Prevent breakdowns and optimize your business with a maintenance plan

What is a maintenance plan?

Maintenance plan: definition

A maintenance plan is a document that summarizes :

• procedures,
• resources,
• and the planning of maintenance tasks.

It is drawn up as part of a maintenance strategy, following an analysis phase (audit):

• the equipment,
• the company's maintenance policy,
• and production or service objectives.

Each step must be scrupulously respected to guarantee the plan's effectiveness!

Updated regularly, it is integrated into a maintenance contract in the case of subcontracting.

💡 Each maintenance field must be clearly defined for better organization!

To help you visualize better, here's an example of a maintenance plan. 👇

What are the 5 types of maintenance?

There are five main types of maintenance, each with its own specific features and applications.

Here's a closer look at each of them. 👀

#1 Preventive maintenance

Preventive maintenance involves carrying out planned interventions to avoid breakdowns and failures before they occur.

This includes:

• regular inspections,
• meter checks,
• cleaning,
• adjustments,
• and parts replacement.

#2 Corrective maintenance

Corrective maintenance is carried out after a breakdown or failure has been detected.

Its aim is to restore the equipment to normal operation as quickly as possible.

#3 Conditional maintenance

Also known as predictive maintenance, condition-based maintenance is the set of technical operations programmed to anticipate malfunctions according to certain criteria:

• regulatory requirements, which impose periodic checks on certain equipment or infrastructures to comply with standards,
• manufacturers' recommendations, which are very important in order to be able to apply the warranty or quality assurance in the event of a breakdown;
• observations following use: technical behavior of equipment (reports) and feedback from users (user experience).

⚠️ The maintenance plan is essential for preventive maintenance. We call it the preventive maintenance plan. It defines the intervals to be respected between each intervention to avoid breakdowns.

Two sub-types of preventive maintenance :

• systematic maintenance (according to a schedule or periodicity of use),
• conditional maintenance (depending on the condition or state of the equipment).

#4 Improving maintenance

This form of maintenance aims to improve equipment reliability and performance by making modifications or improvements based on feedback analysis and user feedback.

#5 Curative maintenance

Curative maintenance is similar to corrective maintenance. It simply takes a more systematic, planned approach to correcting recurring problems and preventing their recurrence.

Maintenance plan objectives

Whatever the type of maintenance, an intervention can be experienced as a real constraint, whether it's managed in-house or outsourced. 😩

The maintenance plan thus helps to lay a sound foundation and :

• improve equipment reliability and efficiency,
• reduce breakdowns,
• reduce maintenance costs,
• avoid loss of production, time and money,
• maintain contractual or regulatory service quality,
• ensure staff safety,
• optimize inventory management and replacement parts purchasing,
• ensure coordination of work and good understanding between customer and service provider,
• guarantee customer satisfaction,
• monitor equipment evolution and summarize instructions.

The challenges of maintenance

Maintenance represents a major expense in certain sectors requiring production-specific equipment:

• industrial maintenance,
• pharmaceutical
• agri-food
• petrochemicals,
• aeronautics,
• hydraulics,
• construction, etc.

Without equipment in good working order, these activities are seriously handicapped, and customer satisfaction put to the test. 😮‍💨

Employee motivation and commitment must also be taken into account: without properly functioning equipment, the daily tools of employees, working conditions and the human climate are clearly degraded.

What should be included in the maintenance plan?

Implementing maintenance requires rigor. 🤓

The maintenance plan is no exception to the rule! Zoom in on the contents. 👇

General and responsible information

• Date of issue ;
• Location;
• persons responsible for drafting, checking and approval.

Equipment concerned

• Its utilization rate (number of hours of use/operation per day),
• its performance,
• condition to be maintained,
• history,
• observed failure rate,
• existence of insurance or warranty.

Personnel and context

• Skills and availability of technical personnel;
• the context in which the maintenance plan is drawn up: receipt of spare parts, breakdowns, etc.

Objective and inventory of interventions

• Objective of the maintenance plan;
• inventory of work to be carried out: list of tasks to be carried out, with designations, frequency (based on manufacturer's instructions and history) and resources.

