Advantages and Disadvantages of Corrective Maintenance
Performing a CMMS is essential, whether your company is large or small and regardless of the industry in question. But do you know which maintenance strategies are most appropriate for you and when you should adopt each one? In this article, we have described the advantages and disadvantages of Corrective Maintenance to help you gain a better understanding of what is available to your business and if / when this may best meet your needs.
As we know, it is crucial to avoid technical issues with Preventive Maintenance (check out our previous post), but once unexpected failures happen, we have to do our best to resolve them. Corrective Maintenance is the technical activity performed after a malfunction occurs and is expected to restore an asset to the conditions under which it can perform the intended function, whether by repair or replacement.
What are the advantages?
- Lower short-term costs: Since this is a reactive activity, there is very little to do after purchase and before a problem occurs;
- Minimum Planning Required: Corrective Maintenance consists of correcting a fault identified in a specific component of an equipment or facility currently marked, so there is no need for complex and timely planning;
- Simpler process: The process is easy to understand, since it is only necessary to act when some type of problem occurs;
- Better solution in some cases: When it is believed that shutdown and repair costs in case of breakdown will be less than the investment required for Preventive Maintenance, Corrective Maintenance is the best solution.
What are the disadvantages?
- Unpredictability: Equipment is not monitored after purchase, so flaws are highly unpredictable;
- Stopping operations: Unexpected faults can result in unavailable materials and therefore delay the time required for a repair, increasing equipment downtime;
- Non-maximized equipment: This approach does not protect or care for the equipment, which reduces the useful life of the assets;
- Higher Long-Term Costs: Corrective Maintenance is applied when it is believed that shutdown and repair costs in the event of a breakdown will be less than the investment required for planned maintenance. But this does not always happen. When a “catastrophic” failure occurs, it can be extremely costly, causing negative effects on reputation, customer satisfaction, security, and ability to run a business efficiently and productively.
Most practitioners do not analyze the advantages of Corrective Maintenance in detail, but it is important to understand that for some ancillary equipment this is most appropriate. For example, when there are assets of low criticality and the costs involved in an eventual repair are considered inferior to the regular inspections or preventive techniques, it is appropriate to adopt the strategy of Corrective Maintenance. This approach is also common when equipment malfunction does not directly affect operations or business productivity.
Even in these cases, it is possible to optimize operational processes, report and solve all faults in a timely and effective way to maximize customer satisfaction. Some examples are the automatic assignment of technicians, quick reports by each team member, and easy fault organization (knowing which ones are open and / or completed). The main problem arises when Corrective Maintenance is not adopted as part of the maintenance plan, but only because there are no preventive activities. Our experience and the feedback we receive from our customers shows us that both are essential, depending on the context and integration in the strategic maintenance plan.
