No matter how large or small your fleet is, having some sort of聽heavy-duty equipment preventive maintenance聽strategy in place is always a good idea. That way, you will not need to spend time and money dealing with issues after they happen.
By Emilie Vecera
If you are in charge of a heavy-duty fleet, you already know why聽preventive fleet maintenance聽matters. Prioritizing聽preventive maintenance聽(PM) can help you keep your trucks in good shape, avoid downtime, and cut costs on repair work. What you might not know is that there are different ways to schedule these crucial appointments鈥攁nd each of these approaches has its own pros and cons. Once you understand what sets different types of preventive maintenance apart, you will be able to choose the right option(s)聽for your fleet.
What Are the 4 Types of Preventive Maintenance?
No matter how large or small your fleet is, having some sort of聽heavy-duty equipment preventive maintenance聽strategy in place is always a good idea. That way, you will not need to spend time and money dealing with issues after they happen. Instead, you can anticipate these problems and solve them before they have a chance to become worse. There are four basic types of preventive maintenance:
1. Time-based preventive maintenance
2. Usage-based preventive maintenance
3. Condition-based preventive maintenance
4. Predictive preventive maintenance
#1: Time-Based Preventative Maintenance
Time-based preventive maintenance is the most 鈥渢raditional鈥� of the four main PM strategies. This technique is based on doing maintenance work at specific times. Any maintenance task that relies on a specific calendar interval (such as monthly or quarterly maintenance work) is an example of time-based PM. Do you take care of jobs like oil changes, routine inspections, or air filter replacements after a specific number of days or weeks pass? If so, you are already familiar with this preventive maintenance strategy.
When you use time-based preventive maintenance, you will be able to start enjoying the benefits of preventive maintenance with minimal difficulty. Since implementing this maintenance strategy is as simple as creating appointments on a calendar, you should not have trouble creating or following maintenance schedules.
#2: Usage-Based Preventive Maintenance
Unfortunately, time-based PM has one big drawback鈥攊t does not account for how your trucks are actually doing. If you only have time-based preventive maintenance in your bag of tools, you might struggle to give your vehicles the services they need when they need them. For example, truck routes that navigate through mountains will have different wear and tear than routes over mostly flat terrain, even if the mileage itself looks the same.
Usage-based PM could be part of your solution to this problem. Unlike time-based preventive maintenance, usage-based PM involves factors like engine hours and mileage. For example, you could plan to take care of specific maintenance tasks every 5,000 miles for some trucks and 10,000 miles for other trucks. What this means is that usage-based preventive maintenance is a great choice when premature wear and tear is a concern. And while keeping track of mileage and engine hours is trickier than following a calendar interval, software can simplify things by giving you automated reminders when it is time to take care of PMs.
#3: Condition-Based Preventive Maintenance
So, is usage-based preventive maintenance the most advanced type of PM out there? We are only halfway through the list, so you should not be surprised to learn the answer is 鈥渘o.鈥� The next step up is condition-based PM, which involves monitoring the condition of your trucks even more closely.
When you start using condition-based preventive maintenance, you will use sensors and telematics equipment in your trucks to watch performance indicators like oil condition and brake pad thickness. From that starting point, you will have no trouble scheduling PMs whenever your trucks need work.
The only real drawback to condition-based preventive maintenance is the fact that it can be tricky to schedule and track condition-based PMs. Fortunately, software that is compatible with your trucks鈥櫬爐elematics equipment聽can help.
#4: Predictive Preventive Maintenance
The final (and most powerful) PM type is predictive preventive maintenance. With this service scheduling method, you will analyze data from telematics equipment and sensors in your trucks. If you think this sounds not entirely unlike condition-based PM, honestly, you are not wrong. There聽is聽a difference, though鈥攑redictive maintenance can go beyond other PM scheduling methods thanks to the power of artificial intelligence.
When you use AI to analyze the condition of your trucks and schedule PMs, you can do an even better job of proactively addressing vital maintenance tasks before they become a problem. You will enjoy advantages like reduced repair expenses, fewer聽breakdowns, and longer equipment lifespans.
Choosing the Right Type of Preventive Maintenance for Your Trucks
Now that you know a thing or two about the different types of preventive maintenance, you will be ready to choose one for your fleet 鈥� right?聽Well, the truth is a bit more complicated than that.
Generally speaking, mixing and matching different PM types will help you get the best results. By combining time-based maintenance schedules, usage level monitoring, and data analysis, you can create customized schedules that truly account for your fleet鈥檚 needs. While building a scheduling strategy for your fleet, be sure to think about your:
- Fleet size: The larger your fleet, the harder it will be to track PMs manually. No matter what scheduling strategies you use, you will need digital assistance if you have more than a few trucks.
- Equipment criticality: If a piece of equipment is particularly important to your business, you should not just set a recurring maintenance interval for it and hope for the best. Even if you use time-based PMs for much of your fleet, it is best to give truly crucial equipment some extra attention.
- Budget: As you might expect, implementing data-driven maintenance scheduling will cost more than setting up a recurring reminder on your calendar app. Still, you will want to think about this technology as an investment in your fleet鈥檚 future.
- Operational goals: If you commit to one or more advanced PM scheduling methods, you will be able to take a more proactive approach to fleet maintenance than ever before.
How Can Heavy-Duty Shop Maintenance Software Help?
No matter what types of preventive maintenance your fleet uses, you will get the best results by investing in exceptional heavy-duty shop maintenance software. These programs can automatically track upcoming maintenance appointments and remind you when your trucks need service, but that is not all they do. If you have an internal shop, your system should also integrate with telematics equipment and help you keep crucial parts in stock with inventory management capabilities. | WA
This article originally appeared on Fullbay鈥檚 blog at www.fullbay.com/blog/4-types-of-preventive-maintenance-for-trucks. Fullbay is a heavy-duty repair shop management platform that enables shops to receive repair requests, invoice customers, and everything in between. For more information, visit.