As your maintenance program matures, shifting from basing preventive maintenance tasks on the calendar to tracking the actual utilization of your equipment becomes one of the biggest opportunities for improving reliability (and reducing unnecessary work).
Time-based preventive maintenance is a strong starting point, but as many teams eventually discover, the calendar alone doesn’t always reflect how hard an asset has truly been working.
Shifting to usage-based maintenance is a smart next step in this direction. By scheduling preventive work based on actual runtime, cycles, or throughput, maintenance teams can better match their efforts to real-world wear. This not only helps prevent failures more effectively, but also reduces unnecessary maintenance tasks and the maintenance costs that naturally come from performing PMs “just because the calendar says so.”
In this phase, we’ll walk through how to transition from time-based preventive maintenance to usage-based preventive maintenance step-by-step, with practical guidance you can apply now.
Key takeaways
- Usage-based maintenance aligns work more closely with asset wear, not just the calendar: By scheduling repairs based on runtime, cycles, or throughput, teams reduce unnecessary tasks and prevent unexpected breakdowns.
- Start with measurable, high-impact assets and simple metrics: To implement usage-based maintenance, focus on assets with hour meters, counters, or sensor data. Choose metrics that match how each asset fails, using OEM guidance and historical data to set accurate thresholds.
- Build workflows that turn usage data into timely action: Whether readings are automated or manual, assign ownership, link thresholds to maintenance tasks, and use your computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to trigger work orders. Train your team and refine thresholds as you learn what’s working.
What is usage-based maintenance (UBM)?
Implementing a calendar-based, fixed schedule for preventive maintenance is a good starting point when you’re looking to reduce unplanned downtime. But as your program matures, you may notice that time-based intervals still miss early signs of failure—or send maintenance technicians to do work long before it's truly needed.
As a digital manufacturing team leader at Hypertherm Associates put it, “From my perspective, the benefit of usage-based maintenance is the reduction in costs. Having 10 PMs every month might not be accurate. We might be using the machine once every so often, and yet we’re still doing the PMs. So it could reduce over-PMing.”
Instead of scheduling maintenance tasks purely based on time (e.g., every 30 days), usage-based maintenance means scheduling preventive maintenance tasks based on actual equipment usage.
Some examples:
- Time-based maintenance: Change hydraulic fluid on press every 3 months (even if the machine runs only 100 hours)
- Usage-based maintenance: Change hydraulic fluid every 500 operating hours (only when the asset has actually worked enough to justify the maintenance)
Step 1: Identify appropriate assets for usage-based maintenance
Just as reactive maintenance methods can be more cost-efficient for some assets, not all equipment needs (or even supports) usage-based maintenance. So your first step is to identify where usage-based maintenance will actually make a difference.
A good starting point is to look at inconsistently used assets, equipment that’s expensive to repair or replace, and the assets most critical to your operations. The criticality assessment you may have completed when shifting from reactive to time-based maintenance will be helpful again here.
What assets support usage-based monitoring?
To be a candidate for usage-based maintenance, an asset’s use must be measurable in some way, and your maintenance teams need to be able to access that information.
Usage-based maintenance typically works well for rotating equipment (e.g., lubricate motor every 500 hours of runtime) or any asset where you can track production (e.g., service every 1,000 cycles).
Walk the floor: It’s likely that equipment with a physical hour meter or any sensorized control panel supports at least some form of usage tracking. On the plant floor, watch for displays with usage metrics, mechanical or electronic counters, or ports labeled for data collection.
Check your manuals: You can often find usage tracking details in manuals, spec sheets, maintenance guides, or warranty documents. Look for references to:
- Built-in counters
- Data ports or connectivity
- “Run hours” or “service hours” tracking
- OEM-recommended usage-based PM intervals
Examples of strong usage-based maintenance candidates
- Filters or strainers that clog with consistent throughput
- Vehicles (e.g., based on mileage)
- Standard pumps in predictable production cycles
- Generators (based on cycles)
- Conveyor belts with wear tied to runtime
- CNC machines
Thought starters
Here are some quick questions to help you evaluate an asset’s fit for usage-based maintenance:
- Is it more effective to service this asset based on wear through usage vs. by age?
- Are there built-in (or possible add-on) ways to measure usage?
