Your Guide to Planned Maintenance Procedures & Benefits

What Is Planned Maintenance?

At its core, planned maintenance entails scheduled, documented and preventive maintenance meant to address machine breakdowns before they occur. This also includes creating and revising processes for when unforeseen failures take place, ensuring that equipment issues can be fixed quickly and effectively. 

For example, anyone who owns a car needs to ensure that oil changes are completed, tires are rotated and brakes are inspected as part of a routine maintenance schedule so that their vehicle runs smoothly and doesn’t break down at inopportune times. 

In short, planned maintenance is essentially a proactive maintenance approach that is carried out “according to plan.” In this guide, we’ll discuss the different types of planned maintenance, the benefits of using it and the five key steps to creating your own planned maintenance procedure.

Planned Maintenance vs. Scheduled Maintenance 

While planned maintenance and scheduled maintenance might sound the same, there are some distinct differences to consider. Planned maintenance focuses on detailed instructions that outline the types of maintenance activities needed to be done and how that work will be completed. In contrast, scheduled maintenance focuses on who will be responsible for completing the job, with a specific timeline of when that work will be finalized. 

In addition, planned maintenance starts by recognizing a problem, creating a plan, identifying what assets are needed and then implementing that plan. Scheduled maintenance takes place in intervals and begins once a plan is in place. 

Types of Planned Maintenance

There are two types of planned maintenance to understand. Preventive maintenance is proactive and involves regularly scheduled inspections, tests, servicing and repairs. This work is meant to identify and address potential issues before they become serious problems, and tasks are regularly scheduled regardless of the equipment’s condition. 

Then, there’s planned unscheduled maintenance, which is pre-arranged but carried out only when there’s a breakdown or issue to be addressed. These maintenance tasks are contingent on resources, such as spare parts, labor or tools that are used so equipment breakdowns can be resolved as quickly as possible. 

Equipment That Requires Planned Maintenance

There are several pieces of equipment that could benefit from planned maintenance, but here are some of the most common:

• HVAC system: To ensure adequate heating and cooling, a standard HVAC system should be updated every 10 years and inspected at least once per year.
• Light fixtures: Regular checks and timely replacement of lighting fixtures are essential, not only for visibility but for safety and productivity.
• Filters: Changing filters is important for air quality, energy efficiency, temperature control and extending the lifespan of the HVAC system, not to mention health and safety. 
• Belts: Belt replacements are essential, preventing equipment failure and ensuring efficient operation. 
• Vehicles: Maintaining a work vehicle has many benefits, including safety, reliability, fuel efficiency and minimizing repair costs. 
• Compressors: Maintenance prevents contamination, helps meet regulations and also optimizes performance. 

5 Steps to Create a Planned Maintenance Procedure

Five key steps go into creating a planned maintenance strategy. These steps are as follows:

Identify Issue & Create Work Order

During scheduled or routine inspections, potential equipment issues are often identified, allowing for the creation of a work order that includes equipment details, a detailed description of the problem, priority levels and even a suggested solution. 

Inspect Equipment & Area

Look over the maintenance history, conduct a visual inspection of the asset, listen for unusual noises or vibrations, and ensure safety mechanisms are functioning correctly.

Check for Parts & Create Work Process

Identify the parts that are needed, verify specifications and check your inventory before ordering the needed parts and developing a work process that includes equipment shutdown procedures, safety precautions and general maintenance operations guidelines. 

Determine Priority Level

Assess how the issue impacts operations and profitability, evaluate safety risks, consider the equipment condition, and determine if there are any consequences of a delay. 

Schedule & Complete Work

After reviewing your work orders and priority levels, coordinate your key personnel, communicate a clear planned maintenance schedule, ensure work tasks are done safely, and verify the work has been accomplished correctly before reviewing and evaluating the final updates. 