Planning and follow-up recommendations

• maintenance schedule, including :
  • their nature: inspections, controls, visits, repairs, etc. ;
  • operating mode ;
  • resources required ;
  • diagrams if necessary;
  • installation and site preparation instructions;
• follow-up recommendations, including the report and the information to be entered into the tool (CMMS or other).

A work order will be drawn up for each job scheduled in the maintenance plan.

See all software CMMS

How to draw up a maintenance plan? 5 key steps

#0 Prerequisites for effective maintenance

First and foremost, you need a number of things:

• competent human resources,
• material and technical resources (monitoring, software, etc.),
• good communication between service providers and customers, or between the maintenance team and the production team,
• good internal organization:
  • appointment of a maintenance manager,
  • good internal communication,
  • definition of a maintenance policy, etc.

#1 Define preventive operations

The first step is to identify and define the preventive maintenance operations required for each piece of equipment.

• Manufacturer's recommendations: follow specific recommendations to ensure equipment longevity and performance.
• Regulations: respect standards and legal obligations to guarantee safety and compliance.
• Equipment behavior: analyze historical data and trends to anticipate maintenance needs.

#2 Define systematic maintenance operations

This stage involves structuring regular maintenance operations by specifying :

• periodicity, by drawing up a schedule for recurring operations ;
• the resources required, including equipment and personnel;
• step-by-step procedures for each operation;
• chronology, by organizing tasks sequentially to optimize efficiency.

#3 Define conditional and predictive maintenance operations

It's important to plan interventions based on the actual condition of equipment. ☝️

• Parameters: identify the variables to be monitored (temperature, vibration, etc.).
• Alarm thresholds: determine the limits that will trigger an intervention.
• Data acquisition mode: set up systems to collect and analyze data continuously.
• Periodicity: plan regular checks based on the data collected.

#4 Draw up a preventive maintenance file

Centralize all relevant information in a comprehensive file, including :

• technical details and maintenance history.
• Strategies and steps for each type of intervention.
• documentation of work carried out to ensure traceability.

#5 Determine the optimum workload

Finally, it's crucial to calculate and optimize the workload to ensure efficient maintenance. 💪

• Workload assessment: analyze time and resource requirements for each operation.
• Resource optimization: allocate resources to avoid overloads and under-utilization.
• Monitoring and adjustment: continually evaluate and adjust plans in line with feedback and developments.

Tools for monitoring your maintenance plan

Forget Excel spreadsheets and paper forms, maintenance policies are tending to be digitized through the use of mobile tools and cloud-based solutions.

Time-saving, traceability, data analysis and real-time monitoring make it much easier to keep track of interventions and compliance with maintenance plans.

And if you're already convinced, the choice is yours! Here's our selection based on three types of software: intervention management software, CMMS software and data analytics software.

Job and route management software

Service management software enables service providers, particularly in maintenance, to :

• optimize the organization and planning of interventions,
• facilitate monitoring and communication between the various stakeholders: activity managers, field teams and customers,
• simplify maintenance documentation (dematerialized work orders, addition of photos and attachments, transmission of work reports, etc.).

BigChange

BigChange, the leading provider of service management software, is aimed at all companies managing breakdown, maintenance or installation operations.

Drag-and-drop scheduling simplifies tour organization and saves time. Field teams can access the schedule via the mobile application.

On his smartphone, the technician can consult the history of interventions, access data on the equipment to be maintained or consult the stock of spare parts. The entire maintenance operation is traced step by step, for automatic editing of the work order.

Go paperless with BigChange! The software digitizes the entire commercial and operational chain, from the first call for service to the final invoice. Its strength lies in its CRM module, which enhances customer relations and follow-up: you can manage your service contracts and recurring maintenance deadlines, consult your customers' equipment and carry out all your commercial management without changing tools.

Ermeo

Ermeo is an intuitive, no-code web and mobile solution that helps you manage your interventions, making them ever more efficient. Get full visibility and traceability of actions carried out in the field thanks to dashboards, to better prioritize and optimize your interventions, and keep your equipment up to date.

During their rounds, agents can easily access all equipment documentation directly on their mobile or tablet, as well as their work orders and service history, to optimize the time spent in the field.

