Definitions for the maintenance, reliability, and lubrication terms that show up on the shop floor and in the standards.
Testing the acid number (AN) of lubricants is important to ensure that they are functioning properly and not corroding metal parts. The AN measures the amount of acidic material present in a lubricant. This information can help you choose the right lubricant for your equipment and minimize maintenance costs.
Analytical ferrography is a powerful lubricant analysis tool used to analyze the wear particles present in lubricating fluids. By identifying and quantifying the size, shape, and composition of the particles, analysts can gain a better understanding of the wear process taking place in machinery. This information can be used to improve machine performance and extend component life.
When it comes to running a successful business, asset availability is an essential metric for measuring and maintaining peak efficiency. Whether you're a maintenance manager or technician, understanding and efficiently managing the availability of your assets can have a major impact on productivity levels. Having the right information available enables data-driven decisions — maximizing uptime without compromising cost or safety.
Asset Criticality Ranking (ACR) is a structured process for evaluating and scoring every asset in an operation based on the consequences and likelihood of failure, then using those scores to prioritize maintenance resources, inspection intervals, spare parts investment, and condition monitoring programs. The output is a tiered ranking — typically Tier 1 (critical), Tier 2 (essential), and Tier 3 (non-critical) — that tells the maintenance organization where failure risk is highest and where reliability investment delivers the greatest return. ACR is the foundation of a risk-based maintenance strategy and serves as a living input to the maintenance management system that should be updated as assets are modified, failure history changes, or operational context shifts.
Asset hierarchy is a structured, streamlined way of organizing asset data. Your asset hierarchy lists, categorizes, and organizes information for assets, equipment, machinery, and components at one or all locations. The hierarchy is built based on how your assets work together. There are typically some natural asset categories where their connection is clear through a larger system or function. However, building your asset hierarchy will be unique to your business.
The maintainability of a company's assets is a reflection of its maintenance effectiveness and performance. Downtime due to asset failure is not 100% preventable. So, the main goal of maintenance is to effectively and efficiently deal with failure and minimize downtime. Here, we explain the concept of asset maintainability and how it differs from reliability. You will also learn how measuring and tracking maintainability can improve maintenance efficiency.
An asset can be any physical or intangible resource that a company owns, controls, or uses. Therefore, asset management is the systems and processes used by the company to realize asset value. This includes the design, acquisition, operation, maintenance, and disposal of an asset throughout its life cycle.
Asset performance management (APM) is an approach to managing assets that involves data collection and analytics to achieve asset reliability, availability, and business goals. Modern APM takes traditional asset management strategies and combines them with digital technology to improve asset reliability and maintenance. APM systems provide tools to limit risk and cost while still improving asset availability and reliability.
Asset reliability is the term used to describe the ability of an organization to achieve its objectives through the use of its assets. Organizations need to maintain their assets to ensure that they are reliable and available when needed. Maintaining reliable assets can be costly, but it is a necessary investment if an organization wants to be successful. Many factors contribute to asset reliability, and managers and technicians need to understand these factors so they can take steps to improve reliability.
Asset utilization is a measure of a facility's efficiency in using its assets. When you acquire an asset, you must ensure that it provides the maximum return on your cost in acquiring it. Every facility aims to achieve high asset utilization.
Autonomous maintenance is the empowerment of machine operators to make maintenance decisions and perform minor maintenance tasks without the help of a maintenance technician. This is a maintenance strategy that increases productivity and efficiency by training operators on how to recognize when maintenance is needed and how to handle small repairs, adjustments, or lubrication.
A bathtub curve is a graphic representation of the failure rate of an asset over its life cycle. It is called a bathtub curve because the average graph matches the shape of a bathtub. Many consider it the most valuable graph for the reliability of assets, as it can help you better predict asset failure and identify the root cause. When you plot failures over time, the bathtub curve will outline three main periods of failure: Infant mortality period, normal life period, and wear-out period. However, the charting of your asset failures may not precisely match the expected bathtub curve shape. In that case, you should focus on the trend of failure rates instead of having concerns over the shape.
Bearing isolators are an essential part of many machines and equipment. They are mechanical devices installed between a bearing and its mount to reduce the transmission of vibration from the moving part to the stationary part. Not only does this help to protect bearings from overloads and shocks, but it also can help reduce wear on both parts and extend the life of the bearings. Understanding what bearing isolators are and how they work is critical for anyone responsible for maintaining bearings in an industrial facility.
Creating an accurate bill of materials (BOM) is an essential step in maintenance management. This step ensures the efficient execution of maintenance processes. It is valuable for technicians, stockroom personnel, and managers when performing their respective maintenance duties. Knowing how to create and use BOM will result in a maintenance program that optimizes all resources.
The energy efficiency of machinery has become more and more important to businesses. Lubricant manufacturers do their part to improve efficiency by lowering lubricant viscosity to lessen hydrodynamic friction losses. However, this means that more assets are operating in the boundary lubrication regime for prolonged periods. Boundary lubrication is not ideal, as the more time spent in this regime, the greater your component wear rate will be. So, it is crucial to better manage friction and wear in the boundary lubrication regime.
Breakdown maintenance is a valuable maintenance strategy. Relying solely on breakdown maintenance, however, is not recommended. This strategy is not cost-effective in the long term, but it can be helpful when used properly and in certain situations.
Cavitation in machines and equipment is an essential concept to understand in asset management and maintenance. It is a recurring threat in systems involving fluid flow, and addressing it is one of the significant ways to maintain system reliability. If not monitored and prevented, it can lead to unoptimized assets and costly downtime.
The Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional (CMRP) is a professional certification offered by the Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP). Individuals who hold the CMRP designation have expert knowledge in reliability and maintenance engineering, strategies, and practices. Earning your CMRP certification demonstrates your commitment to maintaining high standards of excellence in the profession.
A Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) is software that centralizes maintenance work orders, asset data, and PM schedules in a single system of record. In asset-intensive operations, maintenance information is typically dispersed — work orders tracked in spreadsheets, asset history stored in paper binders, parts inventory managed in separate procurement systems. A CMMS replaces that fragmentation with a centralized record that connects every maintenance activity to the asset it affects, the technician who performed it, the parts consumed, and the time required.
Condition Monitoring (CM) is the systematic measurement and analysis of physical parameters — vibration, temperature, oil condition, electrical characteristics, and others — that indicate the health state of operating equipment. By tracking these parameters over time and comparing them against established baselines and alert thresholds, condition monitoring detects developing failures before they produce functional failure or unplanned downtime. The output of condition monitoring is not a maintenance task — it is the evidence that triggers a maintenance decision. Condition monitoring is the foundation of Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) and feeds Predictive Maintenance (PdM) programs that use trend analysis and machine learning to forecast remaining useful life and optimal maintenance timing.
Condition-based maintenance (CBM) is a maintenance strategy that triggers service and inspection based on the actual condition of equipment rather than fixed time or usage intervals. Instead of scheduling maintenance on a calendar, CBM uses real-time or periodic monitoring data — vibration levels, oil analysis results, thermal readings, pressure measurements — to determine when a specific asset actually needs attention. The core principle is straightforward: maintain equipment when evidence indicates it is needed, not because a date on a schedule says so. This prevents both premature maintenance on equipment that is performing normally and delayed maintenance on equipment that is degrading faster than expected. CBM is typically layered on top of a preventive maintenance foundation. Most reliability programs use PM as the baseline and apply CBM selectively to high-criticality assets where monitoring investment is justified by failure consequence.
You may have seen it stated as "Corrective and Preventive Action" or as "Corrective Action Preventive Action". Either way, the definition of CAPA is the same. CAPA is a process of identifying non-conformities or undesirable situations and creating a plan of action to eliminate the causes. While the term puts corrective action first, preventive action should be your priority. This is because corrective action is reactive, and preventive is proactive. This is the same as with maintenance, where you want to perform primarily preventive maintenance to avoid equipment breakdown.
Corrective Maintenance (CM) is maintenance work performed to restore an asset to its required operating condition after a failure, defect, or performance degradation has been identified. Unlike preventive maintenance, which is scheduled based on time or usage intervals to prevent failure, corrective maintenance is triggered by a known condition — a detected defect, a reported symptom, or an actual breakdown — and is directed at restoring function rather than preventing loss. The ratio of planned corrective maintenance to emergency reactive maintenance is one of the most meaningful indicators of maintenance program maturity.
Deferred maintenance is a normal occurrence in any maintenance program. Every facility encounters deferred maintenance for different reasons. Here, we discuss deferred maintenance, the reasons it occurs, and its consequences in a facility.
Although a lubricant starts degrading the moment it is made, it starts significantly degrading when applied to your lubricating systems and machines. This degradation continues until the lubricant fails or is no longer effective in its intended purpose of protecting your machine. The concept of degradation occurrence factor (DOF) helps you understand the factors that lead to lubricant failure. The DOF is also essential in determining the total health and longevity of a lubricant or its overall lubricant criticality (OLC).
Demulsibility, in the context of lubrication management, is the ability of a lubricant to separate from water. In other words, when you mix a lubricant and water together, will the lubricant eventually dissolve in the water or will it resist dissolving and stay suspended in the water? This is an important characteristic for any lubricant to have, as it dictates how easily you can remove the lubricant from machinery and systems after use. Poor demulsibility can lead to fouling of machine parts and equipment, so it's important to select a lubricant with good demulsibility characteristics.
A desiccant breather is an important component of many types of machinery. Its purpose is to keep the equipment as free from moisture as possible, in order to prevent corrosion and other damage. A desiccant breather is a type of air breather that organizations often use in lubrication systems. The purpose of a desiccant breather is to remove water vapor and other contaminants from the air that is circulating through the system. This helps to ensure that the lubricant remains clean and dry, which in turn helps to extend the life of your equipment.
Maintaining equipment is a critical part of any business, and proper lubrication is essential for keeping machinery running smoothly. The DIPF curve is the most common method to calculate frictional torque on a rotating shaft. It takes into account the effects of journal bearings, misalignment, and end-float. Knowing this calculation can help you improve lubrication effectiveness and overall equipment reliability.
A DVIR or Driver Vehicle Inspection Report is the official record of pre-trip and post-trip commercial motor vehicle (CMV) inspections. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires the completion of DVIRs under Federal Law 49 CFR 396.11 and 396.13. The goal of these laws and inspections is to ensure all commercial motor vehicles are compliant with road safety. Failure to complete inspections and DVIRs can result in expensive fines, potential loss of licenses or certifications, and having the CMV taken out of commission. For a streamlined DVIR process, you can complete them digitally with electronic DVIRs (eDVIRs). Additionally, eDVIRs make it easier to comply with the requirement of storing DVIRs for three months from the date of submission.
When maintaining machinery, you must decide what lubricants are suitable for your equipment and application. One important consideration when selecting a grease is the dropping point — the temperature at which grease begins to drip or flow. It is determined by how well the lubricant resists thinning as heat increases. Understanding this characteristic helps you select the right grease for high-temperature applications and avoid premature bearing failure.
