Preventive Maintenance
Preventive maintenance is planned work performed at defined time, usage, or meter intervals to reduce the likelihood of equipment failure or deterioration.
What this term means in maintenance
Preventive maintenance is planned work performed at defined time, usage, or meter intervals to reduce the likelihood of equipment failure or deterioration.
Why preventive maintenance matters
Preventive maintenance helps teams act before predictable wear, contamination, loosening, drift, or deterioration causes a breakdown. It is most useful when the failure pattern or maintenance requirement is reasonably understood.
Common triggers
- Calendar frequency
- Operating hours
- Production cycles
- Distance
- Meter readings
- Seasonal requirements
- Regulatory or manufacturer requirements
Typical activities
Examples include lubrication, cleaning, tightening, inspection, calibration, filter replacement, safety-device testing, and replacement of known wear items.
Practical example
A compressor requires an oil-level inspection every week, filter inspection every month, and oil replacement every 2,000 operating hours. Each activity is scheduled separately so the correct checklist appears at the correct interval.
Common mistake
Adding more PM tasks does not automatically improve reliability. Unnecessary maintenance consumes labor and increases backlog. Every PM task should have a clear failure-prevention purpose.
How a CMMS helps
A CMMS can generate work orders from approved maintenance plans, assign responsibility, track due dates, record completion evidence, and show missed or overdue preventive work.
How this term differs
Preventive Maintenance is planned intervention performed at defined intervals to reduce predictable failure risk. It is related to Planned Maintenance, Corrective Maintenance, and Reactive Maintenance, but these terms describe different records, measures, roles, strategies, or decisions and should not be used interchangeably.
Related concepts
Related maintenance terms
Keep exploring connected CMMS, reliability, and maintenance planning terms.
Work Order
A work order is an authorized record that defines maintenance work to be performed, including the asset, priority, scope, assignee, instructions, labor, parts, status, and completion evidence.
Preventive Maintenance Compliance
Preventive maintenance compliance is the percentage of scheduled preventive maintenance tasks completed within the organization’s defined on-time window.
Maintenance Job Plan
A maintenance job plan is a reusable definition of the labor, steps, parts, tools, safety controls, references, and completion requirements for a maintenance task.
Glossary FAQs
- What is an example of preventive maintenance?
Examples include scheduled lubrication, inspection, cleaning, tightening, filter replacement, calibration, and safety-device testing.
- How often should preventive maintenance be performed?
Frequency should be based on failure behavior, operating conditions, manufacturer guidance, risk, inspection findings, and actual maintenance history.
- Can preventive maintenance cause failures?
Poorly designed or unnecessary maintenance can introduce errors or equipment disturbance, so every task should have a clear purpose.