For facility and maintenance managers, the pressure is constant: improve operational efficiency, extend asset life, and control spending. Navigating these demands without objective data is like steering a ship in the fog. This is where tracking the right Maintenance KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) becomes essential. These metrics provide clear, quantifiable insights into the effectiveness of your maintenance operations, transforming your department from a reactive cost center into a strategic, data-driven function that directly impacts the bottom line.
By consistently measuring performance, you can identify trends, diagnose problems before they escalate, and justify resource allocation with hard numbers. The right set of KPIs helps you cut maintenance costs, boost team productivity, and ensure critical equipment remains reliable. This guide details 12 essential Maintenance KPIs that provide a comprehensive view of your operations, empowering you to gain control, reduce downtime, and optimize your maintenance strategy for maximum return on investment.
Why Tracking Maintenance KPIs is Non-Negotiable
Consistently tracking maintenance performance metrics moves your team from guesswork to strategic management. It provides the objective evidence needed to make smarter decisions, prove value, and drive continuous improvement across your facility.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Replace assumptions with objective data to accurately identify performance gaps, allocate budget, and deploy technicians where they are needed most.
- Improved Asset Reliability: Monitor asset health and performance trends to predict failures, schedule proactive maintenance, and extend the useful life of your critical equipment.
- Cost Control and Budgeting: Use historical KPI data to build accurate forecasts, justify maintenance budgets, and pinpoint specific areas for targeted cost reduction.
- Enhanced Team Productivity: Set clear performance benchmarks for your maintenance team, measure their effectiveness, and demonstrate their direct contribution to organizational goals.
- Safety and Compliance: Track metrics related to safety procedures and scheduled inspections to help ensure a secure work environment and meet regulatory standards.
The ROI of Data-Driven Maintenance
When tracked within a robust Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS), these KPIs deliver measurable financial and operational returns. The data shows a clear path from measurement to improvement.
- Implementing a CMMS for preventive maintenance can reduce equipment downtime by up to 20%.
- Organizations that shift from reactive to proactive maintenance can cut overall maintenance costs by 15-30%.
- Effective KPI tracking can improve maintenance labor productivity by 10-20% within the first year.
- The average CMMS implementation for a mid-sized facility can be completed in 4-6 weeks, offering a rapid return on investment.
How We Selected These KPIs
The metrics in this list were chosen to provide a balanced and actionable view of maintenance performance. Our selection was guided by criteria that prioritize real-world impact and usability for facility managers across industries.
- Business Impact: Each KPI directly correlates with key business outcomes, including operational uptime, cost efficiency, and asset longevity.
- Holistic View: We included a mix of leading indicators (which predict future performance) and lagging indicators (which measure past results) for a comprehensive perspective.
- Actionability: These are not vanity metrics. Each one provides clear insights that can be tracked, managed, and improved using a modern CMMS platform.
- Industry Relevance: The selection focuses on standard KPIs that are applicable across a wide range of sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, and commercial facilities management.
Top 10 Maintenance KPIs to Start Tracking
Implementing a KPI program doesn’t have to be complex. Start with a focused set of metrics that align with your most critical operational goals. The following 10 KPIs provide a powerful foundation for building a data-driven maintenance strategy.
1. Mean Time To Repair (MTTR)
Role: Lagging Indicator of Responsiveness
Snapshot: MTTR measures the average time it takes to repair a failed asset, from the moment the failure is reported until the equipment is back in service. This includes notification time, diagnosis, sourcing parts, the actual repair, and testing. It is a core metric for assessing the efficiency and speed of your repair processes. A consistently high MTTR can indicate issues with technician skill levels, parts availability, or poor diagnostic procedures. Tracking this KPI helps you identify bottlenecks in your response workflow and pinpoint opportunities to streamline repairs and minimize costly downtime.
Core Strength: It directly quantifies the efficiency of your team’s repair process.
Best For: Organizations focused on minimizing production downtime and improving technician effectiveness.
Pro Tip: Use a CMMS to automatically log start and end times on work orders.
2. Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
Role: Leading Indicator of Reliability
Snapshot: MTBF calculates the average operational time between one asset failure and the next. Unlike MTTR, which measures repair speed, MTBF measures asset reliability and the effectiveness of your maintenance strategy. A higher MTBF indicates a more reliable piece of equipment and suggests that preventive maintenance, lubrication schedules, and operator care are working effectively. Consistently tracking MTBF for critical assets helps you forecast future failures, optimize PM schedules, and make informed decisions about asset replacement versus continued repair, ultimately extending the productive life of your equipment.
Core Strength: It provides a clear, data-backed measurement of asset reliability over time.
Best For: Asset-intensive industries where equipment reliability is critical to operations and revenue.