Dynamic viscosity, also called absolute viscosity, is the measure of a fluid's resistance to an external force. Simply put, dynamic viscosity is the viscosity value you get if you apply force to a fluid and measure the fluid's reaction to said force. Understanding DV is essential in lubrication management alongside kinematic viscosity (KV) for proper lubricant analysis.
Having an available inventory of parts, tools, and other materials is critical in maintenance. But keeping too many of these materials can lead to high inventory costs — the cost of buying, handling, and storing the inventory. This is where economic order quantity (EOQ) comes in. EOQ helps maintenance managers keep sufficient inventory while minimizing the costs of having them.
An Engineering Change Request (ECR) is a formal document submitted to report a problem or suggest a product improvement in manufacturing. It begins a structured process that also includes an Engineering Change Order (ECO) — which covers everything required to implement the change — and an Engineering Change Notice (ECN), which notifies employees of the final approved plan. Though often used interchangeably, each plays a distinct role in managing and documenting product or process changes.
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software manages all aspects of your assets including maintenance operations and asset performance. It provides a range of functionality from granular reporting and tasks to high-level data for the accounting, production, compliance, and other departments. With EAM software, you can streamline and centralize all of your asset-related maintenance and other data in a single system — including service requests, work orders, inventory, maintenance tasks, and inspection schedules. Some key functions include Asset Lifecycle Management, Work Order Management, MRO Materials Management, Workforce Management, Service Contract Management, Financial Management, and Data Reporting and Analytics.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is an all-in-one system to manage daily processes and data for a business. It serves many purposes and can be used company-wide by every department from accounting and human resources to maintenance. The key feature of ERP software is that it streamlines the data you typically manage with several different papers, spreadsheets, and softwares into one consolidated software. This enables companies to detect problems sooner, gather more accurate insights, and grow and improve faster.
Estimated plant replacement value (EPRV), also called plant replacement value (PRV), is a critical measurement for any business. Calculating EPRV can help you assess whether maintaining your assets is more cost-effective than replacing all assets and facilities at once.
Asset management is the area of business that aims to maximize the value of a facility's assets, from their acquisition to decommission. Effective asset management should result in reliable assets that cause minimal downtime, have long and productive lifespans, and incur low maintenance-related costs. Such effective asset management can be achieved following an evidence-based strategy. With evidence-based asset management (EBAM), you rely on data to make critical asset management decisions.
Assigning failure codes is a valuable maintenance practice that requires low cost for implementation yet provides a wealth of benefits in the long run. A failure code lets you classify and evaluate asset failures, allowing a better understanding of the root causes of these failures. The use of failure codes ultimately helps improve and optimize maintenance operations.
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a structured, systematic process for identifying the ways a piece of equipment, process, or system can fail, analyzing the effect each failure mode has on operations, and prioritizing corrective actions based on risk. The output of an FMEA is a ranked list of failure modes with associated risk scores — giving maintenance and reliability teams a defensible, data-driven basis for allocating PM resources, defining inspection intervals, and targeting condition monitoring investment. FMEA is a proactive reliability tool performed before failures occur — during equipment commissioning, after a significant failure event, or as part of a reliability-centered maintenance program review.
Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) is a diagnostic and troubleshooting tool used to identify the cause of a problem. FTA helps identify potential causes of an event and determine how those potential causes might interact to produce the event. This information can then be used to develop solutions to prevent the event from occurring. FTA is commonly used in maintenance and engineering industries, where it can help identify issues before they become costly or hazardous problems.
Field Service Management, or FSM, is a helpful system for businesses that sell, buy, install, maintain, or repair equipment and other assets located outside the company premises. The common companies that use FSM are businesses that operate in the field, such as telecommunications, construction, property management, etc. An effective FSM ensures that all resources for field work, such as employees and equipment, are allocated, inventoried, and coordinated. Any company that needs to manage assets in multiple locations can benefit from using FSM, helping ensure that employees perform maintenance and other service work with optimal results and minimal resources.
The topic of filter testing and filter ratings is critical in lubricant contamination control. Effective filters prevent the accumulation of dust particles which are the major contaminants in lubricants and lubricating systems. These contaminants can also affect the sensitive parts of machines and equipment, decreasing the effectiveness of the facility's lubrication program. Understanding filter beta ratio and other filter ratings help maintenance managers decide on suitable filter types for filtration systems. Filter testing results in a rating called the filter beta ratio, which identifies their effectiveness against different sizes and types of particle contaminants.
First In First Out (FIFO) is an inventory management system that dictates using the oldest items in stock first. Most businesses prefer this system because it minimizes the waste of perishable goods such as lubricants, ensuring products are always fresh and that shelf-life issues are proactively managed.
Root cause analysis (RCA) is an essential part of maintenance and safety processes. There are several different methods to perform a root cause analysis, some more in-depth than others. For small issues that don't require a root cause analysis that digs deep, you can use the Five Whys analysis. The Five Whys analysis is a simple root cause analysis method that involves asking why at least five times. This method originated at the Toyota Motor Corporation, where the founder, Sakichi Toyoda, encouraged employees to ask why five times to get to the root of any problem. As an RCA method, it involves a much smaller investment of time and resources to complete.
Fixed-Time Maintenance (FTM) is an approach to preventive maintenance that involves scheduling regular, predetermined maintenance tasks at fixed time intervals. This can be a useful strategy for businesses that want to ensure their equipment is always in top condition and avoid any unexpected downtime. Maintenance teams often use this type of maintenance in industrial settings, where they need to keep machines up and running for long periods. FTM can be customized to meet the needs of each machine, and typically involves regular inspections, cleaning, and lubrication.
Spectroscopy is a technique for identifying the chemical design of materials. One of the most common types is Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy, which can identify a wide range of chemicals — including hydrocarbons, polymers, and proteins — and measure their concentration in a sample, making it an essential tool for lubricant analysis.
