In the world of upkeep and maintenance, you have two choices: schedule maintenance proactively or let your equipment schedule it for you, often unpredictably.

The goal of maintenance is to maintain control, prevent disruptions, save costs, and extend the lifespan of your equipment.

Before we dive into Preventative Maintenance 101, grab your checklist below. 

PDF Preventative Maintenance Checklist:

For a checklist you can edit, grab the Google Docs version.

Or better yet – try our quick, easy, and customizable mobile form builder, to create any mobile form imaginable!

Sorted? Great! Let’s glance over the basics of Preventative Maintenance.

What Is Preventative Maintenance? 

Preventative maintenance (PM) is your frontline defense against unexpected downtime, costly repairs, and inefficiency. It’s a systematic approach to keeping your operations running smoothly. ♾️

PM is one of the four overlapping Maintenance Strategies, alongside Reactive Maintenance (RM), Predictive Maintenance (PdM), and Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM).

Here’s a brief rundown of them: 

• Preventative Maintenance (PM): Regularly scheduled upkeep to prevent equipment failures.
• Reactive Maintenance (RM): Fixing equipment only after it breaks down.
• Predictive Maintenance (PdM): Using data and sensors to predict and address potential issues before they cause failures.
• Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM): Optimizing maintenance strategies based on equipment reliability and criticality.

How Solid Preventative Maintenance Benefits You

Implementing a preventative maintenance program will dramatically boost your operations’ efficiency by eliminating much of the unexpected chaos. It can save you up to 18% on costly repairs and unforeseen downtime (U.S. Department of Energy). 

Instead of waiting for a conveyor belt to snap and halt progress on your production floor, be proactive.

“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” – John F. Kennedy

Routine maintenance extends equipment lifespan by up to 20%, offering a solid return on investment. Simple, consistent actions prevent your systems from overworking and breaking down prematurely.

PM protects your team, too. Routine checks on electrical systems, for example, can prevent short circuits and fires—outcomes with obvious safety concerns.🧯

It takes a little time and consistency but strengthens the overall resilience of your operations!

Tips For Prioritizing Preventative Maintenance Tasks

First off, categorize your tasks. Emergency tasks—like HVAC failures or power outages— need immediate attention. High-priority tasks are next; they might not be as urgent but can quickly become a big deal if ignored, like a slow leak in the roof. Medium priority tasks are your regular upkeep, such as replacing filters or routine safety checks. Low-priority tasks? Stuff that can wait— like painting or any non-essential repairs​.

Next, evaluate risk and severity. Use a risk matrix to figure out what could go wrong and how costly the repercussions could be. For example, a malfunctioning carton sealer might be inconvenient but not catastrophic, whereas a deadman switch failure on a hydraulic press is a major safety issue that could shut down operations​.

It’s also essential to consider the value to your organization. Prioritize tasks that keep your most critical equipment running smoothly. If a key piece of machinery goes down, it can halt production and cause major headaches​.

Estimate how much time each task will take and plan accordingly. Quick wins can be tackled when you have smaller windows of time, while more extensive tasks should be scheduled during planned downtime​.

For those with large facilities or multiple sites, factor in proximity and location. If a technician is already at a remote site, it makes sense to handle as many tasks there as possible to maximize efficiency​.

Don’t forget to integrate preventive maintenance into your schedule. Regularly scheduled tasks might seem like they can wait, but they prevent bigger problems down the road​.

Make sure to balance short-term fixes with long-term maintenance. Quick fixes are great, but don’t let them overshadow essential long-term upkeep​.

Assign clear responsibility for each task to ensure accountability. Knowing exactly who is responsible helps in tracking progress and completion​​.

Schedule maintenance during planned downtime or low production periods to minimize the impact on your operations​.

Continuously monitor and adjust based on outcomes. If something isn’t working, tweak your approach and try again.

Lastly, educate your team on the prioritization strategy. Ensure everyone understands and follows the plan to keep things running smoothly​.

There’s A Tool For That!

Maintenance is no joke. With various schedules and procedures for every piece of equipment, keeping up with paperwork is crucial.

One great first step is to digitize your admin. Appenate is perfect for this, offering unlimited form customization, offline access, and ample automation capabilities.

Having all your documents in one place, easily tweaking and updating forms, and deploying them via mobile can give you a definite operational edge.🚀

You can go even further by automating nuanced aspects of maintenance inspections. While you’ll still need boots on the ground for some tasks, many areas are ripe for automation.

For example, larger manufacturing companies can invest in Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) and IoT (Internet of Things) sensors to:

• Automatically trigger alerts at certain intervals or when specific conditions are met.
• Employ smart inventory management to forecast demand and adjust orders automatically.
• Automate work order management to handle fluctuating production floor conditions.

Automation is transforming maintenance, especially in manufacturing. If you’re still using paper forms, it’s time to upgrade. Why not give mobile forms a shot? 

Build Your Own Digital Preventative Maintenance Form

Appenate is a powerful solution for eliminating paper woes. With a range of integrations and a REST API, it can integrate with any web service, streamlining the evolution of your data stack.

Sign up for a free trial to see how well Appenate works for your setup.

From the moment you join, you’ll have access to free training and a comprehensive knowledge base if you prefer to figure things out independently.

Whatever you decide, we hope you find the best way to stay on top of your Preventative Maintenance game.✊🏻