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Distinguish between types of industrial maintenance to manage your operations with a master's hand

Distinguish between types of industrial maintenance to manage your operations with a master's hand

By Nathalie Pouillard

Published: October 15, 2024

Do you know all the different types of maintenance, what specific needs they meet, and which software solutions are best suited to boosting productivity?

As a prudent, proactive company, you need to deploy a maintenance strategy to ensure that your equipment is well looked after, that it's running at peak performance, and that your business continues to run smoothly. Your productivity depends on it, as does customer satisfaction!

Can you tell the difference between preventive maintenance, corrective maintenance and predictive maintenance? What are they used for? Here's a quick overview of the different types of maintenance and the software used to manage them.

1. Preventive maintenance

Preventive maintenance is : performed at predetermined intervals or according to prescribed criteria, and designed to reduce the probability of failure or degradation of the operation of an asset or the degradation of a service rendered" (AFNOR).to reduce the probability of failure or deterioration in the operation of an asset or the degradation of a service rendered" (AFNOR).

In a proactive approach, it takes several criteria into account to anticipate malfunctions in an asset or service:

  • regulations affecting certain equipment and infrastructures, to comply with standards (in the pharmaceutical or aeronautical industries, for example),
  • user feedback and machine reports,
  • manufacturers' recommendations, to be taken into account with a view to enforcing warranty or quality assurance in the event of a breakdown.

    In the latter case, we sometimes speak of pre-determined maintenance, which does not depend on the actual state of the machines, but on statistical programs supplied by the manufacturers (based on mean time to failure [MTTF], for example).

There are two sub-categories of preventive maintenance: systematic maintenance and condition-based maintenance.

2. Systematic maintenance

This is established according to a schedule or periodicity of use (every month, every 500 products manufactured, every 10,000 kilometers, etc.). Rather simple to manage thanks to its fixed frequency, it facilitates organization and considerably reduces the risk of serious damage or deterioration.

It is particularly useful when :

  • restarting takes a long time
  • the shutdown has been going on for some time,
  • the failure causes significant costs,
  • the problem threatens safety.

3. Conditional maintenance

This is based on the condition, i.e. the actual state of the equipment, via continuous or regular monitoring and direct connection.

Degradation of the asset is measured by means of self-diagnosis, sensor information, wear measurement, etc. It's highly cost-effective, as it doesn't require extensive inventory management, purchasing or unnecessary intervention.

4. Corrective maintenance

As opposed to preventive maintenance, which anticipates malfunctions, corrective maintenance takes place after the failure or breakdown of an asset or production line.
The aim is to repair, restore or replace a part or piece of equipment, or to correct a bug or poor computer programming.

Two sub-categories of corrective maintenance exist: palliative maintenance and curative maintenance.

5. Palliative maintenance

Palliative maintenance is used to temporarily repair a fault, rather like a band-aid, so that the equipment can continue to function relatively normally.

It is a great help in avoiding the need to stop the activity in progress. However, it is important not to let the temporary situation drag on, and to ensure that safety is maintained until a more permanent solution is found.

6. Curative maintenance

Curative maintenance is aimed at permanently repairing the sources of breakdowns (as opposed to palliative maintenance). All or part of the equipment will be replaced, depending on whether the breakdown is major or minor, total or partial.

Some people use the term "curative maintenance" as a synonym for "corrective maintenance", but it is only a sub-category of the latter.

7. Predictive maintenance

Predictive maintenance is considered by some to be part of preventive and condition-based maintenance, since it tends to monitor machines and the crossing of thresholds (wear, etc.) to avoid breakdowns.

But it's a separate category. According to standard NF EN 13 306 X 60-319, predictive maintenance (the term "predictive" is an Anglicism) is carried out according to forecasts extrapolated from the analysis and evaluation of machine parameters.analysis and evaluation of significant parameters of asset degradation, in particular thanks to sensors installed on machines and connected (IoT, Internet of Things).

Maintenance management solutions

These solutions meet the major challenges of maintenance operations, in particular :

  • optimized scheduling of maintenance operations,
  • equipment reliability and efficiency, for optimum productivity,
  • fewer breakdowns,
  • reducing maintenance costs,
  • maintaining contractual or regulatory service quality,
  • personnel safety,
  • inventory management and replacement parts purchasing,
  • customer satisfaction,
  • optimize working conditions.

Intervention and tour management solutions

These are platforms for logistical planning and organization of operators, availability, locations, material and non-material resources, and invoicing for operations.
In SaaS mode, they enable effective coordination of human resources and communication between customers and maintenance service providers.

