How to Develop a World-Class Preventive Maintenance Program

What makes an organization world class? 

It’s a question most executives ask themselves when scaling a company beyond their own backyards. 

While no team scales a business with the intention of being mediocre, few organizations ever truly reach their full potential. However, the world’s most successful companies have a few things in common: 

• They understand their ideal customers.
• They quickly adapt to changing situations. 
• They focus on consistent quality over quick gains. 
• They avoid unnecessary complexity in favor of doing what works.  
• They treat their team members with care, respect, and appreciation.

Additionally, they also focus on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that decrease costs, increase efficiency, and decrease downtime. Within many industries, those  KPIs have a lot to do with conducting preventive maintenance (PM) on the assets responsible for consistently producing deliverables. 

Preventive Maintenance is planned maintenance conducted to prolong the lifespan of equipment, reduce unnecessary outsourcing, and conserve company resources. Maintenance experts suggest that world-class companies follow the 80/20 rule, meaning technicians spend 80 percent of their time on PM and 20 percent of their time on unplanned repairs. 

They also aim to spend no more than 80 percent of their maintenance time/budget on no more than 20 percent of their equipment. Studies show companies can save an average of 12 to 18 percent in costs by running organized PM programs, with savings for those switching from complete reactive mode coming in even higher. 

In this article, we’ll break down the basics of implementing an effective preventive maintenance program in five easy steps. 

Let’s get started: 

 

5 Steps to Creating a World-Class Preventive Maintenance Program 

 

1. Identify your most critical assets

It’s important to recognize that many assets don’t require any preventive maintenance at all. In cases where PM costs exceed reactive maintenance, you need not worry about limited downtime. 

However, you should assign a preventive maintenance schedule to all pieces of equipment that directly impact output. If you’re a maintenance newbie, or someone who already has a full plate, consider prioritizing your most critical assets to begin. Not only will this provide a calmer transitional period, but it can also provide a faster ROI (that can be used when approaching executive leadership with larger preventive maintenance proposals). 

Here are some questions to help you determine which assets to prioritize: 

• Which machines are most important to organizational success?
• Is routine maintenance required for this piece of equipment?
• What are the manufacturer’s guidelines for this asset? 
• Are the repair and replacement costs high?

Select the assets that both require regular maintenance AND command higher replacement/repair costs. Scheduling planned maintenance for these items will deliver the fastest and best ROI for your company. Additionally, don’t choose any assets that will soon need to be replaced.  

 

2. Catalog assets

Next, create a PM asset inventory. 

Walk through your facility, tagging all assets that will be included. Record the following information for each asset to be included in your beta PM plan: 

 

• Make and model
• Serial number
• Category 
• Basic capabilities
• Asset number/brass tag number/unit number
• Asset location
• Associated departments
• High cost asset parts

Though it may seem tedious, creating an asset inventory is integral to tracking costs down the line. You will be able to better determine whether preventive maintenance vs. reactive maintenance is more cost-effective. 

 

3. Determine maintenance intervals 

Once you’ve gathered information on your most critical assets, it’s time to construct a preventative maintenance plan that produces high ROI. Begin by listing the specific maintenance tasks to be performed on each asset, in addition to the frequency of those tasks. You can find that information by taking the following measures: 

 

• Consult the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) recommendations: Equipment manufacturers have tons of asset data from both in-house testing and consumer field tests. As such, they make maintenance recommendations based on these metrics. Your OEMs will contain necessary maintenance schedules, information on critical spare parts, and basic repair instructions.  

 

• Review your maintenance logs: Chances are your organization already has some type of maintenance record in place, whether that be within an Excel spreadsheet, a whiteboard, or a binder. Use past failure records to inform preventive maintenance schedules. 

 

• Talk with your maintenance technicians: Finally, speak with the technicians who work with the equipment day in and day out. You might be surprised to learn how they improvised past solutions, struggled to obtain certain components, or prevented equipment failure on assets. 

 

The more customized information you acquire, the more effective your preventive maintenance plan will become. 

 

4. Enter your beta PM plan into CMMS

You now have a list of suggested preventive maintenance tasks and a general idea of how often to perform those tasks. Remember, inspects should be conducted frequently enough to identify small issues before they become big breakdowns. 

A commonly suggested guideline is to divide the average asset failure development period in half to obtain your ideal inspection frequency. 

Take bearings, for example. Let’s assume your mixer’s bearings last 2 weeks from the time of initial wear. In this instance, you should schedule a weekly inspection to avoid complete equipment stoppages. 

Finally, create preventive maintenance work orders using a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). Here you can assign tasks to specific technicians, set recurring work orders, and include task priority levels. 

Have questions about how to choose the best CMMS for your organization? Check out this article to learn why the best digital maintenance platforms are the ones that, actually, get used! 

 

5. Perform maintenance as scheduled 

Lastly, don’t underestimate the importance of staying on schedule—failing to complete PMs on time, or at least within a couple days, can result in extra wear and tear. Additionally, the more accurate your maintenance log data, the more cost-effective decision you can make on when to schedule maintenance in the future. 

Once your team feels comfortable performing preventive maintenance on your critical assets, begin to catalog and include more pieces in the calendar. A good CMMS system can generate cost analysis reports to identify unseen opportunities for savings. Remember, your long-term operating procedure will likely be revised many times throughout your first year. The more asset repair information you track, the more fine-tuned your PM schedules will become. 

Most importantly, when in doubt: Keep it SIMPLE!