What is preventive maintenance, and how does it cut unplanned downtime?

Preventive maintenance — also called PM or preventative maintenance — keeps equipment in top condition through regular machinery checkups and maintenance tasks. These services may be scheduled according to a calendar or based on equipment operating time. The process typically involve inspection, cleaning and oil and filter changes. A preventive maintenance program can reduce unplanned downtime by providing a framework to identify and address any needed repairs.

Why do you need a preventive maintenance plan?

With a PM maintenance framework, schedules are designed specifically to ensure that critical components are inspected and replaced prior to failure, avoiding unexpected shutdowns. Without such a plan, upkeep can become a chaotic “run to failure” environment. Machines stop with little or no warning while maintenance technicians run from problem to problem. Schedules are missed, deliveries are delayed and costs continue to rise. You know you should be performing preventive maintenance, but there never seems to be enough time.

Many facilities have a preventive maintenance program in place, but fail to realize the expected benefits. The PM program may not be comprehensive enough or the technicians may not adhere to the schedule. Regular oil and filter changes are good, but they won’t detect — or prevent — bigger issues.

Benefits of a preventive maintenance plans

An effective preventive maintenance plan extends mean-time-between-failures (MTBF), raises overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), increases capacity and allows production to meet its schedules. There’s less need for overtime, costs are controlled and stress levels are lowered. Morale improves when people can focus on business needs rather than fighting fires. Almost every operation has tried to implement a preventive maintenance program. The challenge is in making it stick.

Ventune can help

You’ll often hear, “There’s no time for PM maintenance,” and that’s often true when facing a massive backlog. This is where preventive maintenance services from ATS can help.

Whether you have an existing preventive maintenance program or you need one developed, our industry-leading team of experts will review what you are doing as well as collect, analyze and leverage the data to identify the changes necessary for increased uptime and OEE. Our skilled maintenance technicians will then get to work, executing your preventive maintenance plan as designed and delivering measurable results.

We are unique among preventive maintenance companies in that, while delivering plans and results based on data and analysis, we also go “beyond the numbers” to ensure that the PM program we create will work for you and your specific needs.

We understand preventive maintenance is a challenge, and our preventive maintenance services will provide you with the leadership and expertise to succeed.