Facilities management (FM) covers many areas of keeping a business park, shared office space, or wider area in the best working condition.
One of the key facets of a successful FM strategy is preventative maintenance.
As leaders within the industry, Bristol-based Almeda explain why you need to consider the importance of the tactic – and what benefits it can provide a facility.
What is preventative maintenance?
Preventative maintenance is the practice of performing regular, scheduled maintenance on equipment, machinery, systems, and buildings to prevent unexpected breakdowns, reduce the likelihood of failure, and extend their lifespan of facilities.
The main goal of preventative maintenance is to detect and address potential issues before they become serious problems, reducing downtime and avoiding costly repairs.
Leading preventative management strategies can save companies a lot of money.
By regularly checking equipment, technology or the many systems used on sites for wear, damage, or performance issues, businesses can focus on their own tasks, rather than keeping the lights on.
Performing necessary tasks such as cleaning, lubrication, electronic testing, or parts replacement based on a set schedule keeps everything in top working order. This also includes fine-tuning equipment to ensure optimal performance.
The FM company overseeing the site should keep logs of maintenance activities, inspections, and any detected issues to track performance over time and plan future work.
What’s the difference between preventive maintenance and predictive maintenance?
When it comes to Hard FM or Soft FM, one of the key strategies is preventative maintenance.
However, it most cases, they will also use predictive maintenance.
The main difference between them lies in how maintenance activities are scheduled and how they are actioned by the facilities management company.
Preventive maintenance is scheduled at regular intervals, based on time, usage, or manufacturer recommendations, regardless of the equipment’s actual condition.
Predictive maintenance is condition-based work and relies on real-time data from sensors, monitoring systems, or performance metrics to predict when equipment will need maintenance.
Both play a crucial role in facilities management and keeping the site in the best condition possible
What are the benefits of preventative maintenance?
Preventive maintenance offers several key advantages by helping to keep equipment, systems, and machinery running smoothly and minimising the risk of unexpected failures or outages.
For example, regular maintenance, such as cleaning, lubricating, and replacing damaged parts, extends the life of machinery and equipment by preventing excessive wear and tear. This also applies to technical systems with updates and checks by experts.
By doing this, equipment lasts longer and performs better over time, which maximises return on investment and output by employees.
Also, scheduled maintenance can be planned during non-critical times, reducing disruptions to operations.
Preventive maintenance helps avoid costly repairs that arise from breakdowns. This is because the cost of routine maintenance is generally lower than emergency repairs or replacement of damaged components.
This improves the safety of all people in the facility.
One of the main benefits of preventive maintenance is that it allows FM companies to schedule and allocate resources efficiently. It also leads to equipment and buildings maintaining the necessary compliance requirements.
The modern world has a strong focus on being as environmentally-friendly as possible.
Well-maintained facilities operate more efficiently, consuming less energy and producing less waste, which reduces the environmental impact of operations.
Role of technology in preventative maintenance
The future of preventive maintenance is rapidly evolving with the integration of new technologies.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) have already advanced the FM industry – and are being used in a variety of ways.
IoT-enabled sensors embedded in equipment and machinery can continuously monitor performance indicators such as temperature, vibration, pressure, damage, and energy consumption. This data is collected in real-time and transmitted for analysis by facilities management experts.
AI is used to analyse the massive amounts of data collected by IoT sensors to detect patterns, trends, and anomalies.
This is then used to create strategies to maximise efficiency, become more energy-conscious, increase safety, and reduce costs.
If you would like to speak to Almeda about reactive maintenance, facilities management, building fabric services, or preventative maintenance call 0117 937 6320 or email [email protected].