It is interesting to see how preventive maintenance programs evolve as an organization matures in its maintenance and reliability practices. For example, organizations may start out in a breakdown maintenance mode, but soon realize that this is not an effective way to do maintenance. They then evolve to the basics of PM, which will include activities such as lubrication, good fastening procedures, and good visual inspections of the equipment. As organizations progresses, they move into a more fully-developed preventive maintenance programs, adding in time-based component replacements and disassembly inspections. As they progress even further, they will add in the basics of predictive maintenance, including vibration analysis, oil analysis, and thermography.

Another level of maturity occurs when the preventive maintenance and predictive maintenance programs are blended. This means services such as equipment component replacements, which are usually set as part of the preventive maintenance program, are initiated based on the conditions discovered during the predictive maintenance program inspections. Finally, organizations develop advanced reliability programs, including RCM, which optimizes all of the preventive and predictive maintenance activities.

How does the planning for preventive and predictive maintenance integrate with the work management process? Figure 7-1 highlights the preventive maintenance process. This diagram is based on Volume 1, Preventive Maintenance, in the Maintenance Strategy Series.

Figure 7-1: PM Management

Rather than taking up the entire diagram, focus on the areas where planning has already occurred in the preventive maintenance process. For example, when developing preventive maintenance services for the equipment, the planners are basically...