Industrial maintenance indicators: 6 to track

Ever thought about seeing your company at a standstill because an essential machine or piece of equipment stopped working?

Effective industrial maintenance is a critical factor in delivering quality operations that provide the necessary production conditions at the lowest possible cost. It is part of industrial maintenance managementopens in a new tab.

That is why organizations need to define quality benchmarks to measure current effectiveness and predict future performance, using the data to understand where to improve.

One way to do that is to use different maintenance metrics to understand equipment performance.

These metrics are very important. After all, they can make the difference between reaching business goals (by avoiding production stoppages) and explaining how unexpected interruptions caused delivery delays.

With that in mind, here are 6 of the main industrial maintenance indicators you can implement in your company to track the performance of your processesopens in a new tab (in Portuguese) in maintenance. That way, you can keep your operation running well at all times.

Do you know how to manage indicators? Then watch this video from our YouTube channelopens in a new tab (in Portuguese):

6 industrial maintenance indicators to watch

1. Planned maintenance percentage (PPC)

The planned maintenance percentage is a metric that represents the share of maintenance hours that were planned, relative to total maintenance hours.

In simpler terms, this indicator shows how much of the maintenance work done on a given asset was part of its preventive maintenance plan and how much went to unexpected repairs. The higher the percentage, the less dependent you are on emergency repairs.

The calculation is:

• PPC = (scheduled maintenance time / total maintenance hours) x 100

2. Mean time to repair (MTTR)

The second item on our list of industrial maintenance indicators is mean time to repair (MTTR). As the name suggests, it shows the average time it takes to repair a given piece of equipment.

The MTTR clock starts when repairs begin and runs until operations are restored. So it should include repair time, testing time and the return to normal operating condition.

Every organization’s goal is to reduce MTTR as much as possible. This is especially important for critical assets, since every extra hour needed to restore an asset to working condition means huge losses for your company.

To calculate MTTR, divide the downtime by the total number of repairs.

• MTTR = (SUM of downtime periods / total number of repairs)

3. Mean time between failures (MTBF)

Mean time between failures (MTBF) is the measure of the expected time between one failure and the next during normal operation. This process performance indicator measures how reliable your equipment is.

In essence, MTBF tells you the expected useful life of a specific piece of equipment. So a higher MTBF means the part (or product) will run longer before failing.

If you know how long a specific part or piece of equipment will last, it is much easier to predict and prepare for a failure or to schedule preventive work.

To calculate MTBF, divide total operating time by the number of failures:

• MTBF = (sum of operating time / total number of failures)

Do you know what FMEA is? Then read this post from our blog: What is FMEAopens in a new tab.

4. Availability

Availability is an indicator that shows the percentage of time a piece of equipment is available to operate as scheduled. The higher the availability value, the better.

The formula to calculate this indicator is:

• A = MTBF / (MTBF + MTTR) x 100

Availability is also one of the components of OEEopens in a new tab, an indicator that combines availability, performance and quality.

5. Predictive maintenance compliance (MPd)

The MPd indicator checks compliance with the predictive maintenance plan. It compares the predictive tasks carried out with those scheduled in the period.

• MPd = (tasks carried out in the predictive maintenance plan / tasks scheduled in the predictive maintenance plan) x 100

6. Preventive maintenance compliance (MP)

Closing our industrial maintenance indicator tips, we have MP. It shows whether or not the preventive maintenance plan is being followed.

To calculate this indicator, apply the following formula:

• MP = (preventive maintenance tasks carried out / actions scheduled in the preventive maintenance plan) x 100

For example, you may have 60 work orders from the preventive maintenance plan scheduled, but only 51 completed by the end of the month.

In this case:

• MP = (51 / 60) x 100 = 85%

This shows that 85% of the preventive work orders were carried out in the selected period.

Those were the 6 main industrial maintenance indicators. Which one will you implement in your company?

To track all of them in one place, it is worth building a performance indicators dashboardopens in a new tab.

How to track maintenance indicators?

A maintenance indicator only helps when each measurement has a defined formula, owner and frequency, and the failure becomes an action with a deadline. Without that, MTBF and MTTR become numbers in a spreadsheet and the same defect comes back the following month.

In Stratwsopens in a new tab, the AI platform for strategic and performance management created by Siteware, maintenance indicators live on a visual dashboard, and each deviation is recorded with a root cause analysis, using tools such as PDCA and the Five Whys, and tracked with an action plan until it is closed.

The Ishikawa Diagramopens in a new tab is a tool for finding the causes of process failures. Watch the video:

Visit our website and explore the Routine Management and Continuous Improvement solution in Stratwsopens in a new tab.