February 13, 2025

Preventative Maintenance: Mastering Maintenance Scheduling for Success

Most businesses understand the importance of preventive maintenance. Do you have assets in your company? They range from buildings and other structures to vehicles to equipment. They all require preventive maintenance (PM).

What Is Preventative Maintenance and Why Does It Matter?

We'll talk more about the importance of PMs, but how do you define it? Simply: Routine activities to keep your assets operating at a baseline functionality. Let's break down this sentence.

Routine – When you devise your PM plan (also discussed later), you decide how often to execute the maintenance. You base your time frames on manufacturer recommendations, regulations, or maintenance history.

The cycles all depend on the asset. They range from daily to annually.

Activities – What kind of activities will you perform? PMs usually consist of:

• Inspections. Examples include roofing, siding, foundation, general equipment, inspections of ground, etc.
• Lubrication. Examples include oil changes, adding grease and other lubricants to machines and equipment, etc.
• Cleaning. Examples include washing, buffing, sanitizing, and waxing. Asset examples: Siding, parking lots, sidewalks, carpets, vehicles, floors, stairwells, processing equipment, etc.
• Equipment readings. As part of the process, you might track certain readings to determine the scheduling of PMs. PSI, temperature, levels, miles driven, hours in operation, etc.

Assets – Review the list above.

Baseline functionality – How do you measure what this is? You can use three methods, as explained by the Connair Group.

Ready to revolutionize your maintenance department? Schedule a live demo today.

Planning vs. Scheduling: The Keys to Maintenance Schedule Success

You plan before you schedule. In essence, you plan what you'll schedule. Planning involves putting together a list of what activities you'll do. Review the list of different PMs from above.

You might include the list of parts and supplies needed for each PM. This enhances the efficiency of the technician. Scheduling defines when and which technicians do the jobs.

In your maintenance department, the supervisor may do both planning and scheduling. Or you might employ a specific scheduler.

While we'll discuss some specifics to aid in your scheduling success, be aware that scores of factors affect both planning and scheduling. To sort out everything, look no further than the definitive guide by Doc Palmer.

The Benefits of Preventative Maintenance Scheduling

Think about the importance of preventive maintenance in general. Compare them with why you need successful scheduling.

• Extending asset life. For example, you conduct routine PMs on your car because you don't want to have to purchase a replacement every year or two.
• Reduce safety risks. Catching issues before they become urgent keeps your safety record intact. You conduct PMs for the safety of fellow employees and visitors.
• Reduce costs. All of these benefits affect expenses. Buying new equipment. Safety costs. Unplanned downtime means loss of production, missed deadlines, and a marring of reputation.
• Reduced unplanned downtime. As mentioned, you risk holding up the entire line with equipment unexpectedly failing. While you can't eliminate all incidents, PMs reduce them.
• Increased productivity. A quality PM plan means your team stays productive as well as fellow employees. You can see how these easily transfer to the list of PM scheduling benefits. What others go on this list?
• Accountability. Scheduling helps you see an overall picture of maintenance activities. You can spot-check quality work. Did Bob complete the job assigned to him? How well? Was it effective? Will the asset require further work?
• Efficiency. You estimate completion times. Therefore, you keep your team constantly busy. You don't overwhelm them with work, but you don't want them sitting around for hours at a time with nothing.

Steps to Build an Effective Maintenance Schedule

Let's say you've been operating under a reactive mindset. This means you've been conducting maintenance only when assets fail. While some companies do benefit from this type of strategy, it risks so many problems.

Companies justify this as saving costs. You don't need a large crew or a lot of overhead in stock. However, in time, you might see those unplanned downtime incidents increase. As mentioned, this increases costs. Overtime, loss of production, emergency purchases, etc.

To get you started on successful maintenance management, let's look at the basic steps to creating quality scheduling.

1. Know your stuff. This means you must have skills and talents geared toward the company and assets. You'll hire similarly skilled team members.
2. Know your assets. Make a list of them. Understand what PMs they need. Note criticality. For example, if one machine breaks down, how does it affect the rest of the production line? Do you have workarounds?
Read manufacturer guidelines. Understand how it ages and the potential problems throughout the years.
3. Know your priority. How important are deadlines? Do you need to complete a certain PM by X date or does it allow for leeway? For example, annual inspections to prepare for the winter months. You have a wider date range for this than you'd have for other PMs.
4. Schedule the PMs. Have a calendar that provides you access to the entire year or longer. That way, you can look at upcoming PMs and prepare your team.
5. Monitor and adjust. Review all operations and policies. Where can you strengthen weak points? What problems hamper next week's schedule? Scheduling helps anticipate challenges.

How a CMMS Enhances Maintenance Scheduling Efficiency

Does your company utilize a computerized maintenance management system? This software's versatility means it handles numerous industries and companies.

A quality CMMS has a place to list your assets, inventory, and PMs. Convert those PMs into work orders. Look for a scheduling calendar, one with a drag-and-drop capability. When you schedule your PMS and other work orders, the system notifies the assigned worker.

With a CMMS, you have easy access to upcoming activities. You can see open and backlogged work orders. You have better accountability for the department including attainment percentages and costs.

A CMMS offers numerous reports on all sorts of information that will help in future budgeting and scheduling.

Why Preventative Maintenance Scheduling Is Essential

Consider planning the first step in success. You can plan, but will you act? Scheduling—step two—means you have more accountability in your planning. You see upcoming maintenance jobs. You cannot overstate the importance of preventive maintenance. Make sure you have proper scheduling to achieve success.

CMMS software goes a long way to organizing your current maintenance operations. Preventive maintenance lies near the heart of this system. You can do so much in and around PMs to meet your goals.

Ready to see how a superior CMMS can work for your company? Schedule a demo with Mapcon Technologies. 800-922-4336

Discover how streamlined maintenance processes can elevate production. Learn more.