Preventative vs Predictive Maintenance: The best way to protect your fleet

All maintenance is, ultimately, preventative in nature. Its basic aim is to prevent problems. Traditionally, maintenance was either scheduled or usage-based (or a combination of both).

Now, however, advances in technology make it possible to undertake predictive or even prescriptive maintenance. This is a significant benefit to fleet managers.

Understanding preventive vs predictive maintenance 

Traditional preventive maintenance is essentially based on assumptions. For example, cars are generally assumed to need a service every year or 12K miles (which comes first). These assumptions are usually based on data collated from real-world use. It will therefore be fairly accurate for most people.

Predictive maintenance, by contrast, is based on customised analytics. Data is gathered from the vehicles themselves. This is then used to predict what maintenance they will need and when. It’s sometimes possible to take this a step further and move into the realm of prescriptive maintenance.

Prescriptive maintenance doesn’t just predict what will happen and when but also why. This means that companies have the opportunity to see if they can address the root cause of the issue. It can, therefore, potentially, save even more money.

How preventive and predictive maintenance compare 

Here, Walker Movements shares their expertise on the differences and similarities between preventive and predictive maintenance.

Safety 

Both preventive and predictive maintenance improve safety. Predictive maintenance probably has at least a slight edge here. This is purely because it operates on the basis of data collected directly from the vehicle itself rather than working on assumptions.

Scheduling 

Preventive maintenance is scheduled based on time or usage. In the fleet world, usage tends to be the more important factor. This is because fleet vehicles tend to spend much more time on the road than private vehicles. They therefore generally need more frequent maintenance than private vehicles.

Predictive maintenance is scheduled as, when and if needed. It is based not just on the extent of usage (e.g., the number of miles) but on the nature of the usage. For example, a vehicle driven over poor roads will probably be scheduled for maintenance more quickly than a vehicle driven over good ones.

Both preventative and predictive maintenance tend to need to be carried out on a fairly regular basis. There is, however, usually a certain level of flexibility regarding exactly when it’s scheduled. For example, if maintenance needs to be done once a year or every 12K miles, it can often be done a bit earlier if that’s more convenient overall.

This could increase the effective cost of the maintenance somewhat because you wouldn’t necessarily be getting the full wear out of the components. On the other hand, you may be getting more effective use out of the vehicle and hence be making savings there.

Time required 

Overall, predictive maintenance tends to be quicker than preventive maintenance. This is mainly because it eliminates the guesswork. In some areas, it’s also because it can be undertaken during periods of natural downtime or even while equipment is in use.

Neither of these options currently has much relevance to fleet management. It is, however, entirely possible that they will become much more relevant in the future. It’s also possible that this future may be closer than you might think.

Even though many fleet vehicles still run on fuel, they typically have a lot of electronic components. There is at least the possibility to run maintenance on these while drivers are on breaks or overnight.

Process 

Preventive maintenance tends to work on the basis of checklists. Predictive maintenance simply addresses whatever issues have been identified. Technically, this makes predictive maintenance a lot more efficient. With that said, there is arguably still a place for the traditional preventive approach.

Modern data analysis is hugely efficient and overall, very reliable. Even so, it can still be worthwhile using a “trust but verify approach” to predictive maintenance. In other words, use it as the mainstay of your maintenance strategy but use traditional preventive maintenance as a backup.

This will ensure that you occasionally check components that are not flagged as needing to be checked. Most of the time, you’ll find there is nothing wrong. Occasionally, however, you may come across an issue that was not picked up by your monitoring systems.

Infrastructure 

The issue of whether or not predictive maintenance is more complicated than preventive maintenance is largely a matter of opinion. On the one hand, it certainly does require more sophisticated infrastructure. In particular, it needs a way to collect, transmit and analyse the data. It also requires people to have the training to interpret it.

On the other hand, many fleets have telemetrics in place already. This means that, at most, they’ll be expanding on what they already have. Similarly, training in the analysis of this data is becoming more common in the automotive industry. In fact, if the current trend continues, it is likely to become standard practice for technicians to be trained in data analysis.

Using predictive maintenance can make inventory management somewhat more complicated. There are, however, plenty of software solutions to take the burden off humans. These are now mainstream enough to be reasonably affordable even for SMEs.

Cost 

Comparing the cost of preventive and predictive maintenance is, however, somewhat complex. Preventive maintenance certainly requires less upfront investment. On the other hand, it typically requires more human time. That also generally translates to more downtime for vehicles. This can mean downtime for their drivers and/or the need to have extra vehicles available.

With predictive maintenance, the reverse is true. You may need to make an upfront investment in the necessary infrastructure. You can, however, expect to have maintenance done more quickly and therefore need fewer staff hours and less downtime for the vehicle.

Overall, predictive maintenance probably wins out in terms of maximising the lifespan of your equipment. The fact that preventive maintenance is scheduled based on time and/or usage means that there’s a greater likelihood of parts being changed before they really need to be. With predictive maintenance, parts can be used for as long as they are clearly safe.

Author Bio

Walker Movements are specialists in quality second-hand, used trucks and trailers and are global leaders in the trucking industry. Walker Movements have a true passion for the industry and make it their mission to answer any question customers can throw at them.