Anyone who works in maintenance is likely familiar with the aggravating effects of unexpected equipment failure. Many businesses have hundreds or even thousands of pieces of equipment to maintain, and a single malfunction might put them out of business. While there’s no denying that repairing something as soon as it breaks is critical, many people are unaware of the substantial expenses involved with operating in reactive mode.
But what exactly is reactive “mode” or reactive maintenance? How is it different from proactive maintenance, and which is more ideal? Let’s break it down.
What is Proactive Maintenance?
Proactive maintenance is a proactive approach to maintenance that tries to predict and avoid problems such as failures and defects before they occur. While any preventive maintenance program would plan work based on time or consumption, proactive maintenance is more targeted. It uses data from a CMMS to figure out when maintenance should be performed. Any work that is undertaken on a regular basis should address the asset’s fundamental cause of failure.
What is Reactive Maintenance?
Reactive maintenance, on the other hand, happens after a piece of machinery has already failed. In contrast to proactive maintenance, it does not necessitate any analysis, tracking, or planning. Work is only accomplished in response to a breakdown, as the term indicates. Reactive maintenance is often associated with negative connotations, and for good reason. It’s true that many firms using older maintenance systems like pen and paper or Excel are in a state of reactive maintenance as a result of their inability to predict problems, rather than as a deliberate plan.
Which Option is Better?
A lack of preventative and predictive maintenance leads to reactive maintenance, which is triggered by failure. Proactive maintenance, on the other hand, uses preventive and predictive maintenance to keep equipment in good operating order. An efficient preventative maintenance program may help to conserve equipment and keep it in top shape, reducing the likelihood of unexpected equipment failure.
A reactive maintenance strategy can be harmful to your business since it means that preventative maintenance will be neglected owing to the frequent need for emergency repairs. Reactive maintenance is also more expensive than preventative maintenance. This is due to the fact that reactive maintenance jobs are often more difficult, but preventive and predictive maintenance chores are more straightforward. Unfortunately, the mindset of “If it ain’t broke, don’t repair it” still exists in some areas of the maintenance management industry.
We don’t recommend going down the same path– invest in proactive maintenance and top-notch maintenance management software.
How was our guide to proactive vs reactive maintenance? Don’t forget to take a look at SimpleFM’s CMMS maintenance software offering to help you properly manage your work orders as a facilities owner, business owner, or service provider. The right software can greatly simplify and improve your maintenance processes!
