Preventive Maintenance Vs Corrective Maintenance – Which One is Right For You?

Whenever an organization has a considerable number of heavy equipment or machinery, it must ensure maintenance management. Effective maintenance management helps the equipment receive the care it needs to run reliably, reduces breakdowns, improves performance, minimizes replacements, and improves workplace safety – reducing several costs. While there are different approaches to maintenance, such as preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance, most organizations utilize either corrective or preventive approaches. They are part of the age-old argument – preventive maintenance vs corrective maintenance. Although predictive maintenance is growing in popularity, most organizations don’t have the budget or the capability to implement it.

That being said, let’s take a look at what preventive maintenance vs corrective maintenance is, their pros and cons, some key differences, and which one is the more appropriate approach nowadays. 

Preventive maintenance vs corrective maintenance

Corrective maintenance in a nutshell

Corrective maintenance, or CM, sets out to “correct” the equipment’s problems and usually consists of repairs, implying that maintenance is provided after a problem occurs. Corrective maintenance usually aims to restore the equipment to its original state. 

Corrective maintenance is also unplanned – the equipment runs as per the company’s requirements until it malfunctions, something that’s also known as the “run to failure” strategy. The corrective approach doesn’t usually require a maintenance plan and is provided to the machinery whenever problems with the equipment arise. However, since it’s unplanned, it also means that materials and resources might not be available to repair the machinery – increasing unplanned downtime. 

While that was corrective maintenance, let’s sum up some of its pros and cons. 

Pros of corrective maintenance

• It minimizes costs significantly as no inspections or monitoring is required. 
• No planning is needed.
• It is a simple and easy process for everyone involved.
• It is ideal for low-priority assets that don’t hamper operations. 

Unfortunately, the cons of corrective maintenance outweigh the benefits. 

Cons of corrective maintenance

• It increases unplanned downtime.
• It is highly unpredictable.
• Resources might not always be available. 
• It negatively impacts the machinery’s life. 
• It might permanently damage the equipment. 
• It increases long-term costs. 
• It can lead to workplace accidents. 

Let’s explore the next part of preventive maintenance vs corrective maintenance – preventive approaches to maintenance management.

Preventive maintenance management in a nutshell

Preventive, preventative maintenance, or PM, is almost the opposite of corrective maintenance. As the name implies, preventive maintenance aims to “prevent” issues with the equipment by providing maintenance in advance. It provides the equipment with maintenance even when it’s performing optimally. Inspections, lubrication, cleaning, spare part replacements, and more are done regularly before failures so that the equipment provides peak performance.

Since preventive maintenance requires scheduling tasks and preventing problems right from the start, proper planning is needed to manage everything effectively. For example, spare parts and inventory management, work order and request management, asset information, and vendor management are documented, maintained, and organized in preventive maintenance.

In fact, for preventive maintenance, organizations typically use a CMMS software solution to help them streamline maintenance activities and simplify repairs by scheduling tasks, assigning technicians, and more. 

Let’s explore the pros and cons of preventive maintenance.

Pros of preventive maintenance

• It reduces unplanned downtime.
• It minimizes disruptions.
• It improves the budget and helps get it under control.
• It extends an asset’s life if properly implemented.
• It reduces long-term costs.
• It lowers equipment replacements.
• It helps maintain the equipment’s performance.
• It plans and manages all maintenance activities.

Cons of preventive maintenance

• Potential for over maintenance.
• It can be costly in the short term.
• It needs a bigger maintenance team.

As can be seen, preventive maintenance has some cons; however, the benefits outweigh the costs. 

While we’ve looked at preventive and corrective maintenance and their pros and cons, let’s explore some of their key differences. 

Preventive maintenance vs corrective maintenance – some key differences

• Corrective maintenance (CM) is provided AFTER the machinery fails or malfunctions. In contrast, preventive maintenance (PM) is delivered even when the machine performs optimally to prevent failure and improve the asset’s reliability. 
• CM doesn’t require any planning, and the assets are operational until they malfunction or break down. PM requires planning since it’s complex and everything is scheduled beforehand.
• CM might look inexpensive and appealing in the short run, but it can incur hefty costs down the road. On the other hand, PM has higher upfront costs but helps reduce costs down the line. 
• CM focuses primarily on repairs, most of which are planned and expensive. PM focuses on maintenance activities and repairs – only the repairs are unplanned. 
• CM doesn’t have any fixed frequency as it can occur at any time. PM is all about planned maintenance, where the maintenance tasks are scheduled regularly and when the equipment needs it. 
• CM hampers the asset’s life, whereas PM, when appropriately implemented, helps extend the asset’s life. 
• CM is an ancient approach that many organizations still use. On the other hand, PM is a more modern and the most balanced approach to maintenance. 
• CM causes more downtime, whereas PM reduces unplanned downtime. 

Preventive maintenance is the most balanced approach

While preventive maintenance isn’t anything new, it’s much better than corrective maintenance in several ways, explained above. While predictive maintenance is shaping up to be the future, most organizations won’t jump to it any time soon since it has several costs associated with it. On the other hand, preventive maintenance is a tried and tested approach that has worked wonders for most organizations that want to take care of their various pieces of machinery.