Utilizing Reactive, Preventive, Predictive, and Proactive Maintenance Strategies
Maintenance is a delicate balance. If a key piece of equipment needs to be serviced, will a facility lose more time, money, and capacity by taking it offline for maintenance, or waiting for it to break down and repairing it? The best maintenance strategies save time and money. Generally, there are four different strategies that facility managers can employ to ensure that their operation stays as productive as possible.
Reactive Strategies
Reactive strategies involve repairing equipment when it breaks down. This means that the facility manager waits for a system or piece of equipment to go down before it receives needed attention. It has some appeal because it allows facilities to run assets without needing to spend time, money, or labor on preventative strategies. It's also useful for equipment that's old, obsolete, or near the end of its working life -- situations where preventative maintenance is unlikely to extend or improve its capacity. All that aside, this generally isn't a good long-term strategy. Reacting involves acting at the moment, without concern for the future. It's not uncommon for it to cost more to repair a machine than it would to properly maintain it. Some repairs are also extensive enough to completely wipe out any additional production gained with this strategy. Downtime is also unpredictable, which means it can happen right in the middle of peak work hours. Reactive maintenance is a strategy that yields short-term gains, in exchange for long-term expenses.
Preventative Strategies
Preventative maintenance aims to catch small problems before they become large ones. It involves periodically taking equipment or systems offline for regular maintenance before breakdowns occur. this strategy aims to reduce overall downtime, save money, and extend the life of key assets. With this strategy, scheduling is important. If it's done at the wrong time, preventative maintenance can cut into a facility's production. This kind of maintenance can also be more difficult to justify since it involves taking assets down while they're still operating normally and spending money on spare parts before the original parts have worn out. Human error also means that unscheduled repairs will sometimes be necessary.
Predictive Strategies
This kind of maintenance involves inspecting assets in order to predict failures. It sometimes relies on machine learning algorithms, electric sensors, infrared cameras, and other high-tech tools. For example, if a piece of equipment begins to fail to meet its production goals, the sensors will pick up on it, relay this information to the algorithm, and send an alert. It can help save time and money when compared to preventative maintenance since it relies on actual preliminary signs of failure as opposed to an arbitrary schedule. The main downside to this strategy is that it requires a higher upfront cost and a greater ability to manage a complex data ecosystem. Algorithms need to be trained, which takes time. Some sensors also have difficulty picking up on certain types of equipment damage, including all-over wear and tear. This strategy can save time and money when compared to reactive or preventative maintenance, but repairs and scheduled downtime are still likely to factor in now and then.
Proactive Strategies
Proactive maintenance combines elements of the other strategies, like monitoring asset health and operation, along with exerting control over the environmental factors that contribute to asset failure. For example, if dust or other contaminants cause extra wear and tear on an HVAC system, a proactive maintenance strategy would involve using prefilters to catch them. If heat is a problem for a key piece of equipment, better ventilation or climate control would be proactive. This strategy will vary a lot from facility to facility. While it's generally less expensive than reactive, preventative, or predictive maintenance, it does require that facility managers and employees perform their due diligence. This kind of maintenance can also involve more employee training to control the external factors that lead to asset failure.
Leveraging the Strengths of Each Strategy
Even with the best, most efficient maintenance strategy in place, unexpected repairs and unscheduled downtime will happen. The best plans combine elements of all of these, to prevent as much unscheduled downtime as possible, for the lowest cost possible. Proactive strategies will reduce wear and tear, but can't correct for everything. That's where predictive maintenance comes in -- sensors and algorithms can tell when assets need servicing. Since sensors can't detect every type of damage, preventative maintenance and inspections can catch any remaining problems before they start. Even with all of these strategies in place, repairs will still be necessary from time to time. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each will help facility managers understand where to most efficiently employ them in their individual facilities. Few facility managers stick to only one or two maintenance strategies. There's a place for each one, depending on the circumstances. By knowing which to rely on, and when, you can make your operation run as efficiently as possible.
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