ not only this we have shared various other facets including this topic. We have also checked the pros and cons of Preventive Measurement. 

Having a preventative maintenance program that works is achievable. It is necessary from the perspective of cost reduction but involves risk. But hazards can be reduced if the right precautions are followed. Motivated, skilled staff must thoroughly plan and execute preventive maintenance to minimize risk.

Painting, lubrication, cleaning and adjusting, and minor component replacement are some of the most important parts of successful preventive maintenance programs since they help equipment and buildings last longer.

 

FAQs

What are the types of Preventive Maintenance?

Ans. The different types of Preventive Maintenance are – Predetermined Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance, Corrective Maintenance, Condition-based Maintenance, Predictive Maintenance, and Reactive Maintenance.

What are the 3 benefits of computer preventive maintenance?

Ans. The three benefits of computer preventive maintenance are as follows:

1. By installing computer preventive maintenance one can increase the productivity of the business. 
2. They can reduce IT-related costs. 
3. Ensure efficient security system in the business. 

What are PM and CM in preventive maintenance?

PM is Preventive Maintenance and CM is Corrective Maintenance.