Every hour of uptime is won long before a machine starts. Strong equipment maintenance practices set the conditions for safe operation. When teams know what work to do, when to do it, and how to prove that it was done right, assets run longer and cost less to own.
This guide turns broad advice into a working playbook you can apply to industrial plants, mobile fleets, agricultural operations, and warehouses. It shows how to build a maintenance plan, what to standardize in procedures, and where software supports the work.
What is equipment maintenance?
Equipment maintenance is the ongoing inspection, cleaning, lubrication, adjustment, calibration, and repair of assets to keep them safe, reliable, and productive. It blends routine preventive tasks, condition checks, and corrective work based on standards, manufacturer guidance, and work history, with records that prove quality and timing.
In practice, that means turning failure modes into clear tasks, assigning intervals or triggers, making parts and tools available, and capturing proof for each job. The proof matters. When values, photos, and notes live in the record, you can see trends, justify changes to intervals, and pass audits without a scramble.
Why equipment maintenance matters
The table below breaks down the key reasons maintenance matters and the impact it has across different areas of the business.
| Safety | Reduces injuries, environmental incidents, and emergency callouts |
| Quality | Maintains calibration, lowers scrap rates, and helps meet production specifications |
| Delivery | Minimizes unplanned stoppages and improves schedule adherence |
| Cost | Prevents overtime spikes and rush part orders; planned work is more cost-effective |
| Compliance | Maintains clean records, approvals, and calibration logs for easier audits and inspections |
| Operational Feedback Loop | Work is planned, executed, and reviewed—data drives continuous improvement and reliability |
The four types of maintenance and when to use them
Let’s take a look at the four main types of maintenance and when to apply them.
1. Reactive maintenance
Fix it after it fails. This fits assets where failure is safe, quick to repair, and cheaper than prevention. Think of non-critical lighting or a small fan in a vented area. Use it sparingly, and only where the cost of a breakdown is low.
2. Preventive maintenance (PM)
Service at a set time, cycle, or usage interval to avoid known wear. Examples include quarterly lubrication, replacing belts at 5,000 hours, or annual calibration. This is effective when a modest, regular task avoids a costly breakdown.
3. Condition-based maintenance (CBM)
Watch a parameter and act when it crosses a threshold. Examples include vibration velocity above vendor limits, filter differential pressure above a set target, or lubricant particle counts trending high. CBM reduces waste in fixed schedules and finds issues earlier.
4. Predictive maintenance (PdM)
Use patterns in sensor data and work histories to forecast failure. Examples include machine learning that flags bearing defects from vibration spectra or rising motor current under steady load. PdM is well suited to critical assets where early warning prevents long outages.
The three-type framing and how it maps
Some organizations use three buckets: corrective, preventive, and predictive. In that model, reactive and corrective are grouped together. Condition-based acts as a trigger that may lead to either preventive or corrective work. This mapping keeps the method simple without losing the practical signal of when to act.
Building an equipment maintenance plan that scales
A plan is more than a calendar. It is a system of decisions, documents, and routines that make reliability repeatable.
| Component | Description | Key Outputs |
|---|---|---|
| Asset Register and Criticality | Document each asset with details like tag, model, install date, and role. Assign a criticality rating (Low/Medium/High) based on risk factors. | Complete asset list with criticality score and justification for each asset |
| Failure Modes and Effects | Identify common failure modes, early warning signs, and their impact. Use this to guide maintenance type (PM, CBM, PdM). | A list of failure modes per asset class, with indicators and consequences |
| Task Library | Standardize instructions per asset class. Include steps, inspection points, torque specs, pass/fail criteria, and annotated visuals. | Centralized, detailed procedures with embedded visuals |
| Intervals and Triggers | Define when maintenance happens: by time, use, or condition. Link condition limits to automatic work order creation. | Set schedules and sensor-based triggers for task generation |
| Parts and Tools | Connect BOMs to assets and tasks. Prepare kits for PMs and store special tools where they’re easy to access. | BOMs, reorder points, kitting checklists, and labeled storage for tools |
| Roles and Training | Assign responsibility for key areas like task approval and storeroom rules. Build a skill matrix and maintain certification records. | Defined role ownership and updated training logs |
| Planning and Scheduling | Follow a weekly cycle: plan from backlog, check resources, assign work, review completion. Include values and photo proof. | Weekly plans, backlog status, technician completions |
| Data and Feedback | Capture structured data (e.g., codes for failures and fixes) plus photos and freeform notes. Make the data review-ready and traceable. | Standardized field entries for reporting and analysis |
| Governance | Set version control for all tasks and triggers. Require approval and track outcomes of changes to avoid erosion of plan quality. | Change log with reasons, approvals, and post-change review cycle |
| Review Cadence | Review monthly for compliance, backlog, and cost. Run quarterly adjustments to drop low-value tasks, refine intervals, and optimize resource use. | Monthly compliance and cost reports; quarterly improvement actions |
For a deeper walkthrough on crafting the plan itself, see Equipment Maintenance Planning with CMMS.
