Breakdowns rarely happen at convenient times. A generator will not start when you need backup power. A fiber cabinet overheats during peak demand. A service truck is suddenly off the road just when you are short on technicians. For field teams, these are not just technical glitches. They are expensive and disruptive setbacks.
That is why we believe in getting ahead of them.
Preventive maintenance plans give organizations the structure to act early and prevent unexpected breakdowns. By putting a plan in place based on real usage patterns, time intervals, or field inspections, teams can reduce downtime, improve safety, and extend the life of critical equipment.
This type of planned upkeep helps teams stay ahead of failures by aligning service schedules with actual asset use. These planned maitenance programs, often called PM programs, combine calendar based, usage based, and condition based strategies to cover critical assets and avoid reactive maintenance.
If you are trying to define how preventive programs fit into your field service management strategy, here is what they mean, why they matter, and how they are being applied across industries.
At its core, a preventive program means performing regular servicing on each piece of equipment before it fails. These scheduled tasks might include:
The goal is simple: fix it before a piece of equipment fails.
These regular inspections form the foundation of any planned maintenance program, ensuring that critical assets receive attention at the right intervals rather than only after a breakdown.
It is different from:
Together, these represent the main types of maintenance strategies organizations consider before selecting the right balance for their operations.
Unplanned downtime is both expensive and disruptive. Research shows that 82 percent of companies have experienced at least one unplanned outage in the last three years. In asset heavy industries, downtime can cost up to 260,000 dollars per hour.
A proactive service program provides measurable benefits:
For most organizations, focusing on prevention is not optional. It is a core operational strategy to safeguard assets, people, and profit margins.
Unlike reactive repair, which often leads to expensive surprises, a well designed PM program keeps critical assets reliable through routine care and structured inspections.
Every industry has unique requirements, and preventive programs will take different forms depending on operational needs and asset criticality. Routine maintenance and regular inspections form the backbone of effective PM programs across all sectors.
Read how HyperFiber improved network reliability with Field Squared.
Each of these examples shows how well structured preventive maintenance plans and planned maintenance schedules reduce downtime, improve safety, and keep operations predictable. Regular servicing allows companies in every industry to extend asset lifespan and avoid the chain reaction of failures caused by neglected PM programs.
Preventive strategies typically follow three main approaches for scheduling and servicing:
A usage based approach ensures that service is tied directly to how often each piece of equipment is used rather than arbitrary intervals, reducing waste and improving uptime.
Modern FSM platforms now use AI driven scheduling to recommend the optimal time for planned servicing. By analyzing usage patterns, asset histories, and technician availability, these systems help reduce downtime and ensure critical equipment is serviced before unexpected breakdowns occur.
In practice, most organizations combine multiple types of planned maintenance to balance cost, efficiency, and reliability.
When organizations rely on spreadsheets, paper forms, or whiteboards, preventive maintenance programs often fail to scale. Surprisingly, about half of companies still track servicing manually (Plant Engineering).
To manage these programs effectively, companies use field service management software or CMMS platforms that provide:
When PM programs are centralized in digital systems, teams gain consistency in routine upkeep and inspection workflows, avoiding the gaps that occur when processes rely on manual tracking.
Here are the steps we recommend to implement or improve your program:
This approach ensures your plan evolves from basic calendar based servicing to a data driven system that blends real world usage with predictive analytics.
The most effective programs begin with a few high priority assets and gradually expand into a broader strategy that incorporates condition monitoring, performance tracking, and predictive insights.
A well designed preventive plan is about control. We cannot stop equipment from aging, but we can stop small issues from turning into costly and unexpected breakdowns.
For most businesses, a proactive service model helps to:
By embedding a preventive approach within a broader asset management framework, organizations shift from reactive maintenance toward a culture of reliability. Routine servicing keeps teams efficient and ensures that every piece of equipment delivers consistent performance.
If you are evaluating field service or asset management solutions, a preventive maintenance plan should be the foundation of your operations. It balances cost and reliability, reduces risk, and keeps your business moving without disruption.
When PM programs are managed effectively, teams shift from reactive maintenance to proactive control, ensuring regular servicing keeps critical assets operating at peak performance.
With the right software in place, preventive programs stop being a burden and become the engine that drives efficiency, safety, and long term growth.