Equipment longevity and productivity are among the most effective ways to improve operating margins and costs. Preventive maintenance is a practical, widely used approach for supporting these goals by establishing consistent maintenance routines.
So, what is preventive maintenance?
Preventive maintenance is a series of planned, recurring inspections and maintenance tasks designed to help keep equipment operating as intended, identify signs of wear and support reliable day-to-day operation. Rather than waiting until equipment requires an unplanned repair, preventive maintenance gives teams a structured way to perform routine work based on time, usage, risk, and other established criteria.
While no maintenance strategy can eliminate equipment failures, a well-planned preventive maintenance program can help teams identify certain developing conditions, address normal wear and organize maintenance activities more effectively.
It is also important to understand where preventive maintenance fits within a broader maintenance strategy. Preventive maintenance is not necessarily the right approach for every asset or every maintenance task.
What preventive maintenance strategies will work best for your organization will depend on your facility’s equipment criticality, operating conditions and available machine data. Many facilities run preventive, predictive, condition-based, reactive, and other maintenance approaches side by side, matching the method to how each asset actually fails. The sections below walk through the types of preventive maintenance, how to decide which assets warrant it and how to measure whether a program is working.
Types of preventive maintenance
Broadly speaking, preventive maintenance refers to regularly scheduled checkups and tasks that keep equipment in good working order. To understand what this approach entails and how it is executed, it’s important to know the various types of preventive maintenance.
The below strategies and approaches can all play a role in a comprehensive preventive maintenance plan:
- Calendar-based maintenance: A calendar-based maintenance approach calls for regularly scheduled maintenance checks and tasks based on an interval of time, such as daily, weekly or monthly. These types of tasks can generally be carried out visually or through a quick test, and may include oil checks and replacement, light cleaning, belt inspection, moving component inspection, and many more.
- Use-based maintenance: Use-based maintenance is similar to calendar-based maintenance, except that it occurs based on equipment usage metrics, such as a certain number of cycles or operational hours. These tasks would generally be similar to those for calendar-based maintenance: checking consumables and moving parts for wear and potential replacement.
- Failure-finding maintenance: Failure-finding maintenance involves regular checks of systems such as alarms, backups and fail safes: systems and parts that cannot be visually inspected, but which are nevertheless critical to continued operations. These types of tasks may include backup generator checks, electric system checks, alarm checks and more. Frequently, these tasks will involve a test or diagnostic process to confirm that the system is online and operating as intended.
- Risk-based maintenance: Risk-based maintenance is based upon an assessment of component criticality: components and equipment that would have the largest impact on production if they were to fail are checked and maintained more frequently. The maintenance checklist for these high-priority components may also be more in depth than for lower-criticality components.
How to choose among the types of preventive maintenance
There is no single preventive maintenance schedule that works equally well for every facility. How to choose an approach starts with understanding how each asset is used, how critical it is to operations and what information is available about its condition.
For example, calendar-based maintenance may work best for tasks that need to occur at relatively predictable intervals regardless of production volume. Use-based maintenance may be more appropriate when wear is closely connected to operating hours, production cycles or another measurable usage factor. Risk-based maintenance can help teams devote more attention to assets whose failure would have a greater effect on safety, quality or production.
Maintenance teams should also consider whether the initial schedule remains appropriate over time. If technicians repeatedly inspect a component and find that it remains well within acceptable limits, the maintenance interval may warrant review. Conversely, recurring findings of excessive wear or deterioration may indicate that the frequency, task instructions, operating conditions or underlying cause should be evaluated.
Treat preventive maintenance schedules as working maintenance plans rather than permanent, unchangeable rules. Manufacturer recommendations provide an important starting point, while maintenance history, technician observations, asset criticality and operating data can help teams refine the program.
Not sure which preventive maintenance approach fits a particular asset at your facility? Talk to an ATS expert to discuss the equipment, operating environment and maintenance priorities involved.
