Guide to Asset Maintenance Management

Asset maintenance management involves a wide range of activities intended to optimize the availability, performance, productivity, and lifetime value of business equipment. 

Why is asset maintenance important? 

A strong maintenance program is central to carrying out most asset management responsibilities. Maintenance teams typically take a lead role in activities like routine inspections, regular preventive maintenance, and emergency repairs in order to ensure assets continue working productively. 

With a solid asset management foundation, your maintenance team has the information and structure it needs to extend the lifespan of your assets, make more informed decisions about repairs or equipment replacement, ensure optimal functionality throughout the asset lifecycle, and minimize the impacts of both planned and unplanned downtime. 

Types of asset maintenance management strategies

Effective asset maintenance management involves a wide range of activities performed on many different types of assets. In order to use your technicians’ time and other resources wisely, it is smart to use a mix of maintenance strategies to optimize the health and performance of assets.  

In an office setting, for instance, facility maintenance could range from servicing computer workstations, conducting fire safety system checks, and seasonal HVAC cleaning to overseeing parking lot repairs. In an industrial setting, many of these same functions will apply, but your asset maintenance management strategy may also include responsibilities such as equipment calibration, troubleshooting, parts replacement, and more. 

Below are some of the most common strategies – listed in order of complexity – used to maintain assets, keep them healthy, and reduce the likelihood of failure. 

Reactive maintenance

Reactive maintenance, sometimes referred to as “run-to-failure” maintenance, is when maintenance activities are only initiated after an asset failure or serious performance issue has been identified. Some organizations choose a reactive maintenance strategy because it carries few, if any, upfront costs and requires little to no maintenance planning. 

While it may be a cost-effective approach to maintaining non-critical assets where the impact of failure is minimal, it carries a few notable drawbacks. Those initial cost savings are often eclipsed by higher long-term costs resulting from unexpected downtime, emergency repairs, last-minute parts ordering, and a reduced useful life expectancy for critical assets.

Proactive and preventive maintenance 

Proactive maintenance refers to a number of maintenance strategies that are intended to emphasize maintenance work that is intended to keep a machine healthy, thereby preventing equipment failures or problems and extending periods of uptime.  These tasks can include regular inspections, routine testing, calibration, cleaning, lubrication, replacement of worn parts, and more. 

The term proactive maintenance” can refer to any approach to maintenance where machines are serviced prior to a breakdown or failure. This includes strategies like preventive maintenance (PM) which requires the planning and scheduling of maintenance tasks according to time or usage intervals, to condition-based maintenance (CBM) which leverages condition monitoring sensors and tools to monitor an asset’s condition and trigger maintenance based on signs of deterioration or less-than-optimal operation. 

Predictive maintenance 

One of the more advanced maintenance strategies, predictive maintenance (PdM) relies on advanced data analytics and leading-edge technology to anticipate equipment issues and deploy maintenance teams accordingly. 

Predictive maintenance leverages emerging tools like big data, machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT) technology to gather troves of data on machine performance, condition, and failure patterns. Systems then use that data to predict equipment failures before they occur and trigger the most cost-effective maintenance activities possible to avoid that potential failure. 

This approach builds performance forecasts based on a combination of historical data and real-time data, and consequently determines when maintenance activities should be performed.

The principles of asset maintenance management

While the exact functions of your maintenance team may depend on your equipment and industry, some core tenets can lead to successful asset maintenance in any industry context. 

• Comprehensive asset inventory includes equipment, machinery, and vehicles, as well as asset information such as make, model, serial number, location, maintenance history, and usage patterns, centralizing all useful asset details in one accessible location.
• Routine inspections and internal audits enable maintenance teams to identify potential issues before they escalate into breakdowns, safety risks, or compliance failures.
• Preventive Maintenance (PM) planning, with comprehensive maintenance scheduling built around a combination of manufacturer recommendations, regulatory requirements, safety standards, industry best practices, and internal standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Well-trained maintenance team armed with the skills, knowledge, and experience to handle various maintenance challenges, ensure regulatory compliance, and adhere to established best practices.
• Data-driven decision-making with historical and real-time data playing an important role in guiding maintenance strategies, optimizing maintenance schedules, and improving asset reliability.
• Collaboration and communication between maintenance managers or facilities managers and their teams improves decision-making and overall results. 
• Automation to streamline routine aspects of asset maintenance management such as workflows, maintenance triggers, preventive maintenance schedules, approvals, and more. 
• Technology-enabled solutions such as Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) to facilitate all the above aspects of asset maintenance management, ensuring efficiency, mobile access to asset information, and advanced data analytics and reporting and more.