FRACAS is an important maintenance acronym that stands for Failure Reporting Analysis and Corrective Action System. It is a three-step process with the objective of achieving your asset reliability and maintenance goals by analyzing failure metrics and taking impactful corrective action.
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), also called industrial internet or industry 4.0, is a staple of any modern business. With IIoT, business processes can go faster with minimal errors and at optimum efficiency. It integrates equipment, sensors, and software to make valuable data more accessible. IIoT also allows decision-makers to deal with results-based information and resolve problems analytically and objectively.
Understanding infant mortality failures is a critical task in asset management and maintenance. The failures at the early stage in the lifetime of an asset provide valuable insights into the quality and durability of said asset. Maintenance managers can better track the machine or equipment's performance and reliability by evaluating infant mortality failures. Also, knowing why infant mortality failures occur helps you identify and implement the ideal maintenance strategies to address these failures.
Just-in-time or JIT inventory management is a common inventory control technique. It is used by facilities wanting to maintain as low inventory as possible while still having smooth and efficient operations. In maintenance, JIT inventory management is valuable in limiting the overstocking of machine parts, tools, lubricants, and other maintenance materials.
A journal bearing is a device that helps reduce the amount of friction between two moving parts. You will typically find this type of bearing in machines that generate a great deal of heat, such as turbines and jet engines. The journal bearing relies on a layer of oil to help reduce friction. Journal bearing composition can be a variety of materials, including stainless steel and bronze. To keep the oil in good condition, it is important to regularly clean and lubricate the journal bearing.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are essential tools for measuring the performance of industrial businesses. They help managers and executives track progress, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions. Whether you are a manufacturing facility, a warehouse, or a distribution center, understanding and utilizing KPIs is critical for success in today's competitive industrial landscape.
Kinematic viscosity is a fluid's internal resistance to flow under gravitational forces. You can determine an oil's KV using a standard method that involves a measuring tool called a viscometer. Understanding kinematic viscosity is essential in making the right lubrication decisions, as it gives insight into a lubricant's suitability for your machines and equipment.
Going lean is now fast becoming the go-to approach for most major industries. The rise in the application of lean principles resulted in the popularity of terms like lean manufacturing, lean enterprise, or lean organization. Although rarely mentioned, the term 'lean maintenance' is, in reality, the foundation of each of those concepts. Every lean principle applied to a facility begins at the asset management and maintenance level. Lean maintenance can be defined as having a healthy functioning maintenance process with the least amount of excess fat or misspent resources — a continuous process of identifying, reducing, and removing wasteful activities that drain resources without adding value to the company.
Knowing when to repair, replace, or discard an asset is one of the critical tasks in asset management. Performing a level of repair analysis (LORA) ensures that the decision to repair or discard an asset is based on accurate data on costs and operational requirements. With proper LORA, facilities can perform the right amount of maintenance, resulting in the longest possible asset life and the lowest maintenance cost.
A lockout tagout (LOTO) plan is necessary when performing maintenance work such as repair, routine check-ups, and lubrication. Implementing LOTO prevents serious injury or death that can come from hazardous energy in the workplace.
A lube oil system is an essential part of large industrial machinery. Lube oil circulates through the system, ensuring that all moving parts are well-lubricated and protected. This helps to reduce wear and tear on the internal components, keeping your equipment running smoothly for years to come. However, it is important to understand what a LOS is, how it works, and some common problems that can occur to maintain it properly.
A lube oil system accumulator (LOSA) is a component in a lubrication system that stores lubricant. The LOSA collects and releases lubricant as necessary to keep the oil level consistent in the system. Without an accumulator, the oil level would constantly fluctuate, which could cause damage to the machine. By understanding the functions of a lube oil system accumulator, you can ensure that your equipment remains in good condition and operates at peak efficiency.
An important part of lubrication management is understanding the impact of lubrication-related failures. Although it affects the Overall Machine Criticality (OMC), the risk of a lubricant failing does not always result in machine failure. Lubricant failure has its own related consequences before it eventually results in machine failure. Thus, the concept of Lubricant Criticality Factor (LCF) is a different but related concept to OMC.
Maintaining equipment is an important part of any business, and proper lubrication is key to keeping everything running smoothly. However, attempting to optimize your lubrication management by yourself can be an overwhelming task. You may turn to an expert in the space, a Lubrication Engineer. A lubrication engineer is responsible for the selection, application, and maintenance of lubricants to ensure optimal equipment performance. They have a comprehensive understanding of how different oils and greases work in order to make the best choices for each situation.
Maintaining equipment is an important part of any organization, and lubrication management is a critical aspect of that maintenance. It involves the careful selection and use of lubricants to help equipment run more efficiently and safely. By keeping your machines well-lubricated, you can avoid costly repairs and downtime.
A Machine Lubrication Technician (MLT) certification is a course for lubrication training and certification available in two levels. Anyone working in a machinery or production environment can benefit from MLT certification, as it covers reliability-centered machine lubrication practices, oil-sample-based condition assessment, lubricant selection and storage, and contamination control — equipping technicians and engineers with the knowledge needed to keep equipment running smoothly and reduce downtime.
Machinery lubrication, machine lubrication, or equipment lubrication is the task of adding lubrication, such as oil, to your machine. It is a key part of every maintenance plan. Furthermore, keeping your assets running smoothly and extending the lifetime of components can only happen if you maintain proper lubrication.
