8 Commonly Used Maintenance Metrics and How To Track Them Efficiently

If you’re responsible for maintaining equipment, you know how important it is to keep them running smoothly and avoid costly downtime. One key to achieving this is by tracking and analyzing common maintenance metrics. By doing so, you can gain insights into the health of your equipment and identify areas for improvement, and optimize your maintenance program.

From the report “The True Cost of Downtime,” large facilities experience an average of 27 hours of machine failures per month, resulting in a cost of $532,000 for each hour of unplanned downtime. This is worth US$864 billion per year across Fortune Global 500 industrial companies. Usually, the cause of such failures is the absence of knowledge about the right metrics, let alone the process to track them.

With the right metrics at their disposal, companies can establish robust performance benchmarks and prioritize improvement, strategy, and long-term growth. This entails identifying improvement areas, aligning maintenance KPIs (key performance indicators) with overall business strategy, and a strong monitoring process.

In this blog we cover the 8 commonly used maintenance metrics which are:

1. Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
2. Emergency Work Orders (EWOs)
3. Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP)
4. Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
5. Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
6. Maintenance Backlogs
7. Preventive Maintenance Compliance (PMC)
8. Equipment Downtime

We discuss the importance of these maintenance performance metrics and also cover the process to implement and track them.

Mean time to repair (MTTR)

MTTR is the measurement of the average time taken to fix a piece of equipment or machinery after it has malfunctioned. It’s like a stopwatch that ticks from the moment a machine fails to the point it is back in working condition.

MTTR = Total repair time / Total number of repairs

It is an essential measure of maintenance efficiency, and a low MTTR indicates that the maintenance team can quickly identify and resolve equipment failures. This means less downtime and more time for production. In contrast, a high MTTR indicates that maintenance processes may not be effective, leading to increased downtime and reduced productivity.

By tracking MTTR, organizations can pinpoint the root cause of equipment failure and take necessary steps to prevent similar failures in the future.

Emergency Work Orders (EWOs)

EWO is an unplanned or emergency maintenance task that requires immediate attention to prevent further damage or safety hazards. EWOs are a critical measure of maintenance team responsiveness and agility.

It is calculated by,

EWOs = Total emergency work orders / Total number of work orders

When an EWO is raised, it’s a race against the clock to get the equipment up and running as quickly as possible. Tracking EWOs helps organizations identify recurring issues and evaluate the effectiveness of their maintenance processes. A high number of EWOs is an indication of poor equipment reliability or a lack of preventive maintenance.

Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP)

Planned maintenance percentage is a measure of the percentage of maintenance tasks that are planned and scheduled in advance. It’s like a forecast for maintenance work that needs to be carried out in the future, ensuring that everything is in order before it becomes a problem.

PMP = Planned maintenance hours / Total maintenance hours × 100

Tracking PMP enables maintenance teams to identify areas for improvement and optimize maintenance processes further. For example, if PMP is low, maintenance teams may need to adopt more preventive maintenance measures or improve scheduling practices. Leveraging preventive maintenance software can help streamline these efforts by automating scheduling, tracking maintenance tasks, and ensuring timely interventions. PMP values over 90% are described as world-class maintenance, whereas values over 70% are acceptable.

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)

Mean time between failures (MTBF) is a measure of how often equipment fails within a specific time frame or how frequently a particular type of failure is anticipated to occur.

MTBF = Total number of operational hours / Total number of failures

MTBF is a useful metric for evaluating the effectiveness of maintenance strategies and identifying areas for improvement. For example, if MTBF is low, it may indicate a need for more frequent preventive maintenance or a requirement for equipment upgrades or replacements. Calculating the mean time between failures is one method you may use to start controlling unplanned downtime at your business.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)

Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is one of the important equipment performance metrics that measures the performance, availability, and quality of equipment. This is like a report card for equipment, providing a comprehensive overview of how well the equipment is functioning and how it can be optimized for maximum efficiency.

OEE is expressed as a percentage and calculated as:

OEE