What does preventive maintenance mean

Preventive maintenance is performed on a schedule, which detects and lessens the degradation of components and systems. Preventative maintenance has the aim of increasing reliability, saving costs from major failure or down time, reducing the risk of failure and extending the life of machine or facilities.

Preventive maintenance cannot assure escape from catastrophic failures and sometimes may seem to be unnecessary. Preventative maintenance includes test operations as per design, diagnosis, replacing worn out parts, measurements, lubricating, tightening and adjustments.

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Unplanned, reactive maintenance has many overhead costs that can be avoided during the planning process. The cost of unplanned maintenance includes lost production, higher costs for parts and shipping, as well as time lost responding to emergencies and diagnosing faults while equipment is not working. Unplanned maintenance typically costs three to nine times more than planned maintenance.

When you have a maintenance plan, it's easy to reduce the maintenance cost of your program. Equipment can be shut down to coincide with production downtime. Prior to the shutdown, any required parts, supplies and personnel can be gathered to minimize the time taken for a repair.

These proactive maintenance measures decrease the total cost of maintenance activities. Safety is also improved because equipment breaks down less often than in less complex strategies. This eliminates the need and cost to conduct and interpret condition monitoring data and act on the results of that interpretation.

It also eliminates the need to own and use condition monitoring equipment. Unlike reactive maintenance, preventive maintenance requires maintenance planning. Preventive maintenance planning requires an investment in time and resources that is not required with less complex maintenance strategies.

Maintenance may occur too often with a preventive maintenance program. Unless, and until the maintenance frequencies are optimized for minimum maintenance, too much or too little preventive maintenance will occur. This frequency can be lowered, without sacrificing reliability when condition monitoring and analysis are used.

The decrease in maintenance frequency is offset by the additional costs associated with conducting condition monitoring. Preventive maintenance software enables you to schedule maintenance, send alerts to the right people when a job is due, and increase resource access and allocation that make planned tasks quicker and more effective.

As a result, you're able to streamline processes that help preventive maintenance flourish. Preventive maintenance software comes in all shapes and sizes, from extremely specialized systems to giant platforms connecting maintenance to other business units. Below are the most common types of preventive maintenance software. CMMS software and maintenance apps help maintenance teams keep detailed and centralized records of all assets, equipment, and completed work.

A CMMS allows facilities to plan, track, and optimize work order, inventory and everything else associated with maintenance. A CMMS manages all the maintenance activities that take place during the operational part of an asset's life. At the same time, this type of preventive maintenance software works as a productive part of a facility.

For a closer look into the differences between the two types of CMMS, and the pros and cons of each system, download our comprehensive ebook here. EAM software provides a holistic view of an organization's physical assets and infrastructure throughout its entire lifecycle, from design and procurement, to operation, maintenance, disposal, and replacement. EAM systems record asset information, manage work orders, coordinate inventory purchasing and usage, organize labour, track contracts, measure costs and spending, and calculate KPIs.

Here's how ERP software works: every company has different business units that make it function, like accounting, human resources, and maintenance. ERP software takes everything these different departments do and connects them, so the entire organization has the same processes and information.

Because there is one, central place for all data, it means an accountant, a salesperson, a maintenance technician, and a CEO can all use the system for their day-to-day activities while relying on the same information to plan, assess, and complete those activities. If by any chance you spot an inappropriate image within your search results please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.

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