{{Short description|Maintaining a device in working condition}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{hatnote group| {{other uses}} {{For|the Wikipedia administrative page|Wikipedia:Maintenance|selfref=y}} }} {{Redirect2|Repair|repairman|home repair|Home repair}} [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-E0208-0005-001, Reparatur eines Traktors.jpg|thumb|A tractor being mechanically repaired in Werneuchen, 1966]] thumb|Field repair of aircraft engine (1915–1916)
The technical meaning of '''maintenance''' involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Defense Logistics Agency |url=http://www.dla.mil/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502100137/http://www.dla.mil/ |archive-date=May 2, 2021 |access-date=August 5, 2016 |website=DLA.mil}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=European Federation of National Maintenance Societies |url=http://www.efnms.org |access-date=August 5, 2016 |website=EFNMS.org |quote=All actions which have the objective of retaining or restoring an item in or to a state in which it can perform its required function. These include the combination of all technical and corresponding administrative, managerial, and supervision actions.}}</ref> Terms such as "predictive" or "planned" maintenance describe various cost-effective practices aimed at keeping equipment operational; these activities occur either before<ref name="DPenn.PdM">{{cite web |first=Ken |last=Staller |title=Defining Preventive & Predictive Maintenance |url=https://www.danielpenn.com/insights-resources/case-studies/preventive-predictive-maintenance |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213042252/https://www.danielpenn.com/insights-resources/case-studies/preventive-predictive-maintenance/ |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |access-date=March 24, 2019}}</ref> or after a potential failure.
==Definitions== Maintenance functions can be defined as '''maintenance, repair and overhaul''' ('''MRO'''), and MRO is also used for '''maintenance, repair and operations'''.<ref>{{cite web |title=MRO – Definition |url=http://www.rfsystemlab.us/glossary/mro-maintenance-repair-and-overhaul |website=RF System Lab}}</ref> Over time, the terminology of maintenance and MRO has begun to become standardized. The United States Department of Defense uses the following definitions:<ref name="1037C">Federal Standard 1037C and from MIL-STD-188 and from the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms</ref>
* Any activity—such as tests, measurements, replacements, adjustments, and repairs—intended to retain or restore a functional unit in or to a specified state in which the unit can perform its required functions.<ref name="1037C" /> * All action taken to retain material in a serviceable condition or to restore it to serviceability. It includes inspections, testing, servicing, classification as to serviceability, repair, rebuilding, and reclamation.<ref name="1037C" /> * All supply and repair action taken to keep a force in condition to carry out its mission.<ref name="1037C" /> * The routine recurring work required to keep a facility (plant, building, structure, ground facility, utility system, or other real property) in such condition that it may be continuously used, at its original or designed capacity and efficiency for its intended purpose.<ref name="1037C" />
Maintenance is strictly connected to the utilization stage of the product or technical system, in which the concept of maintainability must be included. In this scenario, maintainability is considered as the ability of an item, under stated conditions of use, to be retained in or restored to a state in which it can perform its required functions, using prescribed procedures and resources.<ref>{{cite journal |title=AAP-6 – Glossary of terms and definitions |journal=NATO Standardization Agency |publisher=North Atlantic Treaty Organization |page=158}}</ref>
In some domains like aircraft maintenance, terms ''maintenance, repair and overhaul''<ref>United States Code of Federal Regulations Title 14, Part 43 – Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance, Rebuilding, and Alteration</ref> also include inspection, rebuilding, alteration and the supply of spare parts, accessories, raw materials, adhesives, sealants, coatings and consumables for aircraft maintenance at the utilization stage. In international civil aviation maintenance means:
* The performance of tasks required to ensure the continuing airworthiness of an aircraft, including any one or combination of overhaul, inspection, replacement, defect rectification, and the embodiment of a modification or a repair.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://store.icao.int/airworthiness-manual-english-printed.html |title=Airworthiness Manual, Doc 9760 |date=2014 |publisher=International Civil Aviation Organization |isbn=978-92-9249-454-4 |edition=3 |location=Montreal (Canada) |pages=375 |quote=The Airworthiness Manual (Doc 9760) contains a consolidation of airworthiness-related information previously found in other ICAO documents ... provides guidance to States on how to meet their airworthiness responsibilities under the Convention on International Civil Aviation. This third edition is presented based on States' roles and responsibilities, thus as State of Registry, State of the Operator, State of Design and State of Manufacture. It also describes the interface between different States and their related responsibilities. It has been updated to incorporate changes to Annex 8 to the Chicago Convention — Airworthiness of Aircraft, and to Annex 6 — Operation of Aircraft |access-date=February 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901145432/https://store.icao.int/airworthiness-manual-english-printed.html |archive-date=September 1, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
This definition covers all activities for which aviation regulations require issuance of a maintenance release document (aircraft certificate of return to service – CRS).thumb|Road repair
==Types== The marine and air transportation,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Berendsen |first1=A. M. |title=Marine Painting Manual |last2=Springer |date=2013 |isbn=978-90-481-8244-2 |edition=1st}}</ref> offshore structures,<ref name="ISO 12944-9:2018">{{cite ISO standard|csnumber=64832|title=ISO 12944-9:2018 – Paints and Varnishes – Corrosion Protection of Steel Structures by Protective Paint Systems – Part 9: Protective Paint Systems and Laboratory Performance Test Methods for Offshore and Related Structures}}</ref> industrial plant and facility management industries depend on ''maintenance, repair and overhaul'' (MRO) including scheduled or preventive paint maintenance programmes to maintain and restore coatings applied to steel in environments subject to attack from erosion, corrosion and environmental pollution.<ref name="ISO 12944-9:2018" />
The basic types of maintenance falling under MRO include:
*Preventive maintenance, where equipment is checked and serviced in a planned manner (in a scheduled points in time or continuously) *Corrective maintenance, where equipment is repaired or replaced after wear, malfunction or break down * Reinforcement<ref>{{cite news |last1=Singhvi |first1=Anjali |last2=Gröndahl |first2=Mika |date=January 1, 2019 |title=What's Different in the M.T.A.'s New Plan for Repairing the L Train Tunnel |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/01/03/nyregion/l-train-shutdown-changes.html |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>
Architectural Conservation and Art Conservation employ MRO to preserve, rehabilitate, restore, or reconstruct historical structures and artifacts with stone, brick, glass, metal, wood, etc. which match the original constituent materials where possible, or with suitable alternative materials when not.<ref>{{cite book |first=Charles Velson |last=Horie |title=Materials for Conservation: Organic Consolidants, Adhesives and Coatings |date=2010 |publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann |isbn=978-0-75-066905-4 |edition=2nd}}</ref>
===Preventive maintenance=== [[File:C-130J Hercules cleaning.jpg|thumb|C-130J Hercules preventive cleaning at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi after a period of operation over the Gulf of Mexico (salt and moisture which lead to active corrosion require regular cleaning)]] '''Preventive maintenance''' ('''PM''') is "a routine for periodically inspecting" with the goal of "noticing small problems and fixing them before major ones develop."<ref name="PMckList.NYT">{{cite news |first=Micharl Decourcy |last=Hinds |date=February 17, 1985 |title=Preventive Maintenance: A Checklist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/17/realestate/preventive-maintenance-a-checklist.html |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> Ideally, "nothing breaks down."<ref name="PM.PC-NYT">{{cite web |first=Erik |last=Sandberg-Diment |date=August 14, 1984 |title=Personal computers preventive maintenance for an aging computer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/14/science/personal-computers-preventive-maintenance-for-an-aging-computer.html |website=The New York Times}}</ref>
The main goal behind PM is for the equipment to make it from one planned service to the next planned service without any failures caused by fatigue, extreme fluctuation in temperature(such as heat waves<ref>{{Cite web |title=6 Tips to Keep Your Machine Cool in Summer {{!}} Al Marwan |url=https://almarwan.com/news/1126/Al-Marwan-Blog-8-6-Quick-Tips-to-Keep-Your-Machine-Cool-this-Summer |access-date=June 20, 2024 |website=Al Marwan Heavy Machinery |language=en}}</ref>) during seasonal changes, neglect, or normal wear (preventable items), which Planned Maintenance and Condition Based Maintenance help to achieve by replacing worn components before they actually fail. Maintenance activities include partial or complete overhauls at specified periods, oil changes, lubrication, minor adjustments, and so on. In addition, workers can record equipment deterioration so they know to replace or repair worn parts before they cause system failure.