Pro Tip: Focus on improving MTBF for your most critical and failure-prone assets first.
3. Preventive Maintenance Compliance (PMC)
Role: Leading Indicator of Proactiveness
Snapshot: PMC measures the percentage of scheduled preventive maintenance tasks that are completed within a specific timeframe (typically within a 10% window of the due date). This KPI is a direct reflection of your team’s ability to execute its proactive maintenance plan. A high PMC score indicates a disciplined and well-managed maintenance program that is actively working to prevent failures rather than just reacting to them. Low compliance can signal issues with resource allocation, scheduling, or a team culture that prioritizes reactive work over planned tasks, increasing the risk of unexpected breakdowns.
Core Strength: It measures how well your team adheres to its proactive maintenance strategy.
Best For: Any organization aiming to shift from a reactive to a proactive maintenance culture.
Pro Tip: Aim for a PMC score of 90% or higher for critical assets.
4. Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP)
Role: Indicator of Strategic Control
Snapshot: PMP calculates the proportion of total maintenance hours spent on planned activities (like preventive and predictive maintenance) versus unplanned, emergency repairs. It serves as a high-level indicator of how much control you have over your maintenance operations. A high PMP suggests a proactive, well-organized department that dictates the schedule, while a low PMP indicates a reactive environment where unexpected breakdowns consume the majority of resources. By striving to increase your PMP, you reduce the chaos and high costs associated with emergency work and create a more stable, predictable, and efficient operation.
Core Strength: It shows whether your maintenance is proactive and scheduled or reactive and chaotic.
Best For: Managers seeking to quantify the shift from reactive to proactive maintenance efforts.
Pro Tip: A world-class PMP is often cited as 80% planned work or higher.
5. Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
Role: Composite Indicator of Asset Performance
Snapshot: OEE is a comprehensive metric that measures the overall productivity of a piece of equipment by combining three distinct factors: Availability, Performance, and Quality. Availability tracks downtime losses (planned and unplanned). Performance measures speed losses (running slower than ideal cycle time). Quality accounts for defect losses (parts that don’t meet standards). The resulting OEE score, expressed as a percentage, provides a complete picture of an asset’s performance. It helps teams identify the specific reasons for productivity loss and focus improvement efforts where they will have the greatest impact.
Core Strength: It combines availability, performance, and quality into a single, powerful productivity score.
Best For: Manufacturing and production environments focused on maximizing asset output and efficiency.
Pro Tip: Use OEE data to pinpoint whether downtime, speed, or quality is your biggest problem.
6. Maintenance Backlog
Role: Indicator of Workload and Resource Balance
Snapshot: The maintenance backlog represents the total amount of identified but uncompleted maintenance work, typically measured in estimated labor hours. This includes all pending preventive, corrective, and improvement tasks. While some backlog is normal and necessary for efficient scheduling, an excessively large or growing backlog indicates that more work is being generated than completed. This can signal understaffing, inefficient work processes, or a lack of necessary parts. Monitoring the backlog helps managers balance workload with resources, justify staffing needs, and ensure that important work isn’t indefinitely deferred.
Core Strength: It provides a clear view of the team’s current and future workload.
Best For: Managers needing to justify staffing levels and manage workload effectively.
Pro Tip: A healthy backlog is typically 2-4 weeks’ worth of work for the team.
7. Schedule Compliance
Role: Indicator of Planning and Execution
Snapshot: Schedule compliance measures the percentage of scheduled maintenance work orders that are completed within the planned week. This KPI evaluates the effectiveness of both the maintenance planning/scheduling process and the team’s ability to execute that plan. A high score indicates that planning is realistic, resources are available as expected, and the team is disciplined in following the schedule. Low schedule compliance often points to problems like poor job time estimates, frequent interruptions from emergency work, or parts unavailability, all of which undermine the efficiency gained from proactive planning.
Core Strength: It measures the effectiveness of your maintenance planning and scheduling process.
Best For: Teams focused on improving work execution and minimizing wasted time between jobs.
Pro Tip: Analyze reasons for non-compliance to improve future planning and scheduling accuracy.
8. Maintenance Cost as a Percentage of Replacement Asset Value (RAV)
Role: Financial Indicator of Asset Management
Snapshot: This financial KPI compares the total annual maintenance cost for an asset against its estimated replacement value. It provides a powerful tool for making strategic, long-term decisions about equipment. If the annual cost to maintain an asset begins to approach a significant percentage of its replacement value (e.g., 5-10%), it may be more cost-effective to replace it rather than continue to invest in repairs. This metric helps justify capital expenditure requests with clear financial data and ensures that maintenance spending is economically sound, preventing over-investment in aging or unreliable equipment.
Core Strength: It provides a clear financial benchmark for repair-versus-replace decisions.