When to utilize preventive maintenance
Although preventive maintenance can be extremely helpful for keeping your operations running as smoothly as possible, it may not be necessary in all cases. In general, it’s always a good idea to refer to the manufacturer’s guidelines when establishing any maintenance schedule. This will depend a great deal on the type of equipment you use and what you need it to do.
As a rule of thumb, however, assets that benefit the most from this approach are those that are critical to efficient operation as well as those that are required from a health and safety standpoint. Assets with predictable wear patterns and maintenance requirements are also common candidates for preventive maintenance.
This distinction matters because not every equipment failure can be addressed through scheduled maintenance. Some failures occur randomly, develop too quickly to be captured during routine inspections or have causes unrelated to maintenance frequency.
Maintenance teams can consider questions such as:
- Does the asset have components with known service intervals?
- Are there observable signs of wear?
- Does the manufacturer prescribe recurring inspections?
- Does maintenance history reveal repeatable patterns?
- What are the operational consequences if the asset becomes unavailable?
On the other hand, equipment that does not serve critical functions or is prone to failures that are not related to maintenance may not benefit from the same level of preventive attention. Other assets that may not be strong candidates for extensive preventive maintenance include those for which routine maintenance costs could substantially exceed the cost and operational impact of replacement.
Run-to-failure strategies, for example, can sometimes be appropriate for inexpensive, non-critical assets when failure poses little safety, production or quality risk. Meanwhile, critical machinery may justify a combination of preventive maintenance and more advanced condition-monitoring techniques. Once you evaluate which categories your machines fit into, you’ll have a much better idea of how you can deploy a preventive maintenance schedule to its best effect.
Preventive maintenance vs. predictive maintenance
Another part of deciding what works best is understanding the difference between preventive and predictive maintenance. Preventive maintenance generally schedules work according to predetermined criteria such as elapsed time or equipment usage. Predictive maintenance uses equipment-condition data and analytics to help determine when attention may be needed.
Technologies such as vibration monitoring, thermal imaging, oil analysis and connected sensors can provide information about equipment condition. Where sufficient data and resources are available, predictive methods may complement traditional preventive maintenance by giving teams additional information for prioritizing maintenance work.
This does not mean every preventive task should become predictive. Routine lubrication, cleaning, inspections, safety checks and manufacturer-required service may remain appropriate on a defined schedule. The objective is to match the maintenance method to the asset and its failure modes rather than apply one approach across every machine.
The benefits of preventive maintenance
Even with an in-depth understanding of PM, you may still ask, “What is the purpose of preventive maintenance?” While we know that the immediate purpose is to keep equipment in good working order, in this section, we will examine the core “whys” of engaging in preventive maintenance: to achieve operational and organizational benefits.
The potential advantages of preventive maintenance include:
- More manageable maintenance costs: Planned maintenance can give facilities greater visibility into labor, parts and scheduled downtime requirements. Routine inspections may also reveal developing conditions that can be evaluated before they turn into more extensive maintenance work. The actual cost impact will depend on the equipment, preventive maintenance frequency, labor requirements, and whether the tasks being performed are appropriate for the asset.
- More consistent productivity: When equipment is kept in top working condition, it operates more consistently and predictably, and is better able to produce the intended output. Equipment that is allowed to languish without regular inspection and replacement of components, such as belts, pumps and gear, is more likely to operate out of spec, producing defective parts that require rework or rejection.
- Prevention of damage to equipment: Nearly every preventive maintenance checklist will include light cleaning and inspection and removal of debris from the equipment and the surrounding area. These relatively simple tasks can help address conditions that may contribute to premature wear or damage. For example, contamination, insufficient lubrication or debris accumulation can affect component condition and equipment performance.
- A structured way to take a proactive approach: Preventive maintenance moves selected maintenance activities into a planned workflow rather than relying exclusively on responses to breakdowns. Even a basic program of inspections, cleaning, lubrication, and appropriate component replacement can provide maintenance teams with greater structure and visibility.
