What is Preventive Maintenance?

Preventive maintenance (PM) involves performing routine maintenance tasks on machinery to prevent future breakdowns and other problems from occurring. For example, maintenance personnel may be tasked with conducting regular inspections, cleaning, lubrication, and replacement of parts.

The frequency of maintenance duties depends on the type of equipment, manufacturers’ specifications, and general operating conditions. The main objective of preventive maintenance is to minimize downtime, extend the lifespan of machinery, and decrease repair and replacement costs.

In a nutshell, PM makes it easier for workers to troubleshoot and fix minor problems before they turn into major issues. It is a crucial part of any effective maintenance program — and it can help manufacturing firms avoid costly repairs.

Learn more about industrial preventive maintenance and how it can help your daily manufacturing operations:

Types of preventive maintenance
Industrial preventive maintenance examples
PM benefits
The future of preventive maintenance and how Augmentir can help

Types of preventive maintenance

The point of preventive maintenance is to keep equipment breakdowns from happening. That’s why it’s important to conduct routine maintenance on parts and machinery with age-related failure patterns. Although there isn’t a universal standard on how many types of PM there are, most tasks fall into four specific categories.

Periodic maintenance

Periodic maintenance, also known as time-based maintenance, is completed at scheduled intervals throughout the year. It can be accomplished weekly, monthly, quarterly, or even annually. The best way to determine how often you should perform time-based maintenance is to check the manufacturer’s guidelines. Equipment comes with specific care recommendations to prolong the life of the equipment.

Meter-based maintenance

Also known as performance-based maintenance, this PM type is achieved when a meter reading shows that specific machinery should be attended to. Common measurement variables include the number of hours the machine has been running, operating conditions (e.g., pressure and flow rate), and more.

Predictive maintenance

This method monitors how well certain machinery is doing based on sensor devices. Once a sensor detects a problem, a work order is automatically created and given to a maintenance worker.

Prescriptive maintenance

Prescriptive maintenance is based on data gathering with machine learning software. For instance, software evaluates equipment conditions over time, measures operational risks, and makes recommendations for improvement.

Industrial preventive maintenance examples

Manufacturing plants depend on consistent preventive maintenance techniques to avoid costly machine repairs and breakdowns.

For example, all equipment needs to be cleaned, inspected, and lubricated (CIL) to ensure that it continues running smoothly during all aspects of production. In other situations, more extensive preventive maintenance may be required such as repairing or replacing worn parts before they break.

Besides maintaining equipment, PM also covers general upkeep of the physical manufacturing plant that stores different production systems. Tasks associated with this type of maintenance include inspecting HVAC, electrical, and other lighting systems to ensure that everything is functioning up to code standards.

PM benefits

When implemented correctly, preventive maintenance can provide many benefits that can boost day-to-day manufacturing operations.

Some of those benefits include:

Decreased machine downtime
Prolonged equipment lifespan
Minimized repair costs
Better maintenance planning
Greater compliance to avoid costly issues
Enhanced equipment efficiency

The future of preventive maintenance and how Augmentir can help

Current manufacturing trends all strive towards using smart devices and technology to digitize and streamline maintenance protocols and tasks. PM can also incorporate these advances to ensure smarter, more effective maintenance operations.

For example, the Internet of Things (IoT) is a major component of PM. IoT sensors collect data on equipment usage patterns, wear and tear on critical parts, and other factors that influence maintenance. This data can then be used to augment maintenance schedules and inform maintenance technicians as they troubleshoot issues before they become major problems.

Moreover, manufacturing plants increasingly use robotics to assist with PM. Robots can be programmed to perform routine maintenance duties like cleaning, lubricating, and inspecting machinery.

All of these technologies can be monitored and adjusted using a cloud-based maintenance management system that provides real-time insight into equipment usage, maintenance schedules, and other metrics.

This is where Augmentir can help. We offer the world’s first AI-powered connected worker solution that gives reliable insight into how well your machinery is performing and where improvements can be made. We help provide frontline workers with standard operating procedures (SOPs), digital work instructions, and more to increase worker efficiency and machine trustworthiness.

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