Preventive vs. Corrective Maintenance: Differences, & How to Save
Aaron Stahl / Maintenance Contracts / September 4, 2024
Organizations in some of the nation’s most important industries, from healthcare to education to law enforcement, rely on sophisticated and costly equipment to keep operations running smoothly. For example, imagine the millions of dollars hospitals invest in advanced medical devices like lasers and X-ray machines. These pieces of equipment are not just expensive – they’re indispensable.
If you’ve ever been responsible for procuring essential equipment for your business or organization, you likely understand that the initial purchase price is just the beginning. When you’ve invested substantial capital into crucial assets, ensuring their longevity and optimal performance through regular maintenance is essential.
In this article, we’ll break down equipment maintenance practices, look at the differences between corrective maintenance and preventive maintenance, explore the types and benefits of each, and offer insight into how consolidating maintenance contracts can save you both time and money.
Whether you’re in healthcare, education, law enforcement, or any other equipment-heavy industry, understanding these maintenance strategies can help you make smarter, more cost-effective decisions for your organization.
Equipment maintenance can generally be divided into two main categories: preventive and corrective maintenance. Preventive maintenance is a proactive approach that involves regular inspections, servicing, and part replacements to prevent equipment failures before they happen, while corrective maintenance is reactive, focusing on repairing or replacing components after a failure has occurred.
Managing equipment maintenance can quickly become a time-consuming and complex task, especially when juggling multiple contracts, vendors, and service agreements. Finding the right balance between preventive and corrective maintenance when issues inevitably arise is a delicate act. How do you strike that perfect balance? It starts by understanding the key differences and benefits of each approach.
Preventive maintenance is a planned, routine service intended to keep equipment functioning at its best and prevent any unexpected breakdowns. This type of maintenance is conducted even when equipment appears to be working well, with the goal of avoiding potential failures.
Preventive and corrective maintenance both play vital roles in asset management, but preventive maintenance often takes precedence because it can significantly reduce the need for more costly repairs down the line. The goal here is to find or prevent issues before they arrive, likely lowering stress, costs, and downtime.
Preventive maintenance comes in several forms, each tailored to specific operational needs. While the exact terminology and classifications might vary depending on the vendor or industry, the following are some of the most commonly recognized types.
Usage-based maintenance (UBM) involves scheduling maintenance activities based on the actual usage of equipment. This could be measured by operating hours, production cycles, or any other metric that indicates wear and tear. The goal of UBM, which is sometimes called meter-based maintenance, is to ensure that servicing is done only when needed, optimizing maintenance efficiency and resource use.
Example: Servicing an industrial printing press after every 50,000 pages printed.
Scheduled at predetermined intervals, regardless of equipment usage or condition, time-based maintenance (TBM) ensures regular maintenance to help prevent unexpected failures. Known also as calendar-based maintenance, this method can be organized during off-hours or low-demand periods to minimize downtime and disruptions.
Example: Conducting quarterly inspections and recalibrations of MRI machines to ensure accurate imaging and consistent performance in healthcare facilities.
Rather than following a fixed schedule, condition-based maintenance (CBM) relies on the actual condition of the equipment to determine when maintenance is needed. This method focuses on performing repairs or replacements only when necessary, helping to avoid unnecessary maintenance and extend equipment lifespan.
Example: Replacing air filters in a server room’s cooling system only when sensors indicate a drop in airflow efficiency.
Risk-Based Maintenance (RBM) prioritizes maintenance activities based on the risk associated with equipment failure. This approach involves assessing the likelihood and potential impact of failures, allowing resources to be concentrated on high-risk equipment to prevent critical issues.
Example: Prioritizing the inspection of a power grid’s high-voltage transformers due to their critical role in maintaining a stable electricity supply.
An advanced form of preventive maintenance is predictive maintenance, which uses data analytics and monitoring tools to predict when equipment failure is likely to occur. This allows maintenance to be scheduled just in time, minimizing downtime and extending equipment life by using advanced condition monitoring software. While similar to CBM, deterioration can be detected much earlier.
Example: Using vibration analysis to predict when bearings in an industrial motor will fail, allowing for timely replacement before a breakdown occurs.
More than just predicting failures, prescriptive maintenance takes things a step further and recommends specific actions to prevent them. Advanced analytics and machine learning suggest the best course of action based on current and historical data.
Example: In a data center, prescriptive maintenance analyzes cooling system performance and recommends proactive fan speed adjustments to prevent overheating and costly downtime.