Benefits of Planned Maintenance 

Maintenance teams will sometimes make the mistake of waiting for equipment failures to materialize before they take action, leaving their business not only vulnerable to unwanted costs but also at risk of lost productivity. Performing routine planned maintenance will not only ensure your operation runs smoothly but also give management some peace of mind. Here are five benefits to consider:

• Decreases unplanned downtime: With preventive maintenance scheduling, you can have routine inspection and maintenance performed that will result in decreased equipment downtime. 
• Reduces maintenance costs: Preventing unexpected equipment failures through early detection of small issues ensures that they won’t result in costly problems.
• Increases asset lifespan: Regular inspection and early detection of wear and tear prevents equipment from deteriorating. 
• Improves employee efficiency: Planned maintenance helps minimize interruptions for maintenance technicians, especially if maintenance is performed during off-peak hours or slow work periods.
• Enhances workplace safety: Early detection helps prevent equipment failure, ensuring safety systems are functioning correctly and meeting regulatory standards. 

Planned Maintenance vs. Unplanned Maintenance 

As you might guess, unplanned maintenance is the exact opposite of planned maintenance in that it’s a type of reactive maintenance work that’s being performed without a real plan in place. There are two types of unplanned maintenance to consider. The first is emergency maintenance, which typically poses an immediate risk to safety, property or operations and involves unexpected repairs. Emergency maintenance could include a busted water pipe or a malfunctioning transformer that needs to be fixed as soon as possible to prevent further damage or disruption to daily operations.

There’s also free-effort maintenance, which involves less effortful, low-cost work that can typically be performed with little time, labor or resources. In most cases, these tasks are simple, such as regularly cleaning filters in HVAC systems, tightening loose screws or lubricating certain equipment to avoid wear and tear. While these tasks may seem small, routine free-effort maintenance, when done consistently, will prevent problems down the road. 

Although important issues are addressed using unplanned maintenance, there are some disadvantages as well, including higher costs for emergency repairs and replacement parts, operational disruptions, longer repair times, inefficient use of resources and loss of revenue. 

Example of Planned Maintenance Use Case 

Caterpillar Inc. is one of the leading manufacturers of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines in the U.S. With its signature yellow equipment, the company is recognized around the world for producing some of the most durable and innovative machinery used in a variety of industries, such as construction, mining, energy and transportation.

As a leader in the industry, Caterpillar has demonstrated a commitment to operational excellence when it comes to maintaining its expansive manufacturing capabilities. As part of operations for its manufacturing plants, Caterpillar has implemented a comprehensive planned maintenance program specifically for its production equipment that includes assembly lines, machining centers and testing equipment. As part of the program’s success, it emphasizes regular inspections, scheduled component replacements and predictive maintenance techniques.

Caterpillar’s planned maintenance system has not only helped reduce equipment downtime and keep equipment in optimal condition longer, but it has also helped streamline production efficiency, save on costs and enhance safety protocols.

Using a CMMS to Improve Planned Maintenance

Businesses that depend on their valued assets for successful operations on a daily basis understand the value of using a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), as maintenance software can significantly improve planned maintenance tasks by automating, optimizing and centralizing various aspects of a company’s maintenance strategy. 

A CMMS such as Coast can help your planned maintenance strategy with the following:

• Machine and asset management: Quickly access your assets and parts inventories. 
• Preventive maintenance scheduling: Improve your efficiency by scheduling recurring maintenance tasks days, weeks, months and even every few months out.
• Asset tracking: Manage, monitor and maintain your assets through a CMMS platform that allows you to record, organize and track physical equipment, machinery, vehicles and other critical assets.
• Reporting and analytics: Extract valuable, real-time insights from your maintenance data to help you and your organization make informed decisions.

In the CMMS software space, Coast is very unique and user-friendly. Coast users can create customizable workflows while building a product tailored to their needs as opposed to relying on industry-specific templates. This includes easy-to-use, drag-and-drop features and customizable fields and modules so the maintenance management system can be set up quickly and without technical guidance.

So, when it comes to the best possible results for your planned maintenance needs, the Coast CMMS solution is what you need to optimize maintenance processes, improve equipment reliability, extend asset life and increase overall productivity. You’ll not only discover  improvements that lead to direct cost savings but also enjoy enhanced operational efficiency and effectiveness.