{"id":14758,"date":"2024-05-23T01:21:42","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T05:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eptura.wpengine.com\/?p=14758"},"modified":"2024-10-08T12:51:35","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T16:51:35","slug":"reactive-maintenance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eptura.com\/discover-more\/blog\/reactive-maintenance\/","title":{"rendered":"Reactive maintenance: How to get good at putting out fires"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reactive maintenance tends to have a bad reputation, with people describing it as running around, putting out fires. But depending on the asset or equipment, it might be the best possible maintenance strategy<\/a>. And even when it isn\u2019t, having at least some reactive maintenance is an unavoidable fact of life, so it\u2019s important to get good at it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And the best way to learn how to \u201cput out fires\u201d is from real firefighters.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is reactive maintenance?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Reactive maintenance is the work that you do when assets or equipment unexpectedly fail. An asset suddenly goes offline, and you rush to get it back up and running.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A helpful way to understand it is to look at its other common names, breakdown and on-demand maintenance. It\u2019s the maintenance you do when things suddenly go wrong, and you need to fix them right away.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the difference between reactive and corrective maintenance?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Corrective maintenance has a broader scope. It\u2019s the work you do to get an asset or equipment back in working order. In some cases, you\u2019re planning and scheduling the work<\/a> for the maintenance team, while in others you\u2019re not.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you catch an issue during a preventive maintenance inspection<\/a> or task, fixing it is corrective maintenance. In some cases, you do the work right away. In others, you schedule it for later. A technician might find the rollers on a conveyor belt are slightly out of alignment, so they adjust them on the spot. Or they might find that one of the belts is starting to develop a small worn spot, so they schedule repairs for the next time the line is down between production runs. Either way, it\u2019s corrective maintenance.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But if you don\u2019t catch an issue early and it has a chance to develop into a bigger problem, those repairs are also corrective maintenance.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is reactive maintenance always bad?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The short answer is \u201cYes.\u201d Which is why you should take steps to avoid it. Letting things run until they break usually means you can\u2019t effectively plan and prepare. Reprioritizing work on the fly, calling in help over the weekend, and spending extra on rush deliveries increase costs while decreasing team morale.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the longer answer is \u201cIt depends.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Reactive maintenance works well when you have an asset or piece of equipment is:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n