A maintenance SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) is a documented, step-by-step instruction set that defines exactly how a specific maintenance task must be performed — by whom, with what tools and materials, in what sequence, and to what standard. Maintenance SOPs exist to eliminate variability in task execution: two technicians following the same SOP on the same asset should produce the same outcome regardless of their individual experience level or background. In asset-intensive operations, variability in maintenance execution is a primary driver of equipment failures. When lubrication tasks are performed inconsistently, when torque specs are applied from memory rather than procedure, when inspection steps are skipped under time pressure, reliability degrades in ways that are difficult to trace back to their root cause. A well-written SOP removes individual judgment from routine execution and replaces it with documented, validated practice.
Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) is the full scope of activities, materials, and supplies required to maintain industrial equipment and facilities in operating condition. MRO encompasses everything that keeps production running but does not become part of the finished product — lubricants, spare parts, tools, consumables, safety equipment, and the labor and processes that deploy them. In asset-intensive industries, MRO represents a significant and often poorly controlled cost center, consistently placing MRO spend at 5 to 10 percent of total operating costs in manufacturing and process industries.
Management of Change (MOC) is a set of best practices used to deal with company-wide changes in an organized manner, particularly when those changes potentially expose or create hazards. Widely used in industrial facilities and heavily regulated industries like oil and gas, MOC aims to maintain a safe workplace when implementing new equipment or processes. A management of change policy ensures a safe and orderly transition to new procedures while keeping employees informed and maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements.
Mean downtime (MDT) is the average amount of time that a system is unavailable for use. This can be due to a variety of factors, such as equipment failure, power outages, human error, and natural disasters. Mean downtime is one common metric used to determine how well a machine is functioning, helping maintenance teams identify inefficiencies and improve reliability.
Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) is a reliability metric that measures the average operating time between one failure and the next for a repairable asset or component. It is expressed in hours and calculated by dividing total operating time by the number of failures in a given period. A higher MTBF indicates a more reliable asset — one that operates longer between failures. A declining MTBF over time is one of the clearest signals that a maintenance program is losing ground against equipment degradation. MTBF applies specifically to repairable assets — equipment that is restored to service after a failure. For non-repairable components that are replaced rather than repaired, the equivalent metric is Mean Time To Failure (MTTF).
Mean Time to Failure (MTTF) is a maintenance metric that measures the average time a non-repairable asset operates before it fails. MTTF applies only to assets that cannot be repaired or should not be repaired due to high cost or other reasons. It is also described as the average lifespan of a non-repairable asset, and can be used to calculate maintenance intervals and support decision-making around equipment replacement.
Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) is a maintenance metric that measures the average time required to restore a failed asset to operational condition, from the moment the failure is detected to the moment the asset returns to service. MTTR captures the full repair cycle — detection, diagnosis, parts procurement, repair execution, and return to service — making it a comprehensive indicator of maintenance response effectiveness rather than just a measure of hands-on repair time. MTTR is most meaningful when tracked alongside Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF): MTBF measures how often assets fail; MTTR measures how long it takes to recover when they do.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) was created to provide regulatory guidance on health, safety standards, and best practices at all mine sites in the US. MSHA guidelines have proven to be invaluable when it comes to preserving worker safety while maintaining compliance. Understanding MSHA regulations is essential for managers, business owners, and maintenance technicians working in mines.
Mobile Device Management (MDM) is a software solution enabling businesses to remotely manage any mobile device, from smartphones and tablets to laptops. MDM helps companies control and manage mobile devices used by employees, protecting sensitive data while improving productivity and security across the organization.
The National Lubrication Grease Institute, or NLGI, is a non-profit organization that serves to promote information on the use and manufacture of lubricating grease products. Its members include companies from across the world that are involved in varying industries related to grease production, distribution, and use. However, you may know about NLGI not because of its organization, but instead because of NLGI grade or ratings of grease.
Near Field Communication (NFC) tags are a technology that allows devices to communicate with each other by touching or proximity. NFC tags are essentially small microchips that come embedded in many different objects, such as ID cards, labels, stickers, posters, and even clothing. They are an increasingly popular technology for industrial maintenance due to their convenience, durability, and versatility — enabling use cases from equipment identification to proof-of-presence protocols and tool checkout.
Maintenance relies on several methods to enhance the safety, efficiency, and reliability of valuable assets. One of these methods is non-destructive testing or NDT. Choosing an effective NDT technique depends on your industry, asset types, maintenance goals, and budget requirements.
Oil analysis, also known as lubricant analysis, is a condition monitoring technique that examines in-service lubricant samples to assess lubricant condition, detect contamination, and identify component wear — providing a diagnostic window into the internal condition of lubricated machinery without disassembly. By tracking lubricant and wear parameters over time, oil analysis detects developing failures, validates lubricant serviceability, and enables data-driven decisions about drain intervals, component replacement, and maintenance actions.
Operator asset care, or OAC, is a process by which operators can optimize their equipment performance, extend component life, and improve safety. By taking a proactive approach to operator care, you can ensure that your equipment operates at its best and reduces the risk of downtime or failure.
Operator-driven reliability (ODR) is a maintenance philosophy that focuses on empowering operators to take ownership of their equipment and drive reliability. Unlike other maintenance philosophies, ODR puts the responsibility for equipment health more squarely on the operators' shoulders. This can be a challenge, but it can also lead to better overall equipment reliability. A perfect example of operator-driven reliability is how you care for your personal vehicle — you, the operator, are responsible for noticing problems, while your mechanic is only responsible for fixing them.
Understanding the Optimum Reference State, or ORS, is key to understanding and achieving machine reliability. But unfortunately, the ORS is rarely considered and often misunderstood by machine builders, users, and maintenance or lubrication experts. The importance of ORS-compliant lubricants and lubrication practices cannot be overstated when it comes to successfully achieving your reliability goals.
