A robust preventive maintenance (PM) program ensures operational efficiency and safety while extending the lifespan of critical assets. By adopting a systematic approach to maintenance, organizations can minimize downtime, reduce costs, and improve overall productivity. But not all PM programs are created equal, and modern maintenance departments need systematic processes for implementing, running, and improving their PM inspections and tasks.
What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) for a preventive maintenance program?
Before the maintenance team can improve the PM schedule, they need to track it. And because a PM program touches so many different aspects of operations and maintenance, there are many different related maintenance metrics and KPIs, including:
- Mean time between failures (MTBF): Average time between system breakdowns
- Planned maintenance percentage (PMP): Percentage of maintenance tasks that are planned versus reactive
- Preventive maintenance compliance (PMC): Percentage of preventive maintenance tasks completed on time
- Equipment downtime: Total time equipment is out of service due to maintenance or failures
- Maintenance cost per unit: Cost of maintenance per piece of equipment or per square foot
- Inventory accuracy: Accuracy of maintenance inventory levels
- Emergency work orders: Number of unplanned or emergency work orders
- Mean time to repair (MTTR): Average time taken to repair equipment
- Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE): Efficiency and effectiveness of equipment
- Schedule compliance: Overall adherence to the preventive maintenance schedule
There are also some more general signs of a poorly performing PM program.
Steady maintenance costs
One of the easiest ways to see how well your PM program is working is to look at your costs before and after implementation. Look specifically at pre- and post-implementation numbers for labor and unscheduled maintenance. If you don’t see a general decrease, it may mean your PM program isn’t delivering what it should.
Steady downtime numbers
Ideally, an efficient preventive maintenance plan should reduce the amount of unplanned work to less than 20% of the total. If there’s no change in the amount of unscheduled downtime, your preventive maintenance plan isn’t working the way it should. You can also look at other costs associated with unscheduled downtime. For example, overtime hours for company technicians and emergency calls to third-party vendors. If these numbers are also not decreasing, your program isn’t working.
Disorganized inventory management
Proper inventory management boosts profits by minimizing costs through optimized resource consumption. Inventory management means having the right stock, at the right time, at the right cost. If you find yourself always short of the parts and materials you need and it’s costing you a lot in express shipping, your PM program isn’t working for you.
How can the maintenance department fix a preventive maintenance program?
Because not every program suffers from the same set of problems, not every solution can help. In the end, which of these will work for you depends on why you’re having problems in the first place. You might need to implement only a few changes. But even if there’s more than a few, it’s worth investing the time and budget into getting everything set up properly. An effective PM program delivers a strong ROI, taking a huge weight off the maintenance department’s collective shoulders.
Take the time to implement the program properly
A PM program is only as effective as its implementation. A simple analogy: What do you need to grow the perfect crop? Is it just seeds? That’s an important part of it, but you’ll also need water and fertilizer — and the time, knowledge, and patience to combine them properly.
So, what are the ingredients for a successful implementation? They’re the same: time, knowledge, and patience.
First, make sure you allow enough time. Things aren’t going to happen overnight. You and your team will need to give yourselves enough time and resources to implement a modern asset and facility management solution and then set up and schedule the PMs.
Second, make sure you have the right knowledge. An enterprise-level technology partner can walk you through the necessary steps to ensure everything is done properly. They should have lots of experience, which means they can help you avoid all the common pitfalls.
Set up PMs based on criticality, age, and work order history
Every asset has an important role to play, but some are more important than others, and you need to organize your PMs accordingly.
Asset criticality is a measure of the importance or significance of an asset or piece of equipment to an organization’s operations. It helps maintenance departments prioritize resources and attention, ensuring that the most crucial assets are maintained and repaired first. To determine asset criticality, maintenance departments can follow a structured process.
First, identify all assets and their functions within the organization. Then, evaluate each asset based on several factors, including:
- Impact on production or operations
- Effects of its failure
- Cost of repair or replacement
- Risks, like safety or environmental risk
Assign a score to each factor and calculate an overall criticality score for each asset.
By ranking assets based on their importance, maintenance departments can create a hierarchy of importance, helping them allocate resources more efficiently, plan maintenance schedules more efficiently, and reduce downtime for the most important assets. Regularly reviewing and updating asset criticality ensures that the maintenance strategy remains aligned with the organization’s goals and operational needs.
But criticality isn’t the only metric. You also need to look at things like age and maintenance and repairs histories. The older a machine is, the more you have to look after it. And assets that have given you problems in the past, they also need more PMs.
Automate the capture of associated data
Remember, the power of the PM program comes from its ability to leverage data. So, you need to ensure it’s being regularly updated and that all the data related to maintenance gets into the system. You need to feed the program lots of data so it can produce the right schedules. For example, how do you know when to change the oil in your car? You’re only guessing unless you know:
- Current mileage and the mileage at the last oil change
- Manufacturer’s recommendations for when to change the oil
- Engine work, both maintenance and repairs, that might affect the oil
Once the PM program is in place, you’ll want to keep checking at regular intervals that the department is capturing the right data. Modern platforms automate much of the process, eliminating the risk of human error.