Preventive maintenance is a proactive approach that offers many benefits and helps organizations maintain expensive assets. By addressing potential issues before they become serious problems, preventive maintenance ensures that operations run smoothly and efficiently. The following points outline the key advantages of implementing a preventive maintenance strategy.
Corrective maintenance, also known as reactive maintenance, involves repairing or restoring equipment after a failure or malfunction. This approach often includes emergency repairs, which are typically unplanned, costly, and disruptive to operations. Unplanned downtime can delay production and increase expenses due to the need for expedited parts or overtime labor.
The reliance on corrective maintenance has significantly decreased with advancements in preventive maintenance techniques. Modern tools enable more accurate monitoring and prediction of equipment health, allowing issues to be addressed before they lead to failures. However, corrective maintenance is sometimes unavoidable.
Now that we’ve discussed corrective maintenance vs. preventive maintenance, let’s explore the two main types of corrective maintenance: planned and unplanned.
When a fault is detected before it leads to a complete breakdown, maintenance can be scheduled in advance to address the issue. This strategy allows for repairs at a time that causes minimal disruption to operations. Typical scenarios include scheduled maintenance during planned downtime or deferring repairs until replacement parts have arrived.
Unexpected equipment failures necessitate immediate action to restore functionality, making this type of maintenance more reactive and urgent. The unpredictable nature of these repairs often results in higher costs and operational disruptions. Emergency maintenance, for example, is needed when a critical failure stops production. A run-to-failure approach is another common example, where equipment is intentionally used until it fails, at which point it is either repaired or replaced.
While corrective maintenance is typically reactive and often more costly, it offers certain advantages that make it a necessary approach in specific situations. Here are some of the main benefits of corrective maintenance.
Understanding the distinctions between preventive maintenance vs. corrective maintenance is crucial for managing equipment and optimizing operations. Let’s explore how these two strategies differ across key factors:
In the context of corrective maintenance and preventive maintenance, timing is a key differentiator. Preventive maintenance is scheduled at regular intervals or based on usage to avoid failures, while corrective maintenance occurs after equipment has already failed, requiring immediate attention.
The complexity of tasks is often greater in corrective maintenance due to the need to diagnose and fix unexpected issues. Preventive maintenance, on the other hand, sometimes involves routine inspections and servicing, which are generally more straightforward. That being said, predictive and prescriptive maintenance can be rather complex.
Evaluating the impact on equipment lifecycle in corrective vs preventive maintenance, it’s clear that preventive maintenance helps extend the life of assets by preventing wear and tear from becoming critical. In contrast, corrective maintenance can shorten the lifecycle by addressing issues only after failure, which might lead to more severe damage.
The effect on production is a major consideration when comparing corrective maintenance vs preventive maintenance. The latter supports smooth, uninterrupted production by reducing the likelihood of unexpected breakdowns, while corrective maintenance often disrupts production.
Asset downtime is another critical factor when comparing maintenance strategies. Preventive maintenance aims to minimize downtime by addressing potential issues before they cause failure, while corrective maintenance usually results in longer downtime since repairs are made post-failure.
When considering the financial impact, preventive maintenance tends to have lower, more predictable costs spread over time. In contrast, corrective maintenance can be more expensive due to emergency repairs and the potential need for expedited parts or services.
The ideal strategy for most businesses and organizations is a combination of preventive and corrective maintenance. Sounds straightforward, right? But now consider the reality – you likely have numerous assets to manage, each requiring different maintenance schedules, all tied to different vendors, contracts, warranties, and expiration dates. Managing this mess can quickly become overwhelming.
This is where P3 Cost Analysts steps in. We help healthcare providers, educational institutions, government agencies, and commercial businesses streamline and consolidate their equipment maintenance contracts.
By leveraging our extensive network of equipment service providers, P3 becomes your single point of contact, saving you valuable time and up to 20 percent on your equipment maintenance contracts.
Effectively managing both preventive and corrective maintenance is essential for maximizing operational efficiency and controlling costs. By balancing these strategies, your organization can extend the life of its assets, reduce downtime, and make the most of its resources.
However, handling multiple maintenance contracts across various vendors can be a full-time job. P3 Cost Analysts simplifies this complexity by serving as your single point of contact for all maintenance needs, streamlining the process and saving you time and money. With P3 managing your maintenance agreements, you can focus on your core business operations without the hassle of juggling multiple service providers.
To discover how P3 can save you money on your maintenance contracts, contact us today for a free consultation.
