Preventive · Intermediate
Review Overdue Preventive Maintenance
Learn to identify preventive work orders whose planned completion dates have passed and review the work still outstanding. Check recorded progress and documented reasons for delay without changing schedules or maintenance plans.
Proactively addressing overdue preventive maintenance is crucial for maintaining asset reliability and operational continuity. Delays can lead to increased breakdown risks, higher repair costs, and reduced asset lifespan. This guide outlines how to review outstanding preventive work orders to understand their status and documented reasons for delay.
Where it's available and step by step
Step by step in ManWinWin Desktop
- 1
Open the work order list to review existing preventive interventions.
- 2
Use the list filters to restrict the review to the work types used for preventive maintenance in your organisation.
- 3
Filter by execution status to focus on unfinished work, excluding interventions already completed or recorded as not performed.
- 4
Compare planned completion dates with today's date and identify unfinished interventions whose planned completion dates have passed.
- 5
Review the identified interventions from the earliest planned completion date, opening each work order to check the equipment, work description and outstanding tasks.
- 6
Check recorded task results and labour entries against the work order status to understand what has already been done and what remains outstanding.
- 7
Read the available notes and supporting documents for recorded resource shortages or other reasons for delay, distinguishing documented causes from delays whose cause is not recorded.
Theory and technical background
The Importance of Timely Preventive Maintenance
Preventive maintenance (PM) is scheduled work designed to prevent failures and extend the lifespan of assets. Following a PM schedule reduces the likelihood of unexpected breakdowns, improves safety, and optimizes operational efficiency. When PM tasks become overdue, the benefits diminish rapidly, potentially leading to a decline in asset performance and an increase in corrective maintenance needs. Regularly reviewing overdue PM helps identify systemic issues in planning or execution, enabling timely corrective actions to uphold maintenance standards and asset health.
Understanding Work Order Status and Delays
In a CMMS, the status of a work order provides critical insights into its progress. An overdue work order indicates that the planned completion date has passed without the work being finalized. Delays can stem from various factors, such as resource shortages (labor, spare parts), conflicting operational priorities, equipment unavailability, or unforeseen technical challenges. Documenting the reasons for delay is essential for root cause analysis and future planning. This practice supports continuous improvement, helping to refine PM schedules and resource allocation based on historical performance.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for PM Effectiveness
Monitoring KPIs is vital for assessing the effectiveness of your preventive maintenance program. Relevant KPIs include PM compliance, which measures the percentage of PM tasks completed on schedule, and PM backlog, representing the volume of overdue work. High levels of overdue PM tasks or low compliance rates signal potential issues in scheduling, resource availability, or execution. By regularly reviewing overdue work, organizations can proactively manage their PM backlog, improve compliance, and ultimately enhance asset availability (ISO 55000) and reliability (EN 13306).
Best practices
- Prioritize overdue PM based on asset criticality to mitigate the highest risks first.
- Ensure all delay reasons are thoroughly documented within the work order for future analysis.
- Regularly review your PM scheduling and resource allocation processes if overdue tasks are consistently high.
- Involve relevant stakeholders (operations, production) when analyzing significant PM delays.
Frequently asked questions
Why is it important to review overdue PM work orders?
Reviewing overdue PM helps identify potential asset reliability issues, understand the causes of delays, and take proactive measures to prevent future occurrences, ensuring assets perform as expected.
What should be done after identifying overdue PM tasks?
After identification, analyze the reasons for delay, check recorded progress, and plan next steps without immediately changing schedules. This informs better future planning and resource allocation.
Can overdue PM affect other maintenance KPIs?
Yes, high overdue PM can negatively impact KPIs like PM compliance, Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), and asset availability, potentially increasing corrective maintenance work and costs.
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