5 Examples of Preventive Maintenance

John Spacey, updated on February 09, 2017

Preventive maintenance is a procedure designed to prevent failures and prolong the life of infrastructure, facilities, machines, software and other entities such as documents. The term is used to distinguish regular or precautionary maintenance from fixing things that are broken. The following are illustrative examples of preventive maintenance.

Maintenance Schedule

The manufacturer of a high speed train publishes a 10 year maintenance schedule that outlines the recommended preventive maintenance in the first decade of a train's lifespan.

Safety

Parts and components of an aircraft are scheduled to be replaced by maintenance teams before they wear out.

Regular Maintenance

An elevator undergoes regular inspections that include a diagnostic test to determine if components should be replaced.

Security

An operating system is kept up-to-date to prevent security incidents.

Recommended Maintenance

A software developer recommends improvements that may reduce risks related to a legacy system. Management approves the changes and they are developed and deployed.

Overview: Preventive Maintenance
Type	Maintenance Business Operations Software Development
Definition (1)	A procedure designed to prevent failures and prolong the life of infrastructure, facilities, machines and software.
Definition (2)	Fixing things before they break.
Related Concepts	Risk Risk Reduction Maintenance