- Better maintenance planning: When tasks are known in advance, planners can coordinate technician availability, spare parts, production schedules, and equipment access. This can make it easier to group related work and schedule maintenance during appropriate production windows.
- More useful equipment history: Documented preventive maintenance work creates a record of inspections, measurements, replaced parts, and technician findings. Over time, that information can help maintenance teams recognize patterns, review maintenance intervals and make more informed decisions about individual assets.
- Support for safety and quality requirements: Certain inspections, calibrations, tests and service tasks may be tied to safety procedures, quality requirements or manufacturer specifications. A documented preventive maintenance process can help facilities organize and track those recurring responsibilities.
These benefits are not automatic. An overly aggressive preventive maintenance schedule can create unnecessary labor and parts costs, while a schedule that is too infrequent may not provide the desired level of maintenance coverage. What works best is a program that is reviewed against actual asset performance and adjusted when evidence indicates a change is appropriate.
All too often, facilities allow preventive maintenance to fall by the wayside due to the perception that there is not enough time or that the resources are not available. However, the decision should be based on the relative risk, cost and maintenance requirements of each asset rather than treating all equipment the same.
How to build an effective preventive maintenance program
Answering what is preventive maintenance is only the first step. The next question is how to translate the concept into a practical program that technicians can consistently execute.
1. Build an accurate asset inventory
Start by identifying the assets that may require planned maintenance. Record information such as equipment type, manufacturer, model, location, age, operating requirements, and available service documentation. An accurate asset list creates the foundation for prioritizing maintenance activities.
2. Review manufacturer recommendations
OEM documentation can provide initial guidance on inspections, lubrication, adjustments, calibration, and replacement intervals. These recommendations are an important reference point, particularly when a facility has limited maintenance history for an asset.
3. Determine asset criticality
Not every machine deserves the same level of attention. Consider the impact that an asset’s loss would have on production, safety, quality, and downstream operations. A machine that creates a production bottleneck may justify a different maintenance approach than an inexpensive auxiliary component with an available replacement.
4. Identify relevant failure modes
Review how equipment has historically degraded or failed. Bearings may experience lubrication-related wear, belts may lose tension, filters may become restricted and electrical connections may loosen. Understanding realistic failure modes helps teams choose maintenance tasks that have a clear purpose rather than simply adding work to a checklist.
5. Establish tasks and intervals
Create clear instructions describing what technicians should inspect, measure, clean, lubricate, adjust, or replace. Set an initial frequency based on OEM recommendations, maintenance records, usage, and operating conditions.
6. Document the work
A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) can help organize asset histories, preventive maintenance schedules and work orders. Consistent documentation allows teams to see what work was performed, what technicians found and how equipment responded over time.
7. Review and refine the program
A preventive maintenance schedule should evolve as the facility collects more information. Review findings such as repeated component replacements, emergency work orders, preventive maintenance completion rates, equipment failures, and technician feedback. If a task consistently produces little useful information or is performed earlier than necessary, the frequency may need adjustment. If recurring issues continue between scheduled tasks, the maintenance method or underlying cause may warrant further investigation. The objective is not simply to complete more preventive maintenance. It is to perform the right maintenance, on the right assets, at an appropriate interval.
Need another perspective on your current preventive maintenance structure? Talk to an ATS expert about how maintenance intervals and tasks can be evaluated against your facility’s operating conditions.
Preventive maintenance examples
There are numerous tasks that can be considered preventive maintenance depending on the type of equipment and its needs. This means practically any type of task may fall into this category, depending on the circumstances and requirements. However, there are a few examples of preventive maintenance applications that are more common than others. These include regular cleaning of components to remove dust, grease and other potential contaminants that could affect equipment condition or performance over time.
Other examples include replacing any components or parts according to defined service criteria or when inspections indicate that wear has reached an established threshold. Rather than assuming every part should be replaced at the same interval, maintenance teams can use manufacturer guidance, equipment history and technician observations to help determine an appropriate approach.