- Can your team access those readings consistently?
- Is the asset valuable enough (critical, costly, downtime-heavy) to justify usage-based tracking?
Step 2: Define usage metrics
Once you’ve identified your usage-based maintenance candidates, the next step is choosing which usage metrics to track and determining the thresholds that should trigger maintenance.
Choosing the right metric
Your usage metric should align with how an asset actually wears or fails. Start with what’s easiest to measure and most relevant to the failure pattern.
Setting usage thresholds
Once you know what to track, define how much usage is “too much” before maintenance is required.
Look at OEM guidance: Most manufacturers provide service intervals based on usage. These make for excellent baseline settings while you collect your own data. If the OEM uses time-based intervals, you can convert them into rough usage equivalents to get started.
Adjust with historical data: If you’ve tracked failures or maintenance frequency, refine your thresholds based on actual equipment usage patterns. Look for:
- Average failure points
- Premature wear
- Recurring issues tied to specific usage levels
Small adjustments up or down can significantly improve accuracy.
Multiple metrics per asset: While starting simple is best, some assets benefit from multiple triggers. For example, a motor may need maintenance after either a specific number of operating hours or after sustained high temperatures.
MaintainX’s meters feature supports multi-metric triggers, allowing you to build logic around different indicators.
Step 3: Install usage monitoring devices
With your assets and metrics defined, it’s time to determine how you’ll collect the usage data.
Depending on your setup and budget, you can use built-in tools, manual methods, or integrated systems.
Built-in OEM counters and meters: Many machines already come equipped with hour meters, cycle counters, or sensors. PLC or SCADA systems can also be valuable sources of usage data. MaintainX can receive this information and automate work order creation based on your programmed logic.
Manual entry (low-tech, high-value option): If automation isn’t feasible yet, manual logging is still a viable way to start. Operators can record daily or weekly readings from counters or gauges, either on paper or digitally.
A mobile-first CMMS app like MaintainX simplifies this process and ensures usage data is captured consistently.
Step 4: Set up consistent usage-based maintenance workflows
Now that you’re gathering usage data, the next step is building workflows that help your team respond to those insights consistently.
Your workflow should include:
- Assigning responsibility for meter reading
- Reviewing usage data
- Triggering work orders when thresholds are reached
A computerized maintenance management system with metering features makes this seamless, but spreadsheets or dashboards can work.
Assign responsibility
Even with automation, someone should routinely validate your data. If you’re using a manual system, assign operators or maintenance technicians to enter readings on a consistent cadence.
Link equipment usage to maintenance tasks
In step 2, you defined thresholds. Here, you’ll outline what happens when those thresholds are reached and make sure your team understands their responsibilities.
MaintainX meters can automatically trigger work orders when limits are reached, reducing administrative work and ensuring timely action.
Keep monitoring and improving
As with any new workflow, expect to refine your setup. Encourage technicians to report whether maintenance activities were early, late, or just right, and adjust thresholds accordingly.
Train your team
Shifting from calendar-based to usage-based maintenance requires a mindset change. Maintenance managers should be clear about why the change matters and how it improves reliability and workload balance for maintenance technicians.
Quick tips to successfully implement usage-based maintenance
- Start small: Pilot with a couple of assets before rolling out.
- Gain your team’s trust: Explain why a usage-based maintenance strategy is worth adopting.
- Use what you have: Basic meters and manual logs are perfectly fine early on.
- Choose actionable metrics: Only track data tied to actionable decisions.
- Plan for data storage: Make sure logs are easily accessible.
Beyond usage-based maintenance: Next steps to mature your maintenance strategy
Transitioning from time-based to usage-based maintenance is one of the most powerful steps you can take to reduce unnecessary work and maintenance costs while improving equipment reliability. By starting small with the right assets and building clear workflows, your team can move toward a more efficient and data-driven operation.
If you're looking to continue maturing your preventive maintenance program, the next step is exploring condition-based and predictive maintenance. These strategies go a long way toward preventing both under maintenance and over maintenance. We cover this transition in detail in our ebook, Building the Foundation for Condition-Based Maintenance. It’s a practical guide to help you make your maintenance resources go even further.
Senior Content Writer, MaintainX
