Routine maintenance (RM) refers to maintenance work that teams perform on a regular or ongoing basis to find and address problems before they lead to equipment failure. Maintenance teams perform routine maintenance tasks daily, weekly, monthly, or annually and typically consist of small, simple tasks that don't require specialized skills. For example, checking and topping up the oil in a machine every week is routine maintenance.
When workers complete these routine work orders—usually inspections and machine servicing—they reduce the need for emergency maintenance. In addition, routine maintenance reduces wear and tear and, as a result, increases the useful life of assets. We'll break down the different types of routine maintenance, their advantages, and how modern maintenance management systems can transform your approach to proactive asset care.
Effective maintenance is not simply upholding the status quo. Because technology is evolving so quickly, maintenance processes must continuously become faster, more accurate, and more efficient. Engineering and innovating these processes means businesses can use maintenance to grow and scale production.—Forbes
Key takeaways
- Routine maintenance involves scheduled, recurring tasks designed to prevent equipment failure, differing from reactive maintenance that addresses problems after they occur.
- Implementing a mix of time-based, usage-based, and condition-based maintenance allows you to tailor strategies to specific asset needs and criticality.
- A successful routine maintenance program reduces unplanned downtime, extends asset lifespan, and improves workplace safety by addressing potential issues proactively.
- Using a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) like MaintainX helps you schedule tasks, manage parts inventory, and analyze performance data to continuously improve your maintenance strategy.
Examples of routine maintenance
Routine maintenance makes more sense when you see it in action. Here are daily maintenance examples across different asset-intensive industries:
Manufacturing facilities
- Lubricate production line bearings every 500 operating hours
- Inspect conveyor belt alignment and tension weekly
- Check hydraulic fluid levels on presses daily
Facilities management
- Test emergency lighting systems monthly
- Clean heating, ventilation, and air conditioning filters every 90 days
- Inspect fire extinguishers quarterly
Food and beverage operations
- Sanitize processing equipment after each production run
- Calibrate temperature monitoring systems weekly
- Replace worn gaskets and seals on schedule
Types of routine maintenance
Routine maintenance falls into several key categories, with each aiming to keep equipment in optimal working condition, prevent unexpected failures, and prolong equipment lifespan. Once you understand these different types, you can tailor your maintenance strategy to address specific needs. The primary types of routine maintenance are:
Time-based maintenance
Time-based maintenance (TBM) emphasizes replacing parts at fixed intervals, times, or usage markers regardless of condition. This approach works best for assets with predictable wear patterns where failure relates to age, such as vehicle parts. For example, replacing the timing belt in a car every 60,000 miles to prevent engine damage falls under TBM.
Maintenance teams save time and reduce errors by scheduling routine tasks in advance. For example, a CMMS like MaintainX enables you to create preventive maintenance work orders that repeat monthly. This automation ensures teams never miss critical tasks.
Usage-based maintenance
Usage-based maintenance (UBM) triggers tasks based on equipment operating metrics, such as hours of operation, production cycles, or mileage. This approach is more precise than time-based schedules for assets whose wear correlates directly with use.
UBM works particularly well for:
- Production equipment: Service conveyor belts after every 10,000 cycles
- Material handling: Maintain forklifts every 250 operating hours
- Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning systems: Replace filters based on runtime hours rather than calendar dates
Failure-finding maintenance
Failure Finding Maintenance (FFM) detects hidden equipment problems that don't show up during normal operation. FFM focuses on assets that perform protective functions, like safety valves that engineers design to open only when pressure reaches critical levels. Since these components often sit idle, routine checks ensure they will function correctly in emergency situations.
Risk-based maintenance
Risk-based maintenance (RBM) prioritizes performing preventive maintenance on high-risk assets. Technicians determine risk levels by analyzing the likelihood of equipment failure and the severity of its associated consequences. Effective RBM relies on risk assessment and maintenance planning.
Software like MaintainX makes RBM more effective by automatically flagging your highest-risk assets. MaintainX Asset Health Insights helps you quickly identify your most problematic assets based on past failures and downtime hours. The platform also provides robust scheduling features that ensure high-risk assets receive priority attention.
Condition-based maintenance
Condition-based maintenance (CBM) involves monitoring assets for signs of impending breakdowns and taking appropriate actions to maintain uptime. This strategy relies on analyzing equipment conditions to identify deviations that suggest potential failure. Common diagnostic tools include vibration analysis, ultrasonic testing, and thermography.