Keeping up with safety regulations and compliance is a key responsibility of any organization. OSHA – the Occupational Health and Safety Administration – is a U.S. federal agency established in 1970 under the Department of Labor, responsible for setting and enforcing standards that ensure safe and healthy working conditions for workers across most private-sector and federal industries.
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is a production performance metric that measures what percentage of planned manufacturing time is truly productive — producing good parts at full speed with no unplanned stops. OEE combines three factors into a single percentage: Availability, Performance, and Quality. A score of 100 percent means every planned production minute produced conforming parts at maximum speed with zero downtime. In practice, no operation achieves 100 percent. The value of OEE is not the score itself but what it reveals about where productive capacity is being lost. OEE is the standard metric for identifying and quantifying the six big losses in manufacturing: unplanned breakdowns, setup and adjustment time, minor stoppages, reduced speed, process defects, and startup rejects. Each loss type maps to one of the three OEE components, which means a declining OEE score immediately points to the category of problem driving the loss — without requiring a separate investigation to frame the question. For maintenance teams, OEE creates a direct line of accountability between equipment reliability and production output. Unplanned failures reduce Availability. Equipment running with worn components or insufficient lubrication runs below design speed and reduces Performance. Poor calibration or process instability caused by deferred maintenance generates defects that reduce Quality. Improving maintenance program execution shows up in OEE before it shows up in financial reporting.
Overall Lubricant Criticality, or OLC, is one of the essential foundations of lubrication analysis and inspection. OLC defines the health and longevity of a lubricant based on the probability and consequences of failure. Understanding and establishing OLC helps you develop efficient lubrication and maintenance programs.
Criticality, or the risk that something will fail and cause negative effects on the system, is the starting point of reliability. To achieve the optimum reliability in machines and equipment, you need to understand Overall Machine Criticality (OMC). The concept of OMC lets you analyze risk profiles and adjust your maintenance efforts to ultimately achieve precision and efficiency.
Polyalkylene glycol oil or PAG oil is a type of base oil for lubricants. PAG-based lubricants are generally high-quality and longer lasting than other base oil lubricants. Understanding the properties and benefits of PAG oil lubricants can help you make informed decisions when choosing lubricants for your machines.
Polyalphaolefin (PAO) oil is a fully synthetic lubricant base oil produced through the chemical synthesis of alpha-olefin molecules, yielding a highly uniform molecular structure that delivers performance characteristics not achievable with conventional mineral oils. PAO is one of the most widely used Group IV synthetic base oils in industrial lubrication, serving as the foundation for gear oils, hydraulic fluids, compressor lubricants, turbine oils, and bearing greases where extended drain intervals, wide temperature range performance, or high oxidative stability are required.
Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP) is the percentage of planned maintenance activities versus unplanned or reactive maintenance. It is a metric that maintenance and engineering professionals use to measure the effectiveness of their preventive maintenance program. The goal of any organization should be to have as high a PMP as possible to reduce downtime and keep equipment running smoothly.
Pre-startup safety review (PSSR) is a comprehensive safety check performed to ensure that all necessary equipment is in good working order before startup or restarting following routine maintenance, upgrade projects, repairs, and other changes. This review process plays an integral role in reducing downtime due to potential safety hazards and expensive failures, and is required by OSHA as a key component of any process safety management (PSM) program.
At its core, maintenance management is the efficient implementation of maintenance strategies to achieve the bottom line, that is, the optimum reliability of assets. Variability, however, is one of the most critical challenges in the implementation of these strategies and a hurdle to asset reliability. Variability mostly comes from the different ways technicians and maintenance staff interpret and execute their respective instructions. So, precision maintenance is a valuable approach that aims to reduce variability and achieve better results from maintenance strategies.
Predictive maintenance (PdM) is a maintenance strategy that uses real-time or periodic equipment condition data — vibration signatures, oil analysis results, thermal readings, acoustic emissions — combined with analytics to forecast when a specific asset is likely to fail. Unlike preventive maintenance, which schedules service at fixed intervals regardless of equipment condition, predictive maintenance triggers intervention based on what the data says about a specific asset's current degradation state. PdM is typically the third layer in a mature reliability program, built on a foundation of preventive maintenance and condition-based maintenance (CBM), and delivers its value by eliminating both premature replacement and run-to-failure scenarios.
Due to the high cost of implementation, few companies choose to include prescriptive maintenance or RxM in their maintenance program. Recently, more companies have recognized that RxM is an essential addition to their tools for digitization, driven by a rise in cutting-edge maintenance technologies that offer practical solutions at more attractive prices.
Preventive maintenance (PM) is any planned maintenance work performed on equipment before a failure occurs. Unlike reactive maintenance — where teams respond to breakdowns after they happen — PM follows a schedule based on time, usage, or manufacturer specifications. The goal is to prevent failures, extend asset life, and keep production running without costly unplanned interruptions. For asset-intensive operations, the difference between a disciplined PM program and a reactive one is measurable in dollars. A single unplanned failure on a crusher, compressor, or centrifugal pump can cost more in lost production than months of scheduled maintenance work.
Preventive Maintenance Compliance (PMC) is a metric that measures the percentage of scheduled preventive maintenance work orders completed on time within a defined period. PMC is the primary indicator of whether a PM program is being executed as designed — not whether the program exists on paper, but whether the work is actually getting done at the intervals and standards required to prevent equipment failures. PMC makes the gap between planned and executed maintenance visible, enabling maintenance teams to identify and correct schedule slippage before it produces unplanned failures.