Keep fine-tuning the PM program as you go along
Fine-tuning a preventive maintenance program over time helps ensure its continued effectiveness and alignment with evolving organizational needs. As operations, equipment, and priorities change, so should the maintenance strategies that support them. Regularly reviewing and adjusting the program helps optimize resource allocation, minimize downtime, and extend the lifespan of assets.
One key aspect of fine-tuning is updating the maintenance schedule based on asset performance data. For instance, if a particular machine is failing more frequently than anticipated, it may be necessary to increase the frequency of its preventive maintenance tasks. But if an asset shows minimal wear and tear, the interval between maintenance tasks can be extended, freeing up resources for more critical areas.
Consider a manufacturing plant with a conveyor belt system. Initially, the preventive maintenance program might schedule quarterly inspections and lubrication. However, after a year of operation, data analysis reveals that the belts are wearing out faster than expected, leading to increased downtime. By fine-tuning the program to include monthly inspections and more frequent lubrication, the plant can reduce unplanned stoppages and improve overall productivity.
And incorporating new technologies and best practices can improve the preventive maintenance program. For example, integrating IoT sensors to monitor equipment in real-time can provide early warnings of potential failures, enabling proactive maintenance.
Update all the manuals related to assets and equipment
Adding digital manuals and warranties integrated to a preventive maintenance management platform delivers significant value to maintenance teams. First, it centralizes all critical information, making it easily accessible from anywhere at any time, eliminating the need for physical documents that can be misplaced or damaged and ensuring that technicians always have the most up-to-date information.
And integrating these documents into the platform allows for better tracking and reporting. Maintenance activities can be linked directly to the relevant manuals and warranties, providing a comprehensive history of each asset’s maintenance and any warranty-related repairs. This not only simplifies audits and compliance but also helps with identifying trends and optimizing maintenance strategies.
Train the maintenance technicians
Training maintenance technicians is essential for the success of a preventive maintenance program. Well-trained technicians ensure that maintenance tasks are performed accurately and efficiently, reducing downtime and extending the lifespan of assets.
Training equips technicians with the knowledge and skills to perform diverse maintenance tasks. It helps them understand the specific needs of each asset, follow best practices, and use tools and equipment safely and correctly. This leads to higher-quality work and fewer errors, which can prevent equipment failures and costly repairs.
And training keeps technicians up to date with the latest technologies and industry standards. As maintenance practices evolve, continuous learning ensures that the team remains competent and capable of handling new challenges.
To implement effective training:
- Assess skill gaps: Evaluate the current skills and knowledge of your technicians to identify areas where training is needed most.
- Tailor training programs: Develop or source training programs that are specific to the assets and equipment in your facility. Generic training may not cover the unique aspects of your maintenance needs.
- Use multiple training methods: Combine classroom training with hands-on workshops, online courses, and on-the-job training to cater to different learning styles.
- Regular refresher courses: Schedule periodic refresher courses to reinforce learning and update technicians on any changes in procedures or technologies.
- Mentorship programs: Pair new technicians with experienced ones to facilitate knowledge sharing and practical learning.
- Track progress: Monitor the effectiveness of training through assessments and performance metrics. Adjust training programs as needed to ensure they are meeting the desired outcomes.
By investing in comprehensive and ongoing training, you can build a skilled and confident maintenance team that’s well-prepared to execute a successful preventive maintenance program.
The key to successful training is implementing systems to ensure they don’t lose hard-won maintenance know-how. Implementing a digital maintenance platform offers significant value in preserving tribal knowledge and facilitating knowledge transfer, especially for maintenance departments managing multiple facilities.
First, a digital platform centralizes maintenance data and history, capturing the expertise and experiences of veteran technicians, ensuring that valuable insights and best practices are not lost with staff turnover or retirement. By documenting procedures, checklists, and troubleshooting guides, the platform retains institutional knowledge, making it accessible to all technicians across different sites.
Second, the platform enables standardization of maintenance processes. With a unified system, all facilities adhere to the same protocols, enhancing consistency and efficiency, which is particularly beneficial for multi-site operations, where disparate practices can lead to inconsistencies and inefficiencies that directly affect your ability to leverage data captured through the PM program.
How can a maintenance department improve a PM program?
Improving a preventive maintenance program involves a multifaceted approach that includes tracking and analyzing key performance indicators, assessing asset criticality, making data-driven decisions, and fine-tuning maintenance schedules.
The integration of new technologies such as IoT sensors, updating manuals and documentation digitally, and enhancing training for maintenance technicians are also important. By focusing on these areas, maintenance departments can significantly improve the effectiveness of their preventive maintenance programs, leading to improved reliability, cost-efficiency, and asset longevity.
By Jonathan Davis
Jonathan writes about asset management, maintenance software, and SaaS solutions in his role as a digital content creator at Eptura. He covers trends across industries, including fleet, manufacturing, healthcare, and hospitality, with a focus on delivering thought leadership with actionable insights. Earlier in his career, he wrote textbooks, edited NPC dialogue for video games, and taught English as a foreign language. He holds a master's degree in journalism.
