What is Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP)?
Planned maintenance percentage (PMP) is a quantitative indicator that measures the ratio of planned maintenance hours against the total maintenance hours over a defined period. It reflects the maturity of a maintenance program and acts as a benchmark for operational discipline. From a strategic viewpoint, it reflects how a business handles its maintenance workload.
A high PMP score implies that most maintenance activities are scheduled ahead of time. Conversely, a low PMP score points to a reactive maintenance style, where breakdowns and unplanned repairs dominate the workflow, result in downtimes and workflow disruptions.
In heavily asset-reliant operations such as power generation, chemical processing, mining, and discrete manufacturing, PMP is one of the indicators that determines the efficiency of asset care programs. The number is tracked by maintenance planners and reliability engineers and forms a core KPI in reliability-centered maintenance practices. Let’s understand more about this crucial maintenance metric.
How to Calculate Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP)
Planned maintenance percentage is calculated using the following formula:
PMP = (Planned maintenance hours / Total maintenance hours) x 100
Where:
- Planned Maintenance Hours: Hours spent on work that was scheduled in advance.
- Total Maintenance Hours: Sum of planned and unplanned maintenance hours.
For example, if a facility logs 800 planned maintenance hours and 200 unplanned maintenance hours in a month, the total maintenance hours equal 1,000. Applying the formula:
A PMP of 80% reflects a well-established preventive maintenance system. PMP scores below 50% highlight operational inefficiencies and an over-dependence on reactive repairs.
However, the interpretation of PMP may vary from industry to industry. In the aviation industry, where safety protocols leave no room for unpredictability, PMP scores are expected to be at least 85%.
On the other hand, in industries like textile or small-scale food processing, where production continues until equipment fails, PMP tends to remain below 40%. The focus stays on fixing issues after they arise, which hampers predictability and causes scheduling conflicts.
In the oil and gas sector, midstream and downstream operations invest heavily in planned inspections for compressors, separators, pressure vessels, and rotating machinery. Shutdown periods are planned months in advance, and maintenance teams perform tasks as per predefined scopes. PMP is monitored monthly to check whether scheduled maintenance activities stay on track, and any drop in PMP draws attention from upper management.
What are the Benefits of using Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP)
Planned maintenance percentage is one of the highly useful maintenance metrics. Following are some of its benefits:
Assessment of Scheduling Discipline
PMP reveals how consistently a maintenance team follows structured maintenance schedules. If the score remains above 75% over several months, it signals the discipline embedded into the team’s planning structure.
Validation of Preventive Maintenance Programs
High PMP confirms that preventive maintenance tasks are not only scheduled but also executed. It eliminates assumptions about program effectiveness and points to real-time execution standards.
Isolation of Workforce Bottlenecks
A fluctuating PMP score helps detect gaps in labor planning. If planned tasks are frequently deferred due to manpower shortage, PMP drops, prompting the need to assess crew availability.
Prioritization of Resource Allocation
PMP guides decision-makers on whether existing resources are being directed towards strategic, scheduled work or consumed by emergency breakdowns. The distinction shapes procurement and workforce planning.
Tracking CMMS Utilization
Computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) are effective only if consistently updated. PMP metrics derived from CMMS entries reflect the accuracy and completeness of data logging.
Influence on Audit Readiness
In regulated industries like pharmaceuticals or aerospace, documentation of preventive actions is subject to audit. A high PMP score, with supporting work orders, helps build a strong audit trail.
Reduction in Maintenance Costs
Tracking PMP helps shift the focus toward scheduled maintenance. As planned work increases, emergency breakdowns decline which reduces rush-order expenses. Over time, asset reliability improves and maintenance costs drop significantly.
How to Improve Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP)
Following are key steps that you must initiate if you are keen to improve your planned maintenance percentage:
Audit Existing Maintenance Records
Start by pulling maintenance logs for the past few months. Count how many work orders were planned versus unplanned. Note equipment types with frequent delays. Look for patterns in technician assignments, shift timings, and missed schedules. Use that data to pinpoint weak spots that drag down your PMP.
Segment Work Orders by Category
Label every task as preventive, corrective, predictive, or emergency. Assign each category a color code in the CMMS for quicker tracking. Review how many labor hours go into each type. If corrective and emergency work dominate, shift focus toward preventive actions to reduce future unplanned work.
Set Weekly PMP Targets
Break the monthly goal into weekly blocks. Assign percentage benchmarks to each week of the month. Post those numbers in technician areas and update them after every review. Use weekly check-ins to track progress and reassign work if a team starts falling behind.
Hold Pre-Shift Maintenance Meetings
Before each shift starts, gather technicians for a quick rundown. Go over priority equipment, safety issues, and pending preventive maintenance tasks. Confirm that every technician understands the assignments and has the tools ready. Use these meetings to correct scheduling errors before they disrupt the shift.
Incentivize Completion of Scheduled Tasks
Track which technicians close their assigned preventive maintenance tasks on time. Display completion rates on internal dashboards. Offer rewards to top performers—small bonuses, priority shift choices, or public praise. Reinforce the importance of sticking to schedules through visible recognition.
Refine Preventive Maintenance Templates
Review historical data for each asset. Compare failure rates before and after each PM cycle. Reduce frequency where tasks yield no benefit. Expand checks for assets with recurring faults. Drop boilerplate steps that waste time and add specific checks that address known failure points.
Reallocate Labor Dynamically
During idle production windows, assign extra technicians to tackle delayed preventive maintenance work. Focus on high-value equipment first. Rotate teams so no group carries the full burden. Document how many backlogged tasks get cleared in each window and use that data to plan future adjustments.
Eliminate Redundant Work Orders
Go through the PM schedule and flag tasks that offer no operational benefit. Cross-check with equipment logs—if a task never reveals a fault, question its value. Remove duplicate checks and combine similar work into one order where possible. Free up technician hours for more impactful work.
Start Using FieldCircle for Better PMP
A maintenance software provides a structured foundation for execution and enables planners to assign jobs based on asset hierarchy, labor qualification, and operational urgency. Further, timestamps and digital records from mobile devices establish accountability, as real-time task visibility prevents last-minute disruptions and brings consistency to execution.
FieldCircle’s maintenance management application brings all the essential capabilities needed to improve PMP. Equipped with the tool, maintenance technicians follow structured task flows, while supervisors access categorized status updates. Soon, workflows stay focused, backlogs shrink, and scheduled work dominates logged hours and PMP figures keep rising.