Proactive maintenance is a key aspect of any successful maintenance strategy. It involves regularly checking and servicing equipment and machinery in order to prevent potential issues from arising. This proactive approach to maintenance can help reduce downtime, increase productivity, and ultimately save money in the long run. The U.S. Department of Energy found that at an average facility, over 55% of maintenance resources and activities are still reactive rather than proactive.
For any business, the ability to accurately assess and predict expected failure rates for equipment in their plant is vital for proper maintenance planning and performance optimization. Understanding what Probability of Failure (PoF) is, how it's calculated, and its implications on preventive maintenance schedules can help organizations stay ahead of failure events before they occur.
Process safety management (PSM) is a system of preventive measures that companies use to identify and manage risks associated with chemical processes. The goal of PSM is to prevent incidents from occurring, and if they do occur, to minimize their effects. Implementing PSM can help protect your workers, the environment, and your bottom line.
Quality Maintenance (QM) is one of the eight pillars of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), a maintenance strategy that aims to eliminate failure and improve productivity. QM involves techniques that help in understanding and controlling product defects through a system based on establishing the causes of quality.
In maintenance, the greatest challenge can be deciding which tasks to prioritize. When there is limited time, money, manpower, and other resources, maintenance teams must make sure that these resources are spent on the most important tasks. The Ranking Index for Maintenance Expenditures or RIME is a valuable tool that lets teams objectively assign priorities and track their progress.
Reactive maintenance is a classic approach to maintenance where you wait for assets to fail before you fix them. Because it involves simple and cheap steps in addressing asset maintenance, it is easy to misuse and cause more negative effects than benefits. Understanding the several types of reactive maintenance and how to implement it properly leads to more successful results.
Reliability is at every organization's bottom line. All tasks, programs, or strategies involved in asset management and maintenance aim to achieve reliability. Understanding and measuring it is critical for organizations to achieve optimum reliability and enjoy its benefits.
Chances are you have heard of Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) separately. But, together, RAM is an important concept within engineering that can help design products with improved reliability and reduced maintenance costs. Reliability availability maintainability analysis helps you strike a balance between asset productivity, purchase price, and maintenance cost — and by adding a safety component, it can be extended into a RAMS analysis.
A reliability engineer is a professional who is responsible for ensuring that equipment and systems operate reliably. They do this by reducing the incidence and severity of unplanned downtime and failures in systems, equipment, and other assets. A reliability engineer works to identify and fix problems before they cause failures, and develop strategies to improve system uptime. By designing systems that are more reliable, these engineers help to ensure the smooth operation of businesses and reduce the costs associated with unscheduled outages.
Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) is a structured methodology for determining the most appropriate maintenance strategy for each asset and failure mode based on systematic analysis of what the asset must do, how it can fail, and what the consequences of each failure mode are. Rather than applying a uniform maintenance approach across all assets, RCM uses failure mode analysis to match maintenance strategy to failure risk — prescribing preventive maintenance where intervals reduce failure probability cost-effectively, condition-based maintenance where failure modes are detectable before they occur, and run-to-failure where failure consequence does not justify proactive maintenance investment. RCM originated in commercial aviation in the late 1960s, when a United Airlines study found that only 11 percent of aircraft component failures were related to equipment age — fundamentally changing how the maintenance industry thinks about failure and maintenance strategy selection.
An RFI, or request for information, is a document to request information about products and services from suppliers. It allows organizations to get an idea of the possibilities offered by each vendor. Furthermore, it provides a streamlined way to compare different providers in order to gather market data.
A Risk Management Plan (RMP) is essential for businesses looking to remain competitive and optimized in today's challenging market. An effective RMP identifies and assesses potential risks, outlines strategies to minimize their impact, puts processes in place to monitor the plan, and sets clear objectives related to maintaining a safe work environment. It is critical that you understand how implementing a risk management plan can help ensure an efficient production process and keep your employees safe on the job.
Risk-Based Maintenance (RBM) is a maintenance strategy that uses formal risk assessment — combining the probability of failure with the consequence of failure — to prioritize maintenance tasks, set inspection intervals, and allocate maintenance resources across an asset population. Rather than applying uniform maintenance intensity regardless of asset risk, RBM concentrates effort where failure likelihood and failure consequence are both high, and reduces or eliminates maintenance on assets where risk does not justify the investment. In practice, RBM operates as an overarching framework that incorporates preventive maintenance, condition-based maintenance, and run-to-failure as tools — each applied to the assets and failure modes where the risk profile makes them most appropriate.
Root cause analysis (RCA) is a problem-solving approach used to identify the root causes of issues or events. Once you identify the root causes, you can take corrective action to prevent them from occurring again. RCA is a popular technique in quality management and Six Sigma methodologies. While it can be used in a wide variety of situations, RCA is particularly well-suited for problems that have multiple potential causes. When done correctly, RCA can be an invaluable tool for improving organizational performance.
Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA) is a structured investigative process for identifying the underlying cause of an equipment failure — not the symptom that presented at failure, but the physical, human, or latent root cause that made the failure possible. The output of RCFA is a documented causal chain from the failure event back to its origin, along with corrective actions targeted at eliminating the root cause so the failure cannot recur through the same mechanism.
The Rotating Pressure Vessel Oxidation Test (RPVOT) is a vital tool in evaluating the performance and longevity of lubricants and gears in high-pressure, high-temperature environments. It simulates the conditions that lubricants and gears may experience in real-world industrial applications and provides valuable insights into their performance under extreme conditions. Understanding the RPVOT test and its results is crucial for making informed decisions about product selection and performance.
Run-to-failure (RTF) maintenance is a strategy that intentionally allows equipment or components to operate until they fail before performing repairs or replacements. Rather than proactively scheduling maintenance, RTF relies on having a plan ready to quickly restore operations when a failure occurs, making it a cost-effective approach for non-critical or redundant assets.
