How To Improve Preventative Maintenance Systems
Planned preventative maintenance is an approach designed to have pre-emptive intervention before an asset fails based on time and usage.
By adding an element of time planning to maintenance, planned preventative maintenance increases both the reliability and efficiency of assets, reduces the likelihood of unplanned downtime, and allows maintenance managers to organise their team and resources better.
Having preventative maintenance software in place provides businesses with the platform and capabilities to establish and maintain planned maintenance activities. Correct maintenance of assets means that they will likely function for longer (versus a run to fail approach) and improves asset reliability, meaning minimal equipment failures and reduced downtime.
In this article we will be taking a closer look at how we can improve preventative maintenance plans for facility and building managers.
A reactive maintenance approach focuses on repairing equipment and assets when there is a fault; reacting to problems as they arise, allowing facilities maintenance professionals to focus on planned and proactive maintenance processes.
On the other hand, planned preventative approaches aim to keep assets in good working order, thereby reducing – or eliminating – unplanned downtime.
As any facility manager or business owner knows, maintenance costs are crucial to stay on top of and, ideally, have some insight into moving forwards. Using a resource modelling tool allows you to produce in-depth annual maintenance costs and identify your precise planned maintenance needs and resource requirements.
Furthermore, the implementation of advanced technology has changed the landscape of practically every industry. Today, many of the most crucial facilities maintenance tools are various softwares designed to facilitate a variety of critical tasks and processes.
Maintenance plans and tasks can become heavy and tedious, and the manual and administrative processes can feel never-ending. Thankfully, we are living in a digital era where you are able to use software tools to standardise your maintenance scheduling, checklists and reporting to provide a single source of truth for all of your maintenance activities, regardless of whether you work in-house or outsource your maintenance operations.
SFG20 is the industry standard for planned preventative maintenance, it provides facilities managers, building owners and contractors alike with up-to-date schedules of maintenance activities. You'll also never have to worry about compliance, as its cloud-based software updates schedules to align with legislation changes and current best practices.
Asset management or ‘asset mapping’ software is an industry-first and swiftly becoming a must-have for businesses across a wide range of sectors. Businesses that do not use asset mapping software tools can spend as much as 12 months surveying assets and identifying the relevant planned maintenance schedules.
Asset mapping software allows you to upload, map and model your asset information and instantly link it to a relevant maintenance schedule. While this may sound simple, you’d be astounded to learn how much time, money and energy goes into this process — all of which could be saved and reinvested into other crucial areas of your organisation.
A final tip worth mentioning is the value of bespoke sector solutions. Services like SFG20 will partner with your business to fully optimise your maintenance needs. A team of experts, put together explicitly for specialist sectors such as retail, education, and rail, support your business by creating cost-effective maintenance regimes for tendering, auditing, and contract management activities.