Asset maintenance management: getting started

If you are starting from zero, it can often feel overwhelming to establish a structured method for asset maintenance management. But even if you have programs in place, knowing how to improve or make the most out of them or incorporate new advancements can also be daunting. 

With a few simple steps, you can begin to build or revamp an asset maintenance management program at your organization. 

1. Define your organization’s goals, which may include reducing downtime, extending asset lifespans, improving safety across your facilities, lowering maintenance costs, etc.
2. Create a comprehensive asset inventory, assessing and documenting detailed information about each piece of equipment included in your organization. 
3. Leverage an asset management software platform to help you organize your asset data. Over time you can also use many platforms to build PM schedules, manage workloads, track and forecast spare parts needs, and automate workflows in real time. 
4. Establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) for your most frequent, high-risk, or complex tasks and include maintenance checklists that outline the steps, schedules, and responsibilities associated with these routine maintenance activities.
5. Invest in training to ensure your team has the right skills, and to keep them aware of internal changes to protocols, plans, and strategies. 
6. Establish maintenance key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the performance and progress on aspects of your maintenance operation with metrics such as mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time to repair (MTTR), and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

Benefits of an effective asset management strategy

It isn’t an exaggeration to say that a company’s success lives or dies by the success of its asset management and maintenance strategy. Done well, asset management can help ensure a company is highly productive, earns a stellar reputation, and uses its resources wisely. Done poorly, a company’s product quality and productivity will suffer, and asset replacement and repair costs will skyrocket. 

Here is more detail on the specific ways proper asset maintenance management can benefit an organization and support its success:

• Increased asset lifespan: Regular inspections, preventive maintenance, and timely repairs significantly extend the useful life of your physical assets.
• Reduced downtime: A more proactive approach to maintenance results in 52.7% less unplanned downtime than more reactive approaches according to a 2021 article from the International Journal of Health Management.
• Cost savings: Preventive and predictive maintenance strategies help businesses avoid expenses related to emergency repairs, expedited shipping, and other consequences of overly reactive maintenance.
• Improved safety conditions: Routine maintenance and timely upkeep prevent the risk of equipment malfunctions and breakdowns that cause accidents or injuries.
• Heightened operational efficiency: Well-maintained equipment performs better, contributing to increased productivity while reducing labor and energy costs. 

Pitfalls of an overly reactive approach

On the flip side of the same coin, an organization may encounter many problems if it relies too heavily on a reactive approach to asset maintenance. While it may seem expedient to simply use maintenance resources only when a problem arises rather than invest time and money into developing a proactive plan, a maintenance program solely focused on reactivity will eventually catch up with you in the following ways. 

• Increases in unplanned downtime: Reactive maintenance strategies typically lead to more frequent equipment failures and longer downtime, which, according to a recent Forbes article, results in an estimated $50 billion in lost revenue per year.
• Higher repair costs: Reactive strategies increase the need for more costly emergency repairs, expedited shipping of critical parts, and overtime labor.
• Reduced asset lifespan: An absence of routine maintenance activities leads to increased wear and tear on equipment, resulting in a shorter useful asset life. 
• Increased safety risks: More frequent equipment failures create more potentially hazardous situations, heightening the risks of accident and injury, which is why regular preventive maintenance inspections are so commonly required by regulatory agencies.
• Operational inefficiencies: Frequent breakdowns, unplanned repairs, and diminished performance continually disrupt workflows, reducing productivity, and diminishing product quality.

5 tips and best practices for optimizing asset maintenance

Given the importance of a good asset maintenance management strategy, you’ll want to make sure to set up and roll yours out effectively. Here are some tried and true ways you can make the most of your asset maintenance program.

1. Leverage asset performance Data 

High-quality data is essential for grounding your maintenance strategy in reality. By monitoring asset performance and other important data, you can ensure that your maintenance strategy is based on the true and evolving needs of your equipment. 

