When it comes to measuring maintenance performance, not all KPIs are created equal. Some tell you where you've been, while others help you adjust course and drive progress.
Traditional maintenance metrics like Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) and Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) act like gauges, showing you a snapshot of past performance. But if you're looking to optimize your predictive maintenance (PdM) program, you need more than just a historical view. You also need a compass that points the way toward greater gains that can transform your culture and operations.
In this post, we'll explain why the most effective predictive maintenance programs thrive on both historical and forward-looking maintenance key performance indicators—and how to combine these metrics to achieve the best possible results.
Maintenance Performance Metrics You Need to Calculate and Drive Predictive Maintenance Value
An effective mix of maintenance metrics shows you where you are today and helps guide future efforts. You'll have all the insights you need to identify risks early, help prioritize maintenance work, and drive decision making to minimize unplanned downtime, boost reliability, and improve overall efficiency and productivity.
- Historical KPIs: Outcome-focused metrics like total maintenance hours or downtime show past events. They’re great for tracking performance and gauging where you are today relative to maintenance and operational goals, allowing you to calculate the value of your PdM program.
- Actionable KPIs: These track behavior and responsiveness in real time. These metrics are actionable, offering critical insights that can help teams identify opportunities for improvement and shore up their maintenance processes to accelerate progress overall.
Examples of Actionable Maintenance Metrics
Here are a few maintenance KPIs that can transform your predictive maintenance program by providing deeper insights into the effectiveness of your maintenance strategies.
- Mean Time to Comment: If it takes a long time to acknowledge a fault alert, this suggests maintenance personnel may be overwhelmed or not as engaged—possibly requiring a shift in priorities or maintenance mindset.
- Mean Time to Resolution: This metric is closely related to mean time to comment. It's best to include the time between initial alert to verification that the issue has been fixed (rather than a closed work order). This can be done via follow-up sensor data, oil samples, and ongoing communication between the facility team and their provider's dedicated condition monitoring engineer (CME).
- Mean Time Between Faults: If the mean time between faults is short, or a machine experiences the same recurring fault, it could indicate the team is addressing symptoms rather than resolving root causes.
A robust PdM program depends on both condition-based insights and rapid response. Combining maintenance KPIs that reflect machine health with those that monitor the health of your maintenance process is your ticket to fastest, highest ROI.
How Maintenance Teams Benefit from Tracking Actionable KPIs
Tracking actionable maintenance KPIs over time can help your team:
- Reduce emergency maintenance by staying on top of alerts and CME communications and ensuring root causes are addressed, thus reducing sudden failures and increasing overall uptime.
- Boost asset health and performance by resolving issues early in the failure curve and minimizing wear and degradation.
- Improve efficiency of maintenance activities by effectively prioritizing maintenance tasks and optimizing planned maintenance intervals to reduce stress, overtime, and maintenance costs.
- Continually refine maintenance processes through timely, better-informed decision making.
These KPIs also give maintenance managers the tools to measure maintenance team engagement and identify areas for skill development or workflow improvement.
Bottom Line: Use a Mix of Maintenance KPIs That Report and Guide
Successful maintenance management doesn’t stop at setting a schedule or logging downtime. It’s about using predictive maintenance tools and maintenance indicators that provide insights into maintenance performance and enable fast, informed action.
It's important to track both asset and process metrics so you can guide your team to better outcomes, every step of the way. Actionable KPIs help maintenance technicians focus their efforts and build a data-driven maintenance culture. With the clear, 360-degree view they need, maintenance managers can justify investment in predictive maintenance programs and maintenance management software.
If you're trying to optimize your maintenance program, track KPIs that do more than reflect the past. Track key metrics that are actionable and help shape the future.
By combining advanced wireless sensor technology, AI-powered predictive analytics, dedicated expert support, and the right maintenance KPI metrics, your team can achieve breakthrough gains with less effort and at lower cost.
Dive Into These Real-World Case Studies and Discover the Power of Maintenance KPIs
Want real-world examples of how key performance indicators are used to drive predictive maintenance success? Watch our recently recorded webinar “Maintenance KPIs That Matter: Aligning Predictive Maintenance with Business Goals.”
You'll learn how you can:
- Align maintenance activities with high-value metrics
- Identify and improve important maintenance KPIs
- Apply leading maintenance indicators to optimize your predictive maintenance program
Watch the replay to learn how facility teams are using actionable metrics to overcome barriers to improvement, reduce critical maintenance needs and costs, maximize uptime, and transform their operations.
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