Almost any organization with equipment or machinery will develop a planned maintenance schedule. This document lays out when you will service specific parts of the machine and how often. The hope is that planning maintenance will help avoid catastrophic failures and costly repairs. But, what percentage of scheduled maintenance is truly critical? Is it possible to go too far in preventive care, resulting in wasting time and money? That's where Scheduled Maintenance Critical Percentage (SMCP) comes in.
Spalling is a progressive bearing failure mode characterized by the fracturing and flaking of material from the rolling contact surfaces of bearing races and rolling elements. It occurs when surface or subsurface fatigue causes cracks to develop and propagate under repeated loading cycles, eventually releasing fragments — called spalls — from the bearing surface. Once spalling begins, it is self-accelerating: each spall creates stress concentration points that initiate additional cracks, producing a pattern of escalating damage that ends in bearing failure if the asset continues to operate. Spalling is one of the most common causes of rolling element bearing failure in industrial equipment, appearing on the inner race, outer race, or rolling elements depending on the failure mode and operating conditions.
Thermography is a condition-monitoring technique that uses infrared imaging to detect and diagnose problems with machinery. You can use thermography to identify issues with bearings, gears, and other moving parts, and can help maintenance technicians troubleshoot problems before they become serious. By using high-resolution thermal cameras, technicians can locate hotspots on machinery and identify potential failure points. This allows for proactive maintenance and reduced downtime. Thermal imaging cameras are relatively affordable and easy to use, so thermography is becoming an increasingly popular method of preventive maintenance.
The total cost of ownership (TCO) takes into account all the expenses associated with owning and using an asset. It's an essential metric to know for new purchases, as well as to help decide on the replacement of current assets. The total cost of ownership considers not just the initial purchase price, but also long-term expenses like maintenance and repairs. By understanding TCO, you can make an informed decision about which equipment is best for your business.
Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a company-wide maintenance philosophy that distributes responsibility for equipment care across the entire organization — operators, maintenance technicians, engineers, and management — rather than concentrating it exclusively in the maintenance department. The goal of TPM is to eliminate the six big losses that reduce equipment effectiveness: unplanned breakdowns, setup and adjustment time, minor stoppages, reduced speed, process defects, and startup rejects. TPM measures progress against these losses through Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), making OEE the primary performance metric of a TPM program.
When choosing the ideal type of lubricant for the maintenance of your assets, you might have come across the term Turbine Oil Oxidation Stability Test or TOST. Organizations use this test to describe the lubricating oil's stability against oxidation or the breakdown caused by environmental stress and the elements.
Usage-based maintenance (UBM) is a modern approach that seeks to optimize maintenance efforts by focusing them on assets that need them the most. UBM helps prevent inadequate and excessive maintenance, both of which result in unreliable assets and costly operations.
A Vacuum Dehydration Oil Purification System, or VDOPS, is a piece of machinery used to clean and purify lubricant. It works by evacuating the air from the system and heating the oil to a high temperature, which vaporizes any water or contaminants. The vaporized water and contaminants are then collected and removed from the system. By removing impurities from hydraulic and gear oils, you can increase equipment life and decrease maintenance costs.
Vendor managed inventory, or VMI, is one of the many methods of inventory control. VMI can help optimize inventory value while lowering the costs of inventory management. When properly implemented, VMI allows facilities to maintain available parts or materials for maintenance without tying up too much of their money on these inventories.
Vibration analysis is a condition monitoring technique that measures, records, and analyzes the vibration signatures of rotating and reciprocating equipment to detect developing mechanical faults before they produce functional failure. Every rotating machine produces a characteristic vibration signature — a combination of frequencies, amplitudes, and waveform patterns determined by its rotational speed, component geometry, and mechanical condition. When a fault develops — a bearing defect initiates, a shaft becomes misaligned, a gear tooth cracks — the vibration signature changes in specific, identifiable ways. Vibration analysis detects and interprets those changes. As a condition monitoring technique, vibration analysis feeds Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) and Predictive Maintenance (PdM) programs by providing the earliest available warning of developing faults on rotating equipment.
In very simple terms, viscosity is the measure of a fluid's resistance to flow. Fluids with high viscosities flow more slowly than those with low viscosities. The thickness or 'viscous' quality of a fluid is determined by its internal resistance to shearing forces. In other words, it reflects the friction that exists between the molecules within the fluid. When it comes to lubrication, understanding and controlling this condition is critical for maintaining optimum performance and extending component life.
Viscosity Index (VI) is the measure of a fluid's ability to resist changes in viscosity due to temperature fluctuations. In other words, it measures how much the lubricant will thin out or thicken up when subjected to varying temperatures. A high VI rating means that the lubricant maintains its viscosity better over a wider range of temperatures and is less likely to experience significant changes in thickness. This quality is important for industrial lubricants, as it helps ensure that the lubricant continues performing effectively even as the equipment heats up and cools down.
Asset life cycles are the four stages of an asset's lifespan, and each requires different management. The four asset life cycle stages are acquisition, utilization, maintenance, and renewal or disposal. You can measure this for every asset, but the cycles will vary dramatically depending on the asset type. For example, a screwdriver is likely to have a short acquisition and a very long utilization life cycle. On the other hand, large machinery or equipment with many components will have a longer acquisition and shorter utilization life cycle.
Wrench time is a key performance metric in maintenance management that measures the amount of time maintenance technicians spend actively working on machines or equipment using tools. Tracking wrench time allows organizations to identify strategies to optimize maintenance processes, reduce downtime, and increase equipment reliability.
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