Preventive vs Reactive Maintenance: The True Cost Difference

Most maintenance teams know they should be doing more preventive maintenance. The challenge isn’t understanding the concept — it’s justifying the investment and making the transition.

What is Reactive Maintenance?

Reactive maintenance (also called run-to-failure or breakdown maintenance) means you fix equipment after it breaks. There’s no scheduled inspection or servicing. You wait for the failure, then respond.

This approach feels cheaper in the short term because you’re not spending money on maintenance until something breaks. But the hidden costs are significant.

What is Preventive Maintenance?

Preventive maintenance (PM) means you service equipment on a regular schedule — before it fails. This includes inspections, lubrication, filter changes, calibration, and component replacement at manufacturer-recommended intervals.

The goal is simple: catch problems early when they’re cheap to fix, instead of waiting for catastrophic failures that are expensive to repair.

The True Cost Comparison

Direct Costs

Reactive maintenance costs 3-9x more than preventive maintenance per repair. Here’s why:

• Emergency labor — Unplanned repairs often require overtime or emergency callouts
• Expedited parts — Rush shipping for replacement parts costs significantly more
• Collateral damage — A failing bearing can damage the shaft, housing, and seals if not caught early
• Production losses — Every hour of unplanned downtime costs production revenue

Indirect Costs

Beyond the repair bill, reactive maintenance creates hidden costs:

• Reduced equipment lifespan — Equipment that isn’t maintained wears out faster
• Safety risks — Failed equipment can injure workers and create liability
• Quality issues — Degraded equipment produces lower-quality output
• Team stress — Constant firefighting burns out your maintenance team
• Lost knowledge — Without documented procedures, repairs depend on individual expertise

How to Transition to Preventive Maintenance

You don’t need to switch overnight. Start with your most critical assets.

Step 1: Identify Critical Assets

Which equipment causes the most downtime when it fails? Which failures are the most expensive? Start your PM program with these assets first.

Step 2: Establish Baselines

Check manufacturer recommendations for service intervals. Review your breakdown history to identify failure patterns. If a motor fails every 6 months, schedule inspection at 4 months.

Step 3: Create Schedules

Set up recurring maintenance schedules — daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly. A CMMS auto-generates work orders before due dates so nothing is missed.

Step 4: Define Procedures

Create standardized checklists for each maintenance task. This ensures consistent quality regardless of which technician performs the work.

Step 5: Track Compliance

Monitor your PM compliance rate — the percentage of scheduled maintenance completed on time. Aim for 90%+ compliance. Below 80% means your program isn’t effective.

Measuring the Impact

After implementing preventive maintenance, track these metrics:

• Unplanned downtime — Should decrease within 3-6 months
• Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) — Should increase as equipment is maintained properly
• Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) — Should decrease as problems are caught earlier
• Maintenance cost per asset — May increase initially, then decrease as reactive repairs drop
• PM compliance rate — Should stay above 90%

The 80/20 Rule

Best-in-class maintenance organizations aim for 80% planned (preventive) work and 20% unplanned (reactive) work. If your ratio is closer to 50/50 or worse, there’s significant room for improvement.

Getting Started Today

The biggest barrier to preventive maintenance isn’t technology — it’s the decision to start. Pick your 10 most critical assets, set up basic PM schedules, and track compliance for 90 days. The data will make the case for expanding the program.