Guide
Preventive Maintenance Strategy: How to Design and Run a PM Program
This guide explains how to design and run a preventive maintenance program that reduces failures and supports reliability without over-maintaining.
A preventive maintenance strategy is a plan for performing planned maintenance—inspections, servicing, replacements—on a schedule or trigger so that equipment is maintained before failures occur. It balances cost of PM against cost of failure.
In this guide:
- Why preventive maintenance matters
- Time-based vs usage-based PM
- How to choose what to put on PM
- Scheduling and execution
- Measuring PM effectiveness
- Frequently asked questions
Table of contents
Why preventive maintenance matters
- Planned work is usually cheaper and safer than emergency repairs.
- PM extends asset life and reduces unplanned downtime.
- A clear PM schedule helps with resource planning and compliance.
Time-based vs usage-based PM
- Time-based: run PM on a calendar (e.g. monthly, quarterly). Simple; good for many assets.
- Usage-based: trigger PM by meter reading or runtime. Better when wear depends on use.
- Combine both where it makes sense (e.g. quarterly inspection plus every 500 hours).
What to put on PM
- Focus on critical assets and high-impact failures first.
- Use manufacturer recommendations and past failure patterns to set intervals.
- Start with a small set of tasks; add more as you see results and capacity.
Scheduling and execution
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Measuring PM effectiveness
- PM compliance: share of PM work orders completed on time.
- Trend in reactive work: aim for a lower proportion of emergency work over time.
- Failure rates and MTBF on critical assets.
Practical steps
- List critical assets and their recommended PM from manuals or experience.
- Define PM tasks (inspection, lubrication, replacement) and intervals.
- Create a simple schedule; assign owners and generate work orders.
- Track completion and overdue PM; adjust intervals and capacity as needed.
- Review failure and cost data periodically and refine the PM program.
Who should read this
Maintenance planners, reliability leads and managers who want to shift from reactive to preventive maintenance.
Frequently asked questions
What is PM compliance?
PM compliance is the percentage of preventive maintenance work orders completed on or before their due date. It is a common KPI for measuring how well the PM program is being executed.
Can we run PM without a CMMS?
Yes, with calendars and checklists, but a CMMS makes it easier to schedule by asset, track completion and avoid missed or duplicate work. For more than a handful of assets, software usually pays off.
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