Daily care and operator-driven reliability
Operators see and hear their machines in real time. Give them a short, clear routine that fits into production, not after it.
- Cleaning that matters. Clean intakes, fins, light leak points, and areas where debris traps heat. Use a standard for what “clean” looks like, not just “clean as needed.”
- Lubrication at the right cadence. Match interval to duty, not only the calendar. Use the correct grade, volume, and application point. Mark ports to avoid missed or double shots.
- Tighten and inspect. Focus on fasteners that loosen with vibration, guards that are often removed, and belts or chains that stretch.
- Visual and audible checks. Teach operators what normal looks and sounds like. A 60‑second walkaround catches leaks and rubs before they become breakdowns.
- Simple reporting. A quick defect form with a photo, asset ID, and a short picklist for symptoms feeds the maintenance backlog without friction.
If you want a primer on practical cleaning and lubrication routines, review Equipment Cleaning Tips.
Heavy Equipment Maintenance
Bulldozers, loaders, excavators, graders, and mining trucks operate in some of the toughest conditions, such as constant exposure to dust, shock, vibration, and wide temperature swings. Without a strong maintenance program, components wear out quickly. A few key areas need special attention to keep these machines running reliably.
Contamination Control
Clean fluids are essential. Keep breathers and seals in good condition to prevent dirt and moisture from entering the system. Replace filters based on differential pressure readings rather than set intervals or guesswork. Oil should be sampled regularly to monitor wear metals and particle counts, helping identify issues before failure. Lubricants must be stored in sealed containers and filtered before use to maintain cleanliness.
Pins, Bushings, and Undercarriage
These are high-wear areas that demand regular care. Grease intervals should match the duty cycle—heavier use means more frequent lubrication with the right grade. Track tension should be checked daily, as loose or tight tracks can accelerate wear. Instead of running components to failure, flip or replace them according to a plan to prevent damage to mating parts.
Hydraulics and Cooling
Hoses should be checked often for signs of abrasion and age-related wear. Fan performance under load should be verified to ensure proper airflow. Radiators and coolers need to be blown out frequently—especially in dusty environments—to prevent overheating. Coolant chemistry should also be monitored and changed on schedule to maintain system health.
Telematics
Modern machines generate valuable data. Pulling operating hours, load cycles, fault codes, and location into your CMMS allows for more precise scheduling. PMs should be triggered based on runtime hours, not just calendar dates. Alerts for overheating or low-pressure events should be monitored closely to catch issues early.
Operator Walkaround
Operators are the first line of defense. Training them to recognize leaks, loose parts, worn hoses, and unusual noises can prevent bigger failures. Provide a short mobile checklist that allows photo uploads and immediate defect reporting to streamline inspections and action.
Equipment Maintenance Cost and How to Control It
Controlling maintenance costs starts with understanding where the money goes. Most expenses fall into five main categories: labor, materials, downtime, tools and instruments, and software or sensors. By breaking costs down this way, it’s easier to identify inefficiencies and target the areas with the most impact.
Begin by tracking costs per asset and by failure mode. This includes labor hours—both internal teams and contractors—with associated hourly rates. Parts and consumables should be logged with unit pricing and batch or lot tracking when relevant. Downtime should be measured by cost per hour or per unit of production lost. Don’t forget capital spent on tools, instruments, and their calibration schedules, as well as any ongoing costs for software licenses and sensor hardware.