Teams schedule maintenance work orders based on observed conditions or use a CMMS to automatically trigger maintenance based on predetermined thresholds. MaintainX enables condition-based maintenance triggers that help you keep assets online by responding to real-time data.
Advantages of routine maintenance
Routine maintenance offers several advantages that go beyond simply keeping equipment running. For maintenance managers in manufacturing and facilities, these benefits mean real operational improvements and cost savings:
- Reduces unplanned downtime: Regular maintenance delivers measurable results—our customers achieve an average 32% reduction. For a manufacturing facility, this means avoiding costly production stoppages that cost $50,000 per hour in lost revenue.
- Minimizes reactive maintenance: Proactive maintenance reduces emergency repairs, which typically cost 3–5 times more than planned maintenance activities.
- Increases equipment lifespan: Routine maintenance extends asset life by 20–40% compared to run-to-failure approaches, delaying major capital expenditures for years.
- Improves productivity: Well-maintained equipment operates at optimal efficiency, reducing energy consumption by up to 15% and ensuring consistent production quality.
- Improves safety: Regular maintenance checks ensure safety equipment functions correctly, reducing workplace accidents and associated costs that average $40,000 per incident in manufacturing.
How MaintainX supports routine maintenance
A successful routine maintenance program comes down to two things: solid scheduling and performance tracking. Many facilities struggle with outdated systems that limit visibility and efficiency.
While 55% of facilities still rely on in-house spreadsheets to manage maintenance activities, a user-friendly CMMS like MaintainX revolutionizes any routine maintenance program. Here's how MaintainX supports routine maintenance:
- Scheduling and managing maintenance activities: MaintainX simplifies work order management by enabling you to schedule routine maintenance work, assign tasks to specific team members, and set priority levels. Our resource planning features support workload-based scheduling, ensuring assignments align with actual technician capacity.
- Controlling spare parts inventory: Digitizing your parts inventory ensures you always have the right components for regular maintenance tasks. The system helps you track critical assets using barcodes or unique IDs and avoid costly rush orders through smarter inventory decisions.
- Storing maintenance data: MaintainX collects, stores, and analyzes maintenance data to optimize your routine maintenance schedules. The platform tracks key Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) and Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) to determine optimal maintenance frequency.
The bottom line on routine maintenance
Routine maintenance is what separates reliable operations from constant firefighting in manufacturing and facilities. Too many facilities still struggle with outdated maintenance practices, from paper-based systems to inflexible legacy software, that limit productivity and increase costs.
MaintainX solves this problem with a mobile-first platform that we designed specifically for frontline maintenance professionals. Our platform modernizes operations, provides real-time insights, and supports the proactive maintenance that keeps your facility running efficiently.
Ready to move beyond reactive maintenance and start building a more reliable operation? Sign Up for Free and see how MaintainX transforms your routine maintenance program in weeks, not months.
Routine maintenance FAQs
Routine maintenance is a type of preventive maintenance (PM). While all routine maintenance is preventive, not all preventive maintenance is routine. 'Routine' refers to simple, high-frequency tasks like daily cleaning or weekly lubrication, while 'preventive maintenance' includes less frequent, complex tasks like major overhauls.
You can set up a pilot program on a single critical production line in a few weeks. A full facility-wide rollout typically takes two to three months, depending on asset count and team size. The key is a phased approach, starting with high-impact assets to show value early.
Focus on KPIs like MTBF, Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP), and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). A rising MTBF and PMP indicate your proactive efforts are successfully reducing unexpected breakdowns.
Modern CMMS platforms like MaintainX seamlessly manage routine maintenance through recurring work order templates and automated scheduling. The system tracks completion, parts usage, and labor hours, providing data to continuously improve maintenance schedules and reduce unplanned downtime.
Routine maintenance helps ensure that each piece of equipment is in good operating condition, reducing the likelihood of accidents or incidents caused by equipment failure. Regular inspections can identify potential safety hazards, and maintenance tasks can address these issues proactively.
A routine maintenance checklist for HVAC systems should include tasks for inspecting and cleaning air filters, thermostats, and compressors. Other tasks should include checking electrical connections, checking operating pressures, and cleaning drains. For a robust HVAC preventive maintenance checklist, check out the procedures in MaintainX’s Global Procedure Library.
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