It’s often said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, meaning it’s usually better to be proactive than reactive. Although many believe repair and maintenance are one and the same, nothing could be further from the truth. Thinking maintenance and repair are equal in terms of the value they provide can lead to big problems in the long run. Being proactive with routine maintenance means you can avoid having to react to unplanned downtime with costly repairs or replacements. Knowing when to maintain and when to repair can make a big difference in terms of your facility’s reliability and OEE. It’s also critical for achieving a high degree of maintenance maturity. Read on to learn more about the difference between maintenance and repair and why this distinction is critical to your operations.
Key differences between repair and maintenance
Maintenance is proactive, meaning it’s something you do deliberately to prevent equipment failures in the future. This can include replacing worn-out components, performing visual inspections, changing filters or giving the machine a tune up. On the other hand, repair is something you do once equipment breaks down or goes offline. When you repair something, you’re trying to restore its functionality as a reaction to it unexpectedly shutting down. Beyond the basic definitions, there are a few other differences when considering repair vs. maintenance:
- Cost: Maintaining equipment typically is the more cost-effective option, as it can prevent serious failures that cost a lot to repair.
- Downtime: Because maintenance is proactive, you can schedule it for periods when your equipment won’t be in use. Repairs, on the other hand, happen because machinery has already shut down without warning and you’re trying to get back online ASAP.
- Impact on equipment: Regularly scheduled maintenance helps prolong the lifespan of machinery, whereas repairs are performed after potentially permanent damage has already occurred.
Application | Maintenance | Repair |
Definition | Ongoing work to preserve the condition of equipment, prevent failures and extend lifespans | Corrective actions taken to restore functionality after a breakdown or equipment failure |
Approach | Proactive and preventive | Reactive |
Timing | Planned and scheduled | Unplanned, only occurs after a failure or breakdown |
Goal | Minimizing downtime and optimizing performance | Restoring basic functionality after a breakdown |
Cost impact | Reduces long-term costs by preventing major failures | Higher potential costs caused by unplanned downtime, rushed parts orders or production losses |
Risk level | Lowers the risk of catastrophic failures | Higher risk of repeated issues when root causes are not addressed |
Best suited for | Critical assets in continuous production environments | Non-critical equipment or in situations where preventive costs outweigh benefits |
What is maintenance?
Maintenance refers to any proactive steps your technicians take to prevent regular wear and tear from impacting the performance and lifespan of your equipment. Maintenance includes planned as well as condition-based activities and is critical for preserving asset health and effective lifecycle management. It’s done to prevent failures and ensure smooth operations.
Types of maintenance
- Preventive maintenance: These are scheduled tasks that are performed to reduce the risk of failure, such as lubrications and visual inspections.
- Predictive maintenance: Using data from real-time monitoring technology including vibration sensors and thermal imaging, this technique is used to predict when failures are most likely to occur and prioritize maintenance activity based on that information. Moving from a preventive approach to a mainly predictive strategy is a key element of achieving maintenance maturity within your organization.
- Condition-based maintenance: This involves responding to equipment conditions in real time based on information collected during regular inspections and from condition-based monitoring technology. Paired with predictive maintenance, this approach helps reduce the number of emergency repairs in your facility.
- Corrective maintenance: These activities are planned to respond to minor issues to prevent them from escalating into more-serious problems. Unlike corrective repairs, these maintenance tasks are not performed in response to a breakdown or failure.
Why maintenance is important
One of the key considerations in maintenance vs. repair is that it can prevent major disruptions to your operations and extend the ROI for your equipment. Keeping equipment in prime condition improves safety by reducing the risk of catastrophic failures that can put workers and assets at risk. With less downtime, your facility also becomes far more productive and profitable, as well.
What is repair?
Industrial equipment repair is defined as any reactive measures taken to fix malfunctions or breakdowns in your machinery, most often is response to unexpected failures. Unlike maintenance, which aims to keep equipment online, repairs are all about restoring functionality in the event of unplanned interruptions.
Types of repairs
- Corrective repairs: These are the kind usually performed after a piece of equipment malfunctions, such as replacing a specific component to restore optimal functionality.
- Emergency repairs: When a catastrophic failure happens unexpectedly, these costly, unplanned and urgent repairs are done to bring equipment back online as quickly as possible. These are the riskiest due to the potential for safety issues caused by broken equipment.
- Deferred repairs: Less urgent than other types, these repairs can be scheduled at a time when they would be most convenient for the technicians. However, these often come with an element of risk because smaller issues can become much more serious without proper attention.
Challenges related to repairs
One of the biggest challenges associated with waiting to address equipment problems through repairs is that they mean production effectively comes to a halt. This can add up to serious cost overruns caused by overtime and emergency part purchases in addition to the cost of the repairs themselves. Without proper planning and scheduling of maintenance management, repairs become much more frequent and urgent.
The importance of balancing repair and maintenance
Maintenance can go a long way to preventing the costliest types of repairs, but it can’t be 100% effective. Instead, it’s best to take a balanced approach that combines efficient repair protocols with various types of industrial maintenance to minimize your total downtime. Regular maintenance is important because it costs less in the long run when compared to frequent repair work. It also serves to extend the life of machines, reducing the potential for serious issues. Having an intentional strategy for maintenance means your teams don’t have to be purely reactive and can focus on maintaining critical assets for maximum productivity.
Choosing the right strategy for your facility
When developing your company’s repair and maintenance strategy, here are some of the most important factors to consider:
- Type of machinery and equipment you have and its needs
- Historical data on equipment breakdowns for anticipating required maintenance
- Integration of technology including machine health monitoring systems and conditioning monitoring sensors
- Production schedules and the importance of specific machines relating to them
- Availability of maintenance teams and repair parts
Preventing repairs can do far more for you in the long run, which is why it pays to partner with a qualified maintenance provider. ATS is a leader when it comes to providing maintenance that can improve the reliability of your machinery and reduce your repair costs. To learn more about what we can do for you using predictive maintenance tools and preventive maintenance services, reach out and speak with a member of our team today.
