Preparing a maintenance plan in 5 steps

The preparation and implementation of a preventive maintenance plan makes it possible to reduce the number of unexpected production stoppages due to breakdowns or malfunctions, and thus improve the productivity of industrial companies.

Learn in this article:

• What is a preventive maintenance plan
• What steps should be taken to create effective maintenance plans
• What tools will allow you to do so
• the conditions for an effective maintenance plan

Follow the guide to better manage your maintenance and program your tasks in your CMMS!

What is a preventive maintenance plan?

The term “preventive maintenance” refers to all technical operations scheduled to anticipate equipment malfunctions. A maintenance plan is based on the following criteria:

• regulatory provisions which require periodic checks on certain machines or infrastructures in order to meet these standards;
• Recommendations from manufacturers, important to be able to enforce warranty or quality assurance in the event of a failure;
• observations during use, on the technical behavior of the equipment (via reports) and on the feedback from users.

The prerequisites of a preventive maintenance plan

Before setting up a maintenance plan, it is important to respect certain prerequisites.

Determine the scope of intervention

First of all, it is necessary to specify the scope (s) of intervention, in particular to distinguish the systems or subsystems concerned. To do this, three approaches should be preferred: take an interest in regulatory provisions, take into account what the machine manufacturer recommends, study the past behavior of equipment, both technically and thanks to user feedback.

Select maintenance levels to apply

We generally distinguish three types of preventive maintenance: systematic, conditional and predictive.

Systematic maintenance means determining a regular maintenance plan, with the replacement of parts according to a schedule based on their foreseeable lifespan.

Conditional maintenance is based on the monitoring of equipment and on the observation of certain parameters which, if they reach a certain value, triggers a maintenance operation.

Predictive maintenance, also called predictive maintenance, is based, according to AFNOR, “on forecasts extrapolated from the analysis and evaluation of significant parameters of the deterioration of a property” (NF EN 13306 X 60-319). This makes it possible to define for each piece of equipment the maintenance operations that apply, the monitoring parameters, the monitoring parameters, the reference values and the alarm thresholds, the frequency of monitoring or replacement, the types of personnel and the material resources to be implemented.

The 5 steps to follow to develop an effective maintenance plan

Here are the 5 general steps you need to take to develop effective maintenance plans:

• Define the preventive operations to be carried out, according to what the manufacturer recommends, the regulations and the behavior of the equipment;
• Define the systematic maintenance operations : periodicity, material and human resources, operating process, chronology...
• Define the conditional and predictive maintenance operations : parameters, alarm thresholds, data acquisition mode, periodicity...
• draw up a preventive maintenance file bringing together all the information, action plans and interventions carried out;
• determine the optimal workload.

To apply all these principles, it seems essential to equip yourself with relevant tools.

CMMS, an essential tool for preventive maintenance

A CMMS software is an essential tool for setting up a quality preventive maintenance plan.

Choosing the best CMMS solution

There are a lot of CMMS software out there. However, “conventional” solutions are generally expensive and cumbersome to install and use. They require a significant investment both in terms of purchase and in training costs for future users.

In recent years, new generation solutions such as the Mobility Work application have emerged. This type of platform makes it possible to improve daily maintenance routines thanks to an ergonomic user-centered interface, mobile use, calendars and alarms, simplified document management, etc.

Teams organize their working day using the calendar on their maintenance management platform.

How to prepare a maintenance plan on a CMMS 4.0 application

To create a calendar maintenance plan, you need to:

• select the type of event to be created (weekly, monthly, annual);
• Choose the periodicity ;
• Choose the number of repetitions;
• select the equipment (s) to which this planning will apply;
• select the operators who will carry out maintenance operations;
• add keywords, in order to optimize the analysis of the maintenance plan and to provide information to users;
• determine the deadline;
• Determine the Expected downtime of the machine;
• Determine the planned intervention time, in order to warn production managers of the potential duration of machine downtime;
• add documentation, which will be available for consultation at each operation.

Consult all your maintenance plans in Mobility Work CMMS

The conditions for the efficiency of an industrial maintenance plan

For an industrial maintenance plan to be effective, three main conditions must be met.

Technical and monitoring elements

On the one hand, it is important that the technical documentation provided by the manufacturer is easily accessible to all operators likely to intervene on a machine. Thanks to a new generation CMMS solution, it's easy. Indeed, all document formats can be downloaded into the application and thus remain available from any connected mobile device (smartphone, tablet, etc.).

On the other hand, surveillance means must be put in place : sensors, vibration analyzers, cameras, etc. With CMMS 4.0, it is possible to connect these resources with the application to facilitate the analysis of the data they provide. In addition, a QR code can be installed on each equipment to allow very quick identification.

Scan equipment QR codes with your smartphone

Seamless communication

It is essential that the communication between the various stakeholders is sufficiently fluid, in particular between technicians, maintenance managers and manufacturer teams.

Thanks to the community operation inspired by the social networks of the Mobility Work application and the integrated messaging, this condition is easy to meet. A community can thus be created and configured for each maintenance plan, allowing very fluid communication between all the collaborators involved in this plan.

A favorable organizational context

The existence of a favourable organizational context is fundamental. Each maintenance plan must always be up to date, and the organization of the company, including precise procedures and a sufficient degree of formality, must facilitate its execution.

To do this, the adherence of all teams to the CMMS tool used is crucial. Having an intuitive tool that is as easy to use as everyday applications can considerably help to gain this support and to promote the full involvement of teams.

We can therefore see that the implementation of effective industrial maintenance plans depends on numerous parameters. In addition to the essential prerequisites, it is important to respect certain steps, but also to use a new generation and adapted CMMS tool that will make it possible to meet all the conditions favorable to the effectiveness of preventive maintenance.