Frequent lubrication is another core element of preventive maintenance, particularly for components with defined lubrication requirements. Correct lubricant selection, quantity and application intervals are important because both inadequate and excessive lubrication can contribute to equipment problems.
Additional preventive maintenance examples can include:
- Inspecting belts for wear, tension and alignment.
- Checking fluid levels and replacing fluids according to appropriate service intervals.
- Cleaning or replacing filters.
- Inspecting electrical connections and components.
- Testing alarms, interlocks and backup systems.
- Checking guards and other safety-related equipment.
- Calibrating instruments and measurement devices.
- Inspecting hoses, seals and fittings for deterioration or leakage.
- Checking fasteners and mechanical connections.
- Reviewing operating temperatures, pressures or other specified readings.
- Performing scheduled cleaning where contamination can affect equipment performance.
In some cases, completely overhauling a system can be considered preventive maintenance. This is especially true for systems that see high-intensity use because the stresses they experience can add up quickly in a short period of time.
However, an overhaul should be based on the asset’s condition, service requirements, operating history and risk rather than being treated as a universal preventive maintenance requirement. In some applications, condition monitoring or predictive techniques may provide additional information that helps teams determine whether extensive work is warranted.
These are just a few examples of maintenance work that can be considered preventive. Your facility’s schedule will depend on your specific use cases and setup.
How to measure preventive maintenance performance
Once a program is operating, measurement can help determine whether maintenance resources are being used appropriately. The most useful metrics will vary by facility, but several indicators can provide helpful context. Preventive maintenance compliance measures how much scheduled preventive work is completed within the expected time frame. A low completion rate may indicate scheduling, staffing, parts availability, or production-access challenges. However, completion rate alone does not indicate whether the tasks themselves are effective.
Facilities can also review the ratio of planned to unplanned work, maintenance labor hours, recurring failure patterns, maintenance costs by asset, and work identified through preventive maintenance inspections. Mean time between failures (MTBF) and equipment availability may provide additional context for certain assets, although these measures should be interpreted alongside production conditions and equipment usage.
One particularly useful question is whether a Preventive maintenance task produces actionable information. If technicians repeatedly complete a task without finding meaningful changes, it may be worth reviewing the interval or procedure. If the same equipment failures continue to occur despite routine Preventive maintenance work, teams should examine whether the relevant failure mode can actually be addressed through scheduled maintenance or whether another strategy is needed.
Who benefits from preventive maintenance?
Any facility or industry with production machinery can benefit from preventive maintenance. The extent and type of benefit will vary depending on equipment criticality, operating environment, maintenance maturity, and production requirements.
Some specific industries that can particularly benefit from preventive maintenance include:
The specific types of preventive maintenance used in these environments may look very different. A pharmaceutical facility may place particular emphasis on calibration and documented maintenance requirements, while a heavy-equipment operation may focus more heavily on lubrication, mechanical inspection and usage-based service. A high-volume manufacturing line may combine scheduled PM with machine-condition data to better understand when critical assets require attention.
Which options will work best depends on your facility’s equipment types, environment, workflows, failure risk, production demands, and available maintenance resources.
Putting preventive maintenance into practice
A useful preventive maintenance program is not simply a calendar filled with recurring work orders. It is a structured process for deciding which assets require planned attention, what technicians should do, when the work should occur, and how results should be documented and reviewed.
What is recommended for one facility may not make sense for another. The starting point should be the equipment itself: manufacturer requirements, known failure modes, operating environment, usage patterns, asset criticality, and maintenance history. From there, teams can select appropriate maintenance tasks and continue refining them as more information becomes available.
ATS supports manufacturers with preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance and broader industrial maintenance services. If you are considering how to choose the right maintenance approach for your equipment, talk to an ATS expert about your maintenance priorities and current program.
