With so many types of maintenance available, how do you choose the right maintenance strategy or strategies for your organization? What’s the best approach, and why does it matter?
Selecting the right maintenance system helps you perform the right maintenance activities at the best time, optimizing maintenance efficiency and budget. So, in this article, we’ll define maintenance strategies, explain the 4 different types of maintenance (including examples), and help you choose the right maintenance types for your operation.
What Is a Maintenance Strategy?
A maintenance strategy outlines systematic approaches businesses adopt to minimize operational downtime, control maintenance expenditures, and optimize production efficiency. Companies can mitigate disruptions, curtail costs, and uphold optimal operational performance levels within their facilities by meticulously scheduling inspections, preventive maintenance tasks, and predictive analytics.
A comprehensive maintenance strategy is a proactive decision-making framework for managing and optimizing asset health and performance. Over the past decade, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology has transformed maintenance principles, enabling organizations to install smart devices that monitor the manufacturing floor. The following blog post shares the four primary maintenance strategies in use today, along with their advantages and disadvantages.
What Are the 4 Types of Maintenance Strategies?
The main maintenance strategies include reactive maintenance (RM), preventive maintenance (PM), predictive maintenance (PdM), and reliability-centered maintenance (RCM). Businesses can proactively manage assets, minimize downtime, and optimize maintenance costs by strategically balancing these strategies.
Organizations implement various maintenance strategies to uphold operational efficiency and asset reliability. These approaches typically include reactive maintenance strategies along with a balance of the three main proactive strategies (preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance, and reliability-centered maintenance).
Let’s explore the four types of industrial maintenance strategies in more detail.
Reactive Maintenance (RM)
Reactive maintenance strategies, including run-to-failure or corrective maintenance, involve sending a team to repair assets only after they fail. When production halts, the plant supervisor will utilize available resources to coordinate a work order. A reactive maintenance strategy may be used as a cost-cutting approach, as other maintenance methods may seem expensive or out of reach for cash-strapped operations.
However, reactive maintenance is not a practical long-term solution for repairable assets. If a critical failure occurs, it could cause unnecessary production delays. The resulting production time losses may cost more than a proactive maintenance strategy would have.
Despite its shortcomings, a reactive maintenance strategy is justified for replacing unrepairable items, which should be employed on non-essential or low-cost equipment. However, overreliance on unplanned corrective maintenance for unexpected breakdowns can increase equipment downtime.
Example of Reactive Maintenance
An unexpected equipment failure causes a hazardous leak in a chemical manufacturing plant. To resume production, an emergency response team must clean up the spill. But first, the asset requires emergency maintenance, leading to unplanned downtime, major repairs, or even total replacement.
Benefits of Reactive Maintenance
In some cases, more frequent maintenance leads to unnecessary maintenance tasks, such as replacing parts with sufficient usable life left.
But operations with relatively few maintenance resources can keep headcount low and realize cost savings by relying on breakdown maintenance. Without routine inspections, urgent maintenance teams only work when equipment fails.
Cost of Reactive Maintenance
Initially, reactive maintenance can reduce overall maintenance costs. But over time, the cost of unplanned maintenance adds up.
Unexpected breakdowns may take longer to repair, incur higher costs, and increase the likelihood of needing to replace parts or decommission assets due to catastrophic failures.
For these reasons, the potential cost savings of reactive maintenance may diminish over time. One study found that corrective maintenance costs 20% more than preventive maintenance.
Preventive Maintenance (PM)
Preventive maintenance is a cost-efficient maintenance strategy meant to reduce downtime and extend machine lifespans. Similar to annual or mileage-based service on consumer vehicles, preventative maintenance is often time- or usage-based, following your equipment manufacturer’s recommended schedule and servicing machines during planned maintenance visits. Following manufacturer recommendations is also known as predetermined maintenance.
While this time-tested approach is effective, it still has limitations. For example, with a preventive maintenance program, parts may be replaced unnecessarily when they are in good repair. In contrast, issues can arise between planned maintenance visits that could lead to costly unplanned downtime.
