Definition
Maintenance is the umbrella discipline covering all activities (inspection, servicing, repair, and replacement) that keep physical assets performing their intended function safely and reliably over their life. Every specific strategy, from preventive to predictive to run-to-failure, is a choice made within this overall discipline.
Key facts
- The umbrella term under which every specific strategy (preventive, predictive, condition-based, corrective, run-to-failure) is one choice.
- Covers inspection, servicing, repair, and replacement across an asset's operating life.
- Its objective is reliable, safe function, not the elimination of all failure: some failure is accepted where it is not cost-effective to prevent.
- Organized through a maintenance strategy that decides which approach applies to which asset.
Why does Maintenance matter in maintenance?
Maintenance covers the full set of activities an organization performs to keep assets functioning as intended: routine inspection, scheduled servicing, condition monitoring, repair after failure, and planned replacement, spanning every specific approach documented elsewhere in this glossary.
How it differs from maintenance strategy
Maintenance is the overall discipline and objective; maintenance strategy is the deliberate selection of which specific approach (preventive, predictive, condition-based, corrective, or run-to-failure) applies to a given asset or asset class, based on its criticality and failure behavior.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What does maintenance cover as an overarching task?
It covers every activity (inspection, servicing, repair, and replacement) that keeps physical assets performing their intended function safely and reliably, with the specific approach for each asset determined by a chosen maintenance strategy.
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