The New York Times gave an example of "machinery that is not lubricated on schedule" that functions "until a bearing burns out." Preventive maintenance contracts are generally a fixed cost, whereas improper maintenance introduces a variable cost: replacement of major equipment.<ref name="PMckList.NYT" />
'''Main objectives of PM are:'''
# Enhance capital equipment productive life. # Reduce critical equipment breakdown. # Minimize production loss due to equipment failures.
'''Preventive maintenance''' or '''preventative<ref name="TaTive.NYT">{{cite news |first=Ben |last=Zimmer |date=April 18, 2010 |title=Wellness |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/magazine/18FOB-onlanguage-t.html |newspaper=The New York Times |quote=Complaints about preventative go back to the late 18th century ... ("Oxford English Dictionary dates preventive to 1626 and preventative to 1655) ..preventive has won"}}</ref> maintenance''' ('''PM''') has the following meanings:
* The care and servicing by personnel for the purpose of maintaining equipment in satisfactory operating condition by providing for systematic inspection, detection, and correction of incipient failures either before they occur or before they develop into major defects. * The work carried out on equipment in order to avoid its breakdown or malfunction. It is a regular and routine action taken on equipment in order to prevent its breakdown.<ref>{{cite book |first1=O. A. |last1=Bamiro |title=Mastery of Technology for Junior School Certificate Examination |first2=D. |last2=Nzediegwu |first3=K. A. |last3=Oladejo |first4=A. |last4=Rahaman |first5=A. |last5=Adebayo |date=2011 |publisher=Evans Publishers |location=Ibadan}}</ref> * Maintenance, including tests, measurements, adjustments, parts replacement, and cleaning, performed specifically to prevent faults from occurring.
Other terms and abbreviations related to PM are:
* scheduled maintenance<ref name="Downtime.mil">{{cite web |title=CPOL: System Maintenance and Downtime Announcements |url=http://cpol.army.mil/announcements |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002072445/http://cpol.army.mil/announcements/ |archive-date=October 2, 2008 |access-date=March 21, 2019 |quote=... out of service from 6:00–7:00am Eastern for regularly scheduled maintenance.}}</ref> * planned maintenance,<ref name="Upgrade.gov">{{cite web |title=Dodge City Radar Planned Maintenance |url=https://www.weather.gov/ddc/DodgeCityRadarUpgrade |website=weather.gov (National Weather Service) |quote=... will be down for approximately five days}}</ref> which may include scheduled downtime for equipment replacement * planned preventive maintenance (PPM) is another name for PM<ref name="WhatPPM" /> *{{Visible anchor|breakdown maintenance}}:<ref name="WhatPPM">{{cite web |title=The development of a cost benefit analysis method for monitoring the condition of batch |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/p010185.pdf |access-date= April 5, 2026|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322072113/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/p010185.pdf |archive-date=March 22, 2019}}</ref> fixing things only when they break. This is also known as "a reactive maintenance strategy"<ref>{{cite web |title=What is PPM Maintenance? |url=https://www.bidwells.co.uk/insights-and-research/blog-what-is-ppm-maintenance |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429091847/https://www.bidwells.co.uk/insights-and-research/blog-what-is-ppm-maintenance/ |archive-date=April 29, 2021 |access-date=March 22, 2019}}</ref> and may involve "consequential damage."<ref>e.g. from leaks that could have been prevented</ref>
====Planned maintenance==== {{redirect|Routine maintenance|the album by Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties|Routine Maintenance (album)}} Planned preventive maintenance (PPM), more commonly referred to as simply '''planned maintenance''' ('''PM''') or '''scheduled maintenance''', is any variety of scheduled maintenance to an object or item of equipment. Specifically, planned maintenance is a scheduled service visit carried out by a competent and suitable agent, to ensure that an item of equipment is operating correctly and to therefore avoid any unscheduled breakdown and downtime.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wood |first1=Brian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xi6e4KhRoPwC |title=Building care |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-632-06049-8 |access-date=April 22, 2011}}</ref>