For many organizations, PM is ideal for preserving low- to medium-priority assets that are more expensive to repair.
Example of Preventive Maintenance
Maintenance teams regularly lubricate the bearings on a critical asset to maintain equipment performance. By performing regular maintenance, including lubrication, the team prevents unexpected machine failures. This minimizes downtime and extends the useful life of the bearing, mechanism, and entire asset.
Benefits of Preventive Maintenance
Preventive maintenance is an essential component of any maintenance strategy. By performing routine maintenance and inspections, teams can frequently identify equipment deterioration and detect issues before failure occurs. Proper maintenance reduces equipment downtime and prolongs equipment life.
Cost of Preventive Maintenance
As discussed with reactive maintenance, one study found that preventive maintenance costs 20% less than breakdown maintenance strategies. That’s because preventive maintenance allows you to plan ahead by scheduling labor and ordering parts before you need them. The emphasis on maintenance versus repair also helps extend asset lifespans by 20-30%.
While preventive maintenance can result in over-performance of unnecessary tasks, you can reduce these additional costs by incorporating risk-based maintenance, a preventive approach that prioritizes high-risk PM tasks.
Predictive Maintenance (PdM)
Predictive maintenance, or PdM, is designed to predict failure trends via condition monitoring and machine learning algorithms that use a model to fine-tune the allocation of physical resources.
Furthermore, PdM enables teams to identify maintenance concerns in real time, as opposed to waiting until a scheduled maintenance visit or an unexpected machine failure. Condition-monitoring technology will instantly alert staff to potential problems, so they can be addressed before they escalate.
With a predictive maintenance strategy, organizations can significantly reduce unplanned downtime, optimize their maintenance schedules, and resolve small issues before they escalate, saving significant costs over time. While predictive maintenance requires investing in technology, the return on investment (ROI) is quickly realized.
Industrial PdM can be used for all equipment, or it can be reserved for your most critical assets. Backed by sensor information, this cost-saving strategy eliminates the guesswork inherent in reactive and preventative maintenance strategies.
Example of Predictive Maintenance
In the oil and gas industry, predictive maintenance helps avoid critical failures that could compromise employee safety and the environment. For example, monitoring pumps with vibration sensors can detect anomalies and signal the need for repair before a dangerous breakdown occurs.
Benefits of Predictive Maintenance
By catching potential failures before they occur, predictive maintenance strategies contribute to lower maintenance costs, improved safety, less unplanned downtime, and longer asset lifespans.
Predictive maintenance also reduces the frequency of maintenance tasks compared to preventive maintenance alone, freeing up more time for technicians to attend to unplanned corrective maintenance.
Cost of Predictive Maintenance
Predictive maintenance can be expensive to implement. Teams face high upfront costs to procure and install condition monitoring sensors and tools, as well as train teams on new processes and technologies.
However, since predictive maintenance reduces unnecessary maintenance tasks while working to prevent equipment failures, it mitigates the long-term costs associated with preventive maintenance and run-to-failure strategies.
Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM)
Reliability-centered maintenance, or RCM, responds to non-linear failures by providing analytics on all potential failure modes and building a custom plan to address each part’s stability. RCM aims for constant equipment availability, regardless of the degree of criticality.
RCM is an elaborate framework. As such, many organizations find it necessary to work with a reputable partner to integrate it across their network of assets. Otherwise, the company could end up with too many plans and no idea of how to execute them successfully.
Example of Reliability-Centered Maintenance
After assessing every possible failure throughout a manufacturing facility, the maintenance team determines their potential severity and impact on each asset, along with failure modes. This reveals impacts on cost, productivity, quality, and safety for each possible asset failure.
The team uses this analysis to pre-determine the right maintenance strategy for each asset, reducing unnecessary maintenance tasks while maintaining critical assets and maximizing production.