If you are just starting out, begin by using information from your OEM, then analyze historical health and failure data to adjust maintenance intervals. Use a combination of internal data (failure history, previous maintenance, real-time sensor data, etc.) and external data (operational requirements, environmental changes, market factors, etc.) to gain a comprehensive view of equipment needs, and to continue evolving your maintenance program.

2. Use maintenance resources wisely

Conduct a criticality assessment and allocate resources accordingly. Regular tests and inspections are essential for high-criticality assets, even those without prior failures. Less critical equipment may require less frequent maintenance. Implementing a CMMS solution and integrating predictive maintenance technology can also help your organization avoid excessive upkeep activities and the unnecessary costs that come with them.

3. Balance costs and needs 

Perform lifecycle cost assessments to identify the point at which maintaining an asset is no longer feasible and replacement has become necessary. In short, when maintenance costs start to get close to acquisition costs, it’s time to consider new equipment. This assessment helps balance operational needs and budget constraints.

4. Evaluate your team’s capabilities 

Understand your organization’s ability to sustain a sufficient maintenance program. Conduct gap analyses in technology, expertise, skills, and resources and look for ways to close gaps through outsourcing, training, or acquiring other tools. In addition, support your team by developing tools like consistent maintenance policies and procedures, staff training and development, and a culture of continuous improvement.

5. Use CMMS software 

A Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) provides a platform for the efficient management of all asset maintenance activities. It helps support maintenance programs by automating workflows, tracking inventory, and monitoring maintenance KPIs. It simplifies task assignments, scheduling, and data analysis while promoting improved inventory management. The right CMMS should also aid in tracking real-time maintenance performance and analyzing historical performance trends.

Other asset maintenance FAQs

What is the role of an asset maintenance manager?

Maintenance Managers are the individuals responsible for creating and overseeing all aspects of asset maintenance. They typically manage a team of technicians and other personnel who perform maintenance tasks, and hold the accountability for planning and executing maintenance strategies and plans that support organizational goals.

What is the purpose of an asset maintenance plan?

An asset maintenance plan is a document or a predefined series of tasks and projects intended to keep your equipment and facilities safe and functional. Having a plan for asset maintenance encourages proactivity and appropriate allocation of resources to execute the plan.  

How often should assets be maintained?

There is no one-size-fits-all maintenance frequency for all assets. Maintenance frequency will depend on the type of asset and its age, usage, history, and manufacturer’s recommendations and may be time-based, usage-based, or condition-based. 

What is an asset management strategy?

An asset management strategy is a plan that defines how an organization will maintain, monitor, and replace its assets to maximize their value. It includes asset lifecycle management, performance monitoring, preventive measures, and cost analysis to ensure that maintenance resources are used wisely and that assets contribute to the organization’s goals.

What is Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)?

TPM is a comprehensive approach to maintenance that involves all employees in maintaining equipment and improving production processes. It emphasizes proactive and preventive maintenance to achieve maximum equipment effectiveness and efficiency.

CMMS and asset maintenance

Regardless of what your asset maintenance program looks like, technology will play a critical role in helping you execute it. It supports the development of a preventive maintenance strategy and, more broadly, a successful asset maintenance management program overall. Limble supports comprehensive asset maintenance programs with a package of powerful features including:

• Automated scheduling of preventive maintenance tasks based on predefined intervals or usage metrics 
• Customizable checklists tailored to specific physical assets and maintenance tasks 
• Automated work order generation, allowing for easy creation, assignment, and tracking of maintenance tasks
• Asset management and tracking, including a detailed inventory of all assets with easy access to vital information such as make, model, serial number, location, and maintenance history
• Lifecycle management, with tracking of costs and maintenance needs associated with assets from acquisition to disposal
• Predictive maintenance integration, including compatibility with IoT and real-time condition monitoring sensors.
• Inventory management, including spare parts tracking, real-time views into stock levels, and automated reordering for critical parts.
• Reporting and analytics including detailed reports on various aspects of maintenance activities, such as work order completion rates, asset performance, and maintenance costs
• Customizable dashboards providing user-friendly visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs) and maintenance program outcomes

Find out what else Limble’s industry-leading CMMS platform can do to streamline, optimize, and enhance your asset maintenance management strategy with a look at our CMMS Buyer’s Guide.