Best For: Capital planning, budgeting, and making data-driven asset lifecycle decisions.
Pro Tip: A common benchmark is to consider replacement when annual costs exceed 6% of RAV.
9. Emergency Work Percentage
Role: Indicator of Proactive Strategy Failure
Snapshot: This KPI measures the percentage of all maintenance labor hours that are spent on unscheduled, emergency work. It is a direct reflection of the effectiveness of your preventive and predictive maintenance programs. A high percentage of emergency work indicates a highly reactive maintenance environment, which is significantly more expensive and disruptive than planned work. It leads to higher overtime costs, rushed repairs, and increased safety risks. Tracking and actively working to reduce this percentage is a primary goal for any team aiming to become more proactive, stable, and cost-effective.
Core Strength: It clearly quantifies the level of reactive chaos in your operations.
Best For: Organizations trying to measure the success of their shift toward proactive maintenance.
Pro Tip: Aim to keep emergency work below 10% of total maintenance hours.
10. Asset Uptime
Role: High-Level Indicator of Reliability
Snapshot: Asset Uptime, often expressed as a percentage, measures the amount of time a piece of equipment is operational and available to perform its function. It is the inverse of downtime. This KPI provides a simple, high-level view of asset reliability and the overall success of the maintenance function. For production-critical assets, maximizing uptime is the primary goal. Tracking this metric helps demonstrate the maintenance department’s direct contribution to operational output and revenue generation. It is a powerful KPI to communicate the value of maintenance to executive leadership and other departments.
Core Strength: It is a simple, powerful metric that communicates overall asset availability.
Best For: Communicating maintenance performance and its impact on production to senior leadership.
Pro Tip: Set specific uptime targets for your most critical assets and track them daily.
How to Get Started with eWorkOrders
Implementing a system to track your maintenance performance is straightforward. Our process is designed to get you the insights you need quickly and efficiently.
- Tell us about your maintenance management needs (quick online form or call).
- Get a live demo of eWorkOrders CMMS/EAM software to see how it can simplify your maintenance operations.
- Receive a customized plan to streamline your workflows — from work orders and preventive maintenance to asset tracking and inventory control.
- Start using an award-winning CMMS trusted by thousands of businesses across industries including manufacturing, healthcare, food & beverage, and facilities management.
- Work with our expert support team with 30+ years of experience delivering top-rated service, training, and implementation.
Why Choose eWorkOrders CMMS?
Our platform is built to deliver tangible results by making data collection and analysis simple and automatic. We provide the tools you need to move from reactive to data-driven maintenance.
- Award-winning CMMS and EAM software trusted by thousands of organizations across manufacturing, healthcare, food & beverage, utilities, and facilities management.
- Over 30 years of experience delivering proven maintenance management solutions and exceptional customer support.
- Cloud-based platform with real-time visibility into work orders, assets, preventive maintenance, and inventory control.
- Flexible configuration, mobile access, and API integration to fit any organization’s maintenance workflows and compliance needs.
- Recognized by G2, Capterra, and Software Advice for Best Value, Ease of Use, and Customer Support.
From Metrics to Mastery
Managing a modern facility effectively requires more than intuition; it demands clear, objective data to guide your decisions. Consistently tracking the right metrics is the most reliable way to boost efficiency, control costs, and maximize the uptime of your critical assets. While the concept is simple, the execution relies on having the right tools. A robust CMMS like eWorkOrders is the engine that powers effective KPI tracking, automating data collection and transforming raw numbers into actionable reports and dashboards. By embracing this data-driven approach, you can master your operations and prove the strategic value of your department. Take the first step toward optimizing your facility by tracking the right Maintenance KPIs. Book a demo today!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How many maintenance KPIs should we track?
Start with 3-5 KPIs that align directly with your department’s most critical goals, such as reducing downtime or cutting costs. It’s more effective to master a few key metrics before expanding to avoid getting overwhelmed by data.
What is the difference between leading and lagging KPIs?
Lagging KPIs (e.g., Mean Time To Repair) measure past performance and tell you what has already happened. Leading KPIs (e.g., Preventive Maintenance Compliance) are predictive and help forecast future outcomes, allowing you to be more proactive. A balanced strategy uses both.
How does a CMMS make tracking KPIs easier?
A CMMS automates data collection from work orders, asset records, and inventory logs. It then processes this data into real-time dashboards and reports, eliminating manual spreadsheet work and providing accurate, instant insights without the risk of human error.
Can we track these KPIs without a CMMS?
While it is technically possible with spreadsheets, it is highly inefficient, extremely prone to error, and lacks real-time visibility. A CMMS is the standard, essential tool for any serious maintenance operation aiming for data-driven improvement and operational excellence.