Benefits of Reliability-Centered Maintenance
RCM relies on data analysis, which drives better decisions through strategic, informed assessments. This data helps reduce costs and streamline maintenance processes by minimizing unnecessary maintenance tasks. RCM also maximizes plant performance by extending asset lifespans and improving safety.
Cost of Reliability-Centered Maintenance
Unlike preventive maintenance, RCM goes beyond following manufacturer recommendations for asset upkeep. Instead, it goes a layer deeper, assessing the right types of maintenance for each asset based on performance, condition, history of emergency repairs, and more. Implementation requires more upfront time and labor compared to corrective maintenance or preventive maintenance.
However, the increased uptime, improved performance, and reduction of unnecessary maintenance tasks yield significant ROI in the long run.
Implementing Condition Monitoring in Your Maintenance Strategy
One key element of proactive maintenance strategies is the implementation of condition monitoring technology. This technology allows maintenance teams to plan maintenance based on machine data. Condition monitoring captures real-time machine health indicators, like changes in vibration, temperature, acoustics, and power.
These metrics, which are early indicators of asset wear, can then be compared to the machine’s baseline. If any of these conditions exceed thresholds for normal operating conditions, alerts are immediately sent to maintenance personnel to address the issues promptly before they lead to failure. Practicing condition monitoring is part of a condition-based maintenance approach.
Which Is the Best Type of Maintenance?
The best type of maintenance plan typically blends four essential maintenance strategies:
- Preventive maintenance to avoid unexpected breakdowns
- Predictive maintenance to reduce unnecessary routine maintenance tasks
- Reliability-centered maintenance for data-driven equipment maintenance
- Reactive maintenance (also known as emergency maintenance) as needed, for unplanned failures or non-essential equipment
By balancing multiple maintenance strategies, you get the benefits of each while mitigating any disadvantages.
Why Is Choosing the Right Maintenance Strategy Important?
Choosing the right maintenance operations strategy is important because your maintenance plan impacts productivity, equipment availability, asset lifespan, budget, and safety. So, while the right types of maintenance will improve all these areas, the wrong maintenance program can cost you critical time and money — and can even endanger your team.
10 Best Practices for Any Maintenance Strategy
Regardless of how you balance each type of maintenance in your overall strategy, the same essential practices still apply. You want to incorporate each of the following:
- Routine equipment inspections
- Regular maintenance
- Standard operating procedures (SOPs)
- Proper documentation
- Effective sensors and tools
- Inventory and spare parts management
- Regulatory compliance and safety
- Urgent maintenance processes
- Regular education and training
- Effective data analysis
Use every tool at your disposal to incorporate these practices. A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) can help integrate all these tools and processes into one central software system.
What Are the 5S’s of Maintenance?
The 5S’s of maintenance refers to the 5S methodology for workspace organization in the manufacturing industry. The original 5S’s are in Japanese, and while the exact translations to English vary, here is the essence of the 5S maintenance approach:
- Seiri: Straighten up; remove unnecessary items.
- Seiton: Store properly; put everything in a sensible, intuitive place.
- Seiso: Shine; clean and polish your space.
- Seiketsu: Sanitize; prioritize and systematize your processes.
- Shitsuke: Strive; follow the procedures and practices you’ve established.
By following the 5S concept, you’ll have a clutter-free, organized, and clean workspace. You’ll also establish clear priorities and cultivate respect for your team, facility, assets, and maintenance processes.
How Do You Develop a Maintenance Strategy?
When choosing a maintenance strategy, it is important to know your budget, goals, and risk tolerance. Developing a robust maintenance strategy requires weighing the benefits and costs it brings to the table. Maintenance management is about tackling asset failure using the best criticality insights to eventually achieve the desired output.
Keep in mind that while a proactive maintenance approach might cost more in terms of initial investment, it will easily pay for itself the first time unplanned downtime is averted.
Curious how a CMMS could help you choose, implement, and track the right maintenance strategy? Schedule a free demo here.