The next step is finding leverage points. For example, if a preventive maintenance task consistently finds no issues, it may be safe to extend the interval or retire the task altogether. On the other hand, if a failure keeps recurring, the fix could involve refining the task itself or adding a condition-based check that would have detected the problem earlier. Stockouts that delay work can be avoided by setting appropriate min/max levels and pre-building kits. If corrective work drags on, look at improving your planning and scheduling processes or reevaluating access timing with operations.
A basic ROI model can guide decisions. Say a recurring failure causes 10 hours of downtime per quarter. If a new PM task can prevent it and only takes 2 hours per month, the cost trade-off is obvious. Focus resources on the tasks that directly reduce risk and cost. That’s where maintenance delivers its real value.
eWorkOrders CMMS: How it supports equipment maintenance
eWorkOrders is a cloud-based CMMS that centralizes assets, work orders, preventive schedules, and maintenance records. It is delivered as web software with mobile access so teams can submit requests, capture photos and readings, and close work from phones, tablets, or computers.
Core functions you can use right away
- Work orders and service requests. Create, route, and track work orders. Open a request portal so staff can submit issues at any time. Link assets and documents to each job.
- Preventive maintenance. Build time or meter-based PMs that generate work automatically. Attach procedures and required documents to standardize quality.
- Asset and EAM records. Keep equipment details, histories, manuals, and photos in one place. Capture meter readings to drive usage-based service.
- Parts and inventory. Track spare parts, link items to assets and tasks, and see usage from completed work.
- Mobile CMMS. Technicians access assignments, checklists, and data capture from the field. Managers see status updates without returning to a desk.
- Checklists. Attach step-by-step lists to work orders so key values and pass or fail results are recorded consistently.
- Dashboards and reports. Monitor PM compliance, backlog, KPIs, and cost drivers with built-in reporting.
- Extras when you need them. GIS mapping, employee time tracking, signature capture, and system integrations are available for more advanced programs.
eWorkOrders is used across many environments, including manufacturing, agriculture, restaurants, utilities, public works, and healthcare. This breadth makes it easier to standardize maintenance while adapting task libraries by site.
Next step: If you want to validate workflows against your process, start with a short demo and asset import to see PM generation, mobile closeout, and reporting in one run-through.
Conclusion
Reliable operations come from a simple formula: clear tasks, smart triggers, parts ready before work starts, and proof in the record. When daily care, PMs, and condition checks are tied to real failure modes, assets run longer, quality holds steady, and costs become predictable.
Software makes the routine easier and the results visible. To this end, eWorkOrders CMMS helps teams load assets, generate PMs on schedule, standardize checklists, manage parts, and report on performance without extra admin work. If you want to see these workflows on your data, request a short demo with eWorkOrders and map the next steps for your site.
FAQs
The four types are reactive, preventive, condition-based, and predictive. Reactive repairs the asset after a failure and only suits low-risk items. Preventive follows a time, cycle, or usage schedule to head off known wear. Condition-based watches a parameter and triggers work when a limit is crossed. Predictive uses patterns in sensor data and history to forecast failure far enough in advance to plan the fix.
In the three-type model, maintenance is corrective, preventive, and predictive. Corrective covers breakdown repairs and defects found during inspections that require follow-up work. Preventive is planned service at defined intervals or runtimes. Predictive uses monitored data and analytics to signal when a fault is likely. Many teams use corrective for low-risk assets and blend preventive and predictive for higher-impact equipment.
An equipment maintenance plan is a documented system that defines tasks, intervals or triggers, roles, parts, and the standards used to keep assets reliable. It includes an asset register with criticality, a task library with pass or fail criteria, and clear scheduling rules. Parts, tools, and training requirements are linked so jobs can start on time. The plan sets KPIs such as PM compliance and backlog health, plus change control to update intervals and procedures after review. A monthly review and quarterly refresh keep it aligned with real failure patterns.
Use a layered approach that combines daily operator care, scheduled preventive tasks, condition checks, and planned corrective repairs. Standardize procedures with checklists, torque values, tolerances, and required photos so quality is consistent. Capture meter readings and measurements during the job to build a trustworthy history. Keep parts ready through kitting and min or max levels tied to recurring work. Use a CMMS to schedule, route, and report, then tune intervals and task content based on results.
