Manchester Enterprises

Preventive & Breakdown Maintenance

What is Breakdown Maintenance?

As the name suggests, breakdown maintenance is the corrective maintenance action required to be undertaken in case of equipment failure or emergency maintenance. This type of maintenance management is performed by maintenance teams only when it is urgent and impacts productivity. For instance, an Electricity supply or electrical panels that plays an integral role in the commercial, Residential or corporate world has broken down and needs to be repaired immediately.

What is Preventive Maintenance?

As the name suggests, preventive maintenance activities are the maintenance tasks that are performed in a cycle to keep the overall Building or Offices running at high efficiency. The objective of the preventive maintenance program is to ensure that all minor issues are taken care of at this stage itself before they balloon into a situation of a breakdown.

Types of Breakdown Maintenance

Breakdown maintenance can be categorized into the following:

1-Planned Breakdown Maintenance:

In this scenario, the management and Building Monitoring System is aware of a possible breakdown at one of the Electrical Equipment’s or units in a Building. However, since it will not directly impact productivity and day-to-day operations of the Building and Clients Work, the organization lets it wear down and break.

2-Unplanned Breakdown Maintenance:

It is one of the most common types of breakdown witnessed by almost all companies across the globe. When an Equipment’s or Devices fails, it will directly impact the work orders,productivity, and efficiency of the organization. It is inconvenient, unexpected, and, most importantly, costly to the organization.

Types of Preventive Maintenance

Preventive Maintenance can be categorized into the following:

1-Risk-based Maintenance:

In this method, the risk of failure is assessed for all equipment and machinery, and the frequency and level of maintenance are decided accordingly. The risk could be its importance to the manufacturing or process or the cost of breakdown maintenance. Higher the risk, the higher the importance of preventive maintenance.

2-Failure-finding Maintenance:

There is some equipment in a machine that only functions if the normal scenario has been disturbed. These could be Emergency stop buttons, any errors on the panel or VMR etc., valves, bulbs, etc. This maintenance method works on finding out if such equipment is working properly.

3-Time-based Maintenance:

Also known as scheduled maintenance, regular maintenance is undertaken for assets regardless of their state under this method. It is done with the belief that all equipment has a lifespan, and it is essential to undertake regular maintenance to increase the overall life of the asset.

4-Condition-based Maintenance:

This method focuses on only a part of the machinery or equipment’s or panels showing signs of failure. The idea is to avoid a breakdown and undertake corrective maintenance before the functional breakdown.

5-Predictive Maintenance:

This method of maintenance uses advanced techniques like analytics, the internet of things (IOT), and machine learning, etc., to predict the performance map of an asset and look for declining performance. This method allows technicians to look for possible breakdowns early on with the help of technology and undertake corrective maintenance.

Definition	Breakdown Maintenance	Preventive Maintenance
Trigger	This maintenance activity begins in case of a breakdown of an asset.	This maintenance activity prevents any breakdown and keeps the planning running at total efficiency.
Cost	The cost of breakdown maintenance is high	The cost of preventive maintenance is relatively lower.
Cost Savings	The cost-saving depends on asset breakdown and maintenance plan	Cost-saving is expected to be around 12 to 18%.
Pros	Reduces maintenance costs for non-critical assets, Reduces spending on preventive maintenance for non-critical assets.	Increases asset lifespan, Increases efficiency & productivity, Better utilization of organizational resources
Pros	Reduces maintenance costs for non-critical assets. Reduces spending on preventive maintenance for non-critical assets.	ncreases asset lifespan. Increases efficiency & productivity. Better utilization of organizational resources.
Cons	It is more suitable for a limited number of assets, Requires meticulous planning and execution	It looks like an expensive item to get started.
Use case	A technician is required to replace a belt that has worn out in a machine	Replacement of filters and other parts in the plant based on the advice provided by the manufacturer.