The key factor as to when and why this work is being done is timing, and involves a service, resource or facility being unavailable.<ref name="Downtime.mil" /><ref name="Upgrade.gov" /> By contrast, condition-based maintenance is not directly based on equipment age.
Planned maintenance is preplanned, and can be date-based, based on equipment running hours, or on distance travelled.
Parts that have scheduled maintenance at fixed intervals, usually due to wearout or a fixed shelf life, are sometimes known as time-change interval, or TCI items.
==== Predictive maintenance ==== {{main|Predictive maintenance}} '''Predictive maintenance''' techniques are designed to help determine the condition of in-service equipment in order to estimate when maintenance should be performed. This approach promises cost savings over routine or time-based preventive maintenance, because tasks are performed only when warranted. Thus, it is regarded as condition-based maintenance carried out as suggested by estimations of the degradation state of an item. The main promise of predictive maintenance is to allow convenient scheduling of corrective maintenance, and to prevent unexpected equipment failures.<ref name="DPenn.PdM" /> This maintenance strategy uses sensors to monitor key parameters within a machine or system, and uses this data in conjunction with analysed historical trends to continuously evaluate the system health and predict a breakdown before it happens.<ref name="simap">{{cite journal |last1=Garcia |first1=Mari Cruz |last2=Sanz-Bobi |first2=Miguel A. |last3=Del Pico |first3=Javier |date=August 2006 |title=SIMAP: Intelligent System for Predictive Maintenance: Application to the health condition monitoring of a windturbine gearbox |journal=Computers in Industry |volume=57 |issue=6 |pages=552–568 |doi=10.1016/j.compind.2006.02.011}}</ref> This strategy allows maintenance to be performed more efficiently, since more up-to-date data is obtained about how close the product is to failure.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kaiser |first1=Kevin A. |last2=Gebraeel |first2=Nagi Z. |date=May 12, 2009 |title=Predictive Maintenance Management Using Sensor-Based Degradation Models |journal=IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics - Part A: Systems and Humans |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=840–849 |bibcode=2009ITSMA..39..840K |doi=10.1109/TSMCA.2009.2016429 |hdl=1853/56106 |s2cid=5975976 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>
'''Predictive replacement''' is the replacement of an item that is still functioning properly.<ref name="BatRep.NYT">{{cite news |last=Borenstein |first=Seth |date=March 22, 2019 |title=Spacewalking Astronauts Swap Out Space Station's Batteries |url=https://apnews.com/domestic-news-domestic-news-dfc927928d674f868e4c023772b43528 |access-date=April 3, 2026 |work=AP News}}<!--replaced dead link from New York Times--></ref>{{fv|date=April 2026}} Usually it is a tax-benefit based {{citation needed|date=March 2019}} replacement policy whereby expensive equipment or batches of individually inexpensive supply items are removed and donated on a predicted/fixed shelf life schedule. These items are given to tax-exempt institutions.<ref>such as universities and local schools, which write government-acceptable receipts</ref>{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}
==== Condition-based maintenance ==== '''Condition-based maintenance''' ('''CBM'''), briefly described, is maintenance when need arises. Albeit chronologically much older, it is considered one section or practice inside the broader and newer predictive maintenance field, where new AI technologies and connectivity abilities are put to action and where the acronym CBM is more often used to describe 'condition based monitoring' rather than the maintenance itself. CBM maintenance is performed after one or more indicators show that equipment is going to fail or that equipment performance is deteriorating.
