Planned Maintenance
Maintenance is essential to keep equipment and facilities safe, reliable, and productive. This applies to almost any asset, from a handheld power drill to complex lab or manufacturing equipment. Maintenance includes all activities that provide an adequate level of service and minimize downtime. The main goals are safety, reliability, and reducing costs and lost time due to breakdowns.
Definition of Planned maintenance
Planned maintenance is any maintenance activity scheduled in advance according to a defined plan so equipment, assets, and facilities run efficiently and reliably. It covers preventive maintenance (routine inspections and service to prevent failures) and planned corrective maintenance (repairs identified during inspections that aren’t urgent). Planned maintenance reduces unexpected downtime, helps allocate parts and labor efficiently, and improves asset performance by ensuring tasks are done at the right time with the right tools and staff ready.
Common Examples of Planned Maintenance
- Cleaning
- Inspection
- Service
- Calibration
- Repair
- Software updates
- Refurbishment
- Performance monitoring
- Oil changes
- Equipment calibration
- HVAC system inspections
- Safety checks
Preventative and corrective maintenance
Preventive maintenance is scheduled based on the type and complexity of the equipment—the more complex the asset, the more frequent and detailed the maintenance. A risk assessment helps identify critical factors for maintaining an asset. Corrective maintenance should be minimized by an effective preventive program, but failures can still happen. When they do, it’s important to diagnose and fix problems quickly and correctly.
Maintenance scheduling
Think about maintenance before buying equipment so you can budget for ongoing service and downtime. Manufacturers often provide recommended maintenance activities and schedules. You may also be required to meet industry regulations or safety codes, such as electrical testing—compliance is your responsibility. A clear maintenance schedule should document who does the work, what is done, and when it is performed.
How to Plan Asset Maintenance
- The basic building block of planned maintenance is scheduling the date for performing the maintenance, which can be regular or irregular
- Planned maintenance can therefore be carried out regularly or irregularly and is scheduled according to the type of equipment, its complexity and demands.
Procedure for creating a maintenance plan (checklist)
- Open the asset list or inventory where you track machines and where you want to create the maintenance plan
- Click the "Activity Plans" tab (to see this tab, your user role must have the permission enabled)
- Click the "Add activity" button
- Enter the name of the maintenance task, e.g., "Annual Service" — add this in the "Activity name" field
- Choose the recurrence type: one-time, irregular, or recurring
- Choose which machines or equipment the activity applies to
- Save
Types of maintenance recurrence you can set:
- One-time - the maintenance happens once; you confirm completion on the scheduled date
- Irregular - maintenance repeats at non-uniform intervals as needed
- Recurring - maintenance repeats on a regular schedule (for example, monthly, quarterly, or yearly)
Which machines and equipment the activity applies to:
- All items — the maintenance plan applies to every item in the selected register (for example, all devices)
- Single item (e.g., Machine XY) — the maintenance plan applies only to that specific machine or piece of equipment
- By type (e.g., "Machines") — the maintenance plan applies to all devices of that type
How to keep records of performed maintenance?
- You keep maintenance records as an operations log or as entries in maintenance schedules.
- Confirmed maintenance schedules will automatically appear in your list of completed activities
Why planned maintenance is important
- Planned maintenance is important to ensure assets remain operational and safe over the long term.
- Sometimes it arises from operational needs, manufacturer recommendations, and sometimes it is required by law (for example electrical inspections).
- It applies to practically any tool, machine, or equipment from a handheld electric drill to complex laboratory equipment.
- It is a preventive measure aimed at extending lifespan, minimizing downtime, and increasing reliability, safety, and savings in time and money from potential faults or failures.
- If planned maintenance is carried out correctly and efficiently, it should therefore reduce breakdowns and unexpected outages.
- Typically, the more complex the equipment or machine, the more maintenance it requires.
- Planned maintenance cannot completely prevent failures, because breakdowns do occur in practice, but it can significantly reduce them.