10 questions to ask when choosing a service management solution. Download Praxedo's free practical guide:

Ermeo

Ermeo is a SaaS solution that facilitates and optimizes maintenance operations. During rounds and interventions, agents enter their observations and non-conformities directly into the application, using intuitive, intelligent and comprehensive forms. Team leaders can then access the data in real time on the Ermeo web platform, and plan any corrective actions required. As a result, you can improve agent efficiency by up to 20%, and reduce re-interventions by 70%.

Key features include

  • digitization of maintenance procedures,
  • database of all forms and equipment, with an attribute system for easy monitoring and analysis,
  • data history (equipment, intervention, etc.),
  • technical and business documentation available for mobile consultation on the application,
  • form preview during design,
  • offline mode for operation even without a network,
  • automatic generation of customizable reports,
  • interconnection with other business software (CMMS, EDM, etc.) via API,
  • connection to leading BI tools (PowerBI, Qlik Sense, etc.) to optimize data analysis.

Kizeo Forms

Kizeo Forms makes it easier to manage rounds, manage teams in the field and, above all, dematerialize and standardize all your follow-up forms, such as work orders, for corrective or preventive maintenance operations.

Key features include

  • customer geolocation,
  • electronic signature,
  • time-stamping of photos of jobsites, parts, etc,
  • connected or disconnected mode,
  • employee management (timesheets, expense reports),
  • maintenance contract management,
  • machine data collection,
  • inventory management,
  • personalized quotations and invoices, etc.

Praxedo

Praxedo also specializes in service and maintenance management for field staff such as technicians, auditors and inspectors.


Key features include

  • a mobile application for real-time communication with the field,
  • a web interface for planning and monitoring,
  • intervention history,
  • prepared forms,
  • disconnected mode for sites in white zones or underground,
  • calendar synchronization,
  • remote inventory management,
  • electronic signature,
  • document management (work orders and reports),
  • SmartScheduler module for intelligent planning based on geolocation, technician skills, etc.

Computer-aided maintenance management solutions (CMMS)

These organization and planning software packages are designed to maintain a given level of service. In IT maintenance, they can be used to monitor department performance, while in industrial maintenance, they can be used to detect problems on equipment, track changes and schedule interventions. They are therefore particularly well suited to preventive maintenance.

Twimm

Twimm offers all the tools you need to digitize and improve the quality of your maintenance services, while boosting productivity and profitability. You can manage your equipment and interventions from A to Z, and track the profitability of your projects. An optional energy management module helps you optimize building consumption and energy invoicing.

Key features include

  • creation of an asset database (sites, customers, equipment, contracts),
  • equipment management,
  • management and control of maintenance and works,
  • management of regulatory controls,
  • editing and management of maintenance contracts,
  • management of quotation - order - invoicing flows in the office and in the field,
  • a mobile technician application,
  • inventory management,
  • fluid management,
  • customized activity reports, etc.

Yuman

Among CMMS solutions, Yuman enables technicians and their managers to communicate in real time. Thanks to its mapping system, the scheduling of interventions provides visibility on the progress of tasks and the management of working time. The tool not only manages maintenance, but also the work to be carried out (manpower, invoicing).

Key features include

  • scheduling and logging of maintenance operations,
  • construction of maintenance ranges,
  • document management (maintenance plans, preventive maintenance orders),
  • automatic generation of performance indicators for your dashboards,
  • task scheduling and prioritization,
  • industrial data analysis,
  • machine data collection,
  • employee management,
  • invoicing management, etc.

Connected maintenance and predictive analysis solutions

Data analysis software enables you to collect and exploit data to optimize machine operation, and improve maintenance operations by digitizing the expertise of production technicians. These predictive maintenance tools are ideally suited to highly productive industrial environments.

InUse

In the field of smart industrial maintenance, InUse makes your machines "talk" thanks to predictive maintenance algorithms. Machine data is collected and transcribed so that technicians can trigger the appropriate maintenance operations. Breakdowns are anticipated, but if they do occur, they are correctly interpreted.

Key features include

  • analysis of temporal data,
  • identification of correlations,
  • dashboards with key performance indicators,
  • diagnostic assistance,
  • maintenance alerts and recommendations,
  • industrial data analysis,
  • machine data collection,
  • production monitoring,
  • synthetic yield rate (SRR), etc.

What's next?

Obviously, prevention is better than cure!
The solutions presented here not only enable you to schedule and track your maintenance operations, but also to monitor your equipment remotely.

Planning and monitoring maintenance operations is made easier thanks to a global view of risk factors and the material, human and technical resources available.

Maintenance is no longer a restrictive expense item, but a strategic one that saves time and money. In short, the answer to the profitability + productivity equation.