This concept is applicable to mission-critical systems that incorporate active redundancy and fault reporting. It is also applicable to non-mission-critical systems that lack redundancy and fault reporting.
Condition-based maintenance was introduced to try to maintain the correct equipment at the right time. CBM is based on using real-time data to prioritize and optimize maintenance resources. Observing the state of the system is known as condition monitoring. Such a system will determine the equipment's health, and act only when maintenance is actually necessary. Developments in recent years have allowed extensive instrumentation of equipment, and together with better tools for analyzing condition data, the maintenance personnel of today is more than ever able to decide what is the right time to perform maintenance on some piece of equipment. Ideally, condition-based maintenance will allow the maintenance personnel to do only the right things, minimizing spare parts cost, system downtime and time spent on maintenance. In industrial settings, CBM by vibration analysis is a primary tool for heavy rotating equipment.
=====Challenges===== Despite its usefulness of equipment, there are several challenges to the use of CBM. First and most important of all, the initial cost of CBM can be high. It requires improved instrumentation of the equipment. Often the cost of sufficient instruments can be quite large, especially on equipment that is already installed. Wireless systems have reduced the initial cost. Therefore, it is important for the installer to decide the importance of the investment before adding CBM to all equipment. A result of this cost is that the first generation of CBM in the oil and gas industry has only focused on vibration in heavy rotating equipment.
Secondly, introducing CBM will invoke a major change in how maintenance is performed, and potentially to the whole maintenance organization in a company. Organizational changes are in general difficult.
Also, the technical side of it is not always simple. Even if some types of equipment can easily be observed by measuring simple values such as vibration (displacement, velocity or acceleration), temperature or pressure, it is not trivial to turn this measured data into actionable knowledge about the health of the equipment.
=====Value potential===== As systems get more costly, and equipment and information systems tend to become cheaper and more reliable, CBM becomes an important tool for running a plant or factory in an optimal manner. Better operations will lead to lower production cost and lower use of resources. Lower use of resources may be one of the most important differentiators in a future where environmental issues become more important by the day.
Another scenario where value can be created is by monitoring the health of a car motor. Rather than changing parts at predefined intervals, the car itself can tell you when something needs to be changed based on cheap and simple instrumentation.
It is US Department of Defense policy that condition-based maintenance (CBM) be ''"implemented to improve maintenance agility and responsiveness, increase operational availability, and reduce life cycle total ownership costs".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140701070946/http://www.acq.osd.mil/log/mpp/cbm%2B/cbm_policy_memorandum.pdf CBM Policy Memorandum].</ref>''
=====Advantages and disadvantages===== CBM has some advantages over planned maintenance:
* Improved system reliability * Decreased maintenance costs * Decreased number of maintenance operations causes a reduction of human error influences
Its disadvantages are:
* High installation costs, for minor equipment items often more than the value of the equipment * Unpredictable maintenance periods cause costs to be divided unequally. * Increased number of parts (the CBM installation itself) that need maintenance and checking.
Today, due to its costs, CBM is not used for less important parts of machinery despite obvious advantages. However it can be found everywhere where increased safety is required, and in future will be applied even more widely.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Jie |last2=Wang |first2=Golnaraghi |year=2010 |title=An enhanced diagnostic scheme for bearing condition monitoring |journal=IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=309–321 |bibcode=2010ITIM...59..309L |doi=10.1109/tim.2009.2023814 |s2cid=1892843}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jardine |first1=A.K.S. |last2=Lin |first2=Banjevic |year=2006 |title=A review on machinery diagnostics and prognostics implementing condition-based maintenance |journal=Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing |volume=20 |issue=7 |pages=1483–1510 |bibcode=2006MSSP...20.1483J |doi=10.1016/j.ymssp.2005.09.012}}</ref>
===Corrective maintenance=== {{Main|Corrective maintenance}}
Corrective maintenance is a type of maintenance used for equipment after equipment break down or malfunction is often most expensive – not only can worn equipment damage other parts and cause multiple damage, but consequential repair and replacement costs and loss of revenues due to down time during overhaul can be significant. Rebuilding and resurfacing of equipment and infrastructure damaged by erosion and corrosion as part of corrective or preventive maintenance programmes involves conventional processes such as welding and metal flame spraying, as well as engineered solutions with thermoset polymeric materials.<ref>{{cite book |title=Industrial Polymer Applications: Essential Chemistry and Technology |date=2016 |publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry |isbn=978-1782628149 |edition=1st |location=United Kingdom}}</ref>
==See also== {{Wiktionary|repair|revamping}} {{columns-list|colwidth=18em| * {{annotated link|Active redundancy}} * {{annotated link|Aircraft maintenance}} * {{annotated link|Aircraft maintenance checks}} * {{annotated link|Auto maintenance}} * {{annotated link|Bicycle maintenance}} * {{annotated link|Bus garage}} * {{annotated link|Darning}} * {{annotated link|Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms}} * {{annotated link|Design for repair}} * {{annotated link|Fault reporting}} * {{annotated link|Intelligent maintenance system}} * {{annotated link|Kludge}} * {{annotated link|Logistics center}} * {{annotated link|Maintainability}} * {{annotated link|Motive power depot}} * {{annotated link|Operational availability}} * {{annotated link|Operational maintenance}} * {{annotated link|Predictive maintenance}} * {{annotated link|Product lifecycle}} * {{annotated link|Prognostics}} * {{annotated link|RAMS}} * {{annotated link|Reliability centered maintenance}} * {{annotated link|Reliability engineering}} * Repair shop (disambiguation) * {{annotated link|Remanufacturing}} * {{annotated link|Right to repair}} * {{annotated link|Total productive maintenance}} * {{annotated link|Value-driven maintenance}} }}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}} * {{FS1037C MS188}}
==Sources== {{ref begin}} * {{cite web |last=Smith |first=Maj. Ricky |title=Walter Reed Building 18 – It Could Happen Anywhere – So Don't Let It Happen To You |url=http://www.reliabilityweb.com/art08/walter_reed.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309221047/http://www.reliabilityweb.com/art08/walter_reed.htm |archive-date=March 9, 2012}} {{ref end}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |title=The Care of Things: Ethics and Politics of maintenance |first1=Jérôme |last1=Denis |first2=David |last2=Pontille |publisher=Polity Press |year=2025 |isbn=978-1-5095-6238-1}} * {{cite book |title=Maintenance Planning, Coordination & Scheduling |first=Don |last=Nyman |first2=Joel |last2=Levitt |publisher=Industrial Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8311-3418-1}} * {{cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=S. |last2=Zuo |first2=M.J. |year=2010 |title=Linear and nonlinear preventive maintenance |url=https://kar.kent.ac.uk/31008/1/IEEE_UoK.pdf |url-status=live |journal=IEEE Transactions on Reliability |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=242–249 |doi=10.1109/TR.2010.2041972 |s2cid=34832834 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818021323/https://kar.kent.ac.uk/31008/1/IEEE_UoK.pdf |archive-date=August 18, 2016}}
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Category:Maintenance Category:Mechanical engineering Category:Planning Category:Prevention Category:Product lifecycle management Category:Reliability engineering Category:Reuse