They enter technical information, photos and observations directly into the Ermeo application, using standardized, dynamic forms. Inspection reports are then automatically generated and sent to the relevant managers.

Operators can therefore spend more time on value-added missions where their expertise is required, and less on administrative tasks. This enables Ermeo users to reduce their re-intervention rate by 70%, and improve operational efficiency by 20%.

Kizeo Forms

Kizeo Forms is another solution on the market. Its raison d'être is to help you digitize and standardize all your documentation, whether you're a service provider or an in-house maintenance manager, whatever your sector of activity.

Create your own forms (intervention reports, delivery notes, site follow-up, etc.), transmit information in real time to your teams, automatically generate your reports in Word or Excel format, and share them with your customers.

The solution also offers features such as automatic geolocation, electronic signature and photo time-stamping.
Customizable, Kizeo Forms also lets you integrate your customer or product databases on its platform, for more complete management.

Praxedo

Praxedo is an intervention management solution used by over 40,000 users, who handle 100,000 interventions every day. Dedicated to companies with mobile technicians, the software offers an advanced web-based planning interface, as well as a comprehensive mobile application that works even off-network to adapt to the environment of technicians in the field.

The software takes preventive maintenance into account, with detailed information on each intervention, such as the technicians mobilized, the equipment used, the spare parts stock, the anomalies detected, etc. Access the history of interventions in just a few clicks on an ergonomic, easy-to-use interface to save time and increase efficiency.

Other features, such as real-time tracking of work progress, electronic signature and sending of work reports in charted PDF format, are a real plus for your customer satisfaction and your brand image. The application also takes into account last-minute scheduling, and adapts in real time to the availability and skills of technicians, for rapid response.

CMMS software

Computer-aided maintenance management software, or CMMS, specializes in the predictive and corrective maintenance of equipment. Like work scheduling software, it offers functionalities such as personnel management, scheduling, work requests and follow-up.

It also enables the organization of preventive and regulatory interventions, equipment management, inventory management, purchasing and reporting.

openGST

openGST, for example, is a practical, intuitive CMMS software solution with an unlimited number of users. This solution is aimed at all types of companies (maintenance companies, property managers, retail chains, etc.) wishing to manage their maintenance plans in the best possible way.

Ergonomically designed, openGST is equipped with an intervention module for prioritizing and tracking interventions, as well as scheduling and recording tasks.

In addition, a mobile application has been developed to enable users to report problems with their equipment directly to this intervention module. The result is smoother communication and greater responsiveness.

Twimm

Other CMMS software packages are specialized to a particular sector of activity. Take Twimm, for example, which helps real estate companies optimize maintenance processes, carry out work and reduce associated costs.

Teams in the field are equipped with the mobile application, which updates itself in real time with the platform as schedules are modified and requests for intervention are received.

It also features a maintenance contract management module, a quotation/billing module and an energy management module (tracking building energy consumption and performance).

Data analytics software

Smart maintenance, or connected maintenance, is in a different league, and meets much more advanced needs. If you're looking for a predictive maintenance solution, look no further than predictive analytics software.

InUse combines a form of CMMS with advanced analysis of machine data using IoT (Internet of Things) and predictive algorithms.
Specializing in the industrial sector, the solution triggers the right procedures at the right times, for optimum efficiency and reduced maintenance costs.

You visualize your machine data using sensors installed on sensitive equipment.
Based on the data collected, you decide whether to trigger immediate interventions in the field, or to suggest future actions to operators on site, depending on the production context, by guiding them through checklists.

See all software CMMS

Maintenance, a strategic factor in your productivity

Whether you're in production or in the service sector, your equipment is the key to maintaining quality and customer satisfaction. One breakdown, one delay, and the whole company suffers.

The maintenance plan has a decisive role to play in anticipating potential problems and looking after your assets. Rather than being reactive, it enables you to be proactive.
Yes, it takes a bit of budget and time, but neglecting this aspect can be costly to your brand image, your competitiveness and your teams' motivation. Your productivity, in short.

Adopt a paperless management tool and let us know how much you save!