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When running a business, it is vital that you are aware of the maintenance strategy and approach that you want to take when maintenance action needs to be taken. Choosing the right maintenance approach can affect everything from equipment reliability to how your facilities team plans its workload.
Two of the most common approaches are planned preventive maintenance (PPM) and reactive maintenance.
Planned maintenance involves carrying out maintenance at scheduled intervals, while reactive maintenance takes place in response to a fault or failure.
The two approaches are not mutually exclusive. In fact, most facilities teams will use a combination of both. The important part is understanding where each approach makes sense.
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Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. The right choice depends on the asset, how it is used and the consequences if it fails.
PPM refers to scheduled maintenance, where maintenance checks are performed at regular intervals, for example, every 6 months or yearly. Assets are checked whilst they are running smoothly and operating as normal. This will hopefully help to avoid any unexpected large issues with equipment and therefore be more cost-effective, as minor issues will be identified and dealt with during those regular maintenance checks.Â
One of the main advantages of PPM is predictability.
Facilities teams know what work is coming up, which makes it easier to plan resources and arrange maintenance at suitable times.
Regular maintenance can also help teams identify deterioration or potential problems before they develop into more disruptive failures.
Other advantages can include:
PPM can be particularly important for assets where failure would cause significant disruption or where specific maintenance requirements need to be followed.
More maintenance is not always better maintenance.
If an asset is inspected or serviced more frequently than necessary, an organisation can spend time and money carrying out work that provides little additional value.
A PPM programme also requires management. Schedules need to be created, work needs to be assigned and completed maintenance needs to be recorded.
The aim should therefore be to establish appropriate maintenance schedules, rather than simply maintaining everything as frequently as possible.
Read more: Planned Preventive Maintenance (PPM): 10 Questions Answered
Reactive maintenance is where equipment is repaired or replaced only when an issue occurs. Ultimately, reactive maintenance waits until assets run to failure, with the hope that nothing goes wrong or breaks down prior to this point. This strategy doesn’t involve any regular maintenance checks or services for equipment until they begin to fail or break down.Â
Reactive maintenance can be a perfectly reasonable strategy for some assets.
If an item is inexpensive, easy to replace and its failure causes little disruption, regularly maintaining it may cost more than simply dealing with the problem when it occurs.
Reactive maintenance can also mean:
The key factor is the consequence of failure.
Running a low-value, non-critical asset until it fails is very different from taking the same approach with equipment that could stop an entire building or operation from functioning.
The biggest drawback is unpredictability.
You do not always know when an asset will fail, which means the resulting maintenance work can be difficult to plan.
Unexpected failures can lead to:
Repeated reactive maintenance can also hide a bigger problem.
If the same asset continually generates repair requests, it may be worth reviewing its maintenance history rather than treating every failure as an isolated event.
Read more: Reactive Maintenance: 10 Questions Answered
There is no single maintenance strategy that is right for every asset. Instead, consider factors such as:
How critical is the asset?
If a failure would significantly affect safety, operations or building users, waiting for it to fail may not be appropriate.
What are the consequences of failure?
Consider downtime, repair costs, disruption and any wider risks.
What maintenance does the asset require?
Manufacturer guidance, risk assessments and applicable requirements may influence how an asset should be maintained.
How expensive is the asset to maintain or replace?
For some low-value assets, reactive maintenance may make more sense than frequent scheduled maintenance.
What does its maintenance history tell you?
Previous faults and repairs can help identify assets that require more attention.
This means the decision does not have to be simply planned or reactive.
In practice, a balanced maintenance strategy will often include both planned and reactive work. Planned preventive maintenance can be used where maintenance needs to happen proactively. Reactive maintenance can then deal with unexpected faults and assets where a run-to-failure approach is appropriate. For example, a facilities team might schedule regular servicing for important HVAC equipment while dealing reactively with a broken internal door handle.
The important thing is to make the decision intentionally. If almost all maintenance is reactive because there is no planned maintenance process, the team may spend much of its time responding to problems. Equally, scheduling unnecessary maintenance for every asset can waste time and resources. Understanding your assets, their importance and their maintenance history can help you find a more appropriate balance.
Every business is different and has its own strategy in how to manage its maintenance, this can depend on the size of the business varying from a startup company to a corporate company. In most cases, planned preventative maintenance (PPM) is usually the best way to go as it allows you to be more prepared and stay on top of managing equipment performance. However, if waiting until an asset breaks down to repair it is the approach you would prefer to take then reactive maintenance is right for you.
Here at FaultFixers, we offer both PPM and reactive maintenance to ensure that whatever maintenance management approach your business would like to take we can offer our services and help you along the way! If you have any questions about FaultFixers, you can book a demo with our team to check out our system.
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