Types of maintenance: corrective, preventive, predictive and more
- Corrective: repaired after the breakdown. Preventive: checked by calendar or usage. Predictive: intervention according to the measured condition.
- It is usual to combine them according to the criticality of each piece of equipment.
- The more critical a piece of equipment is, the more it pays to get ahead.
The main types of maintenance are corrective (repair after the breakdown), preventive (scheduled checks), predictive (intervening according to the measured condition of the equipment) and improvement maintenance (modifying the equipment so it fails less). They are not mutually exclusive: a good strategy assigns each asset the type that best fits its importance and the way it fails.
| Type | When you act | Example | Ideal for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corrective | After the equipment fails | Replacing a burnt-out bulb | Cheap, redundant, non-critical equipment |
| Preventive | By calendar or usage | Greasing every 200 hours of use | Equipment with predictable wear |
| Predictive | According to the measured condition | Replacing a bearing when vibration rises | Critical equipment that is costly to stop |
| Improvement | When an improvement is identified | Installing a more resistant filter | Breakdowns repeated because of a design defect |
Corrective maintenance
You intervene when the equipment has already failed. It can be urgent (you have to stop and repair immediately) or scheduled (the breakdown is minor and is repaired at a convenient time). It is unavoidable to some extent, but if it is the only type practised, the result is unplanned stops and high costs.
Preventive maintenance
Scheduled checks, adjustments and replacements to reduce the risk of breakdown. It can be based on time or on the equipment’s real usage. It is the basis of any programme, but it can lead to unnecessary interventions. Complete guide to preventive maintenance.
Predictive maintenance
A variable that anticipates failure (temperature, vibration, pressure) is measured and you intervene when the values leave the normal range. It reduces unnecessary interventions and avoids breakdowns on critical equipment. Predictive maintenance guide.
Improvement maintenance
It does not just maintain the equipment as it is: it modifies it to make it more reliable or easier to maintain. It appears when analysing the history shows breakdowns that repeat for the same cause.
Which one to choose for each piece of equipment?
- Classify assets by criticality: what happens if they stop?
- Study how they fail: gradually and measurably, or suddenly?
- Compare the cost of preventing with the cost of the breakdown.
- Assign: corrective for the expendable, preventive for the important with predictable wear, predictive for the critical and measurable.
- Review every year with the history data.
All types of maintenance in one system
With Mantenplan you record corrective jobs, schedule preventive maintenance by calendar or meter and connect sensors for the predictive approach.
Try MantenplanFrequently asked questions
What is the best type of maintenance?
None is the best in general. The optimal strategy combines several according to the criticality of each piece of equipment, the way it fails and the cost of stopping.
What is condition-based maintenance?
It is the kind that decides when to intervene from the real condition of the equipment, measured with sensors or inspections. It is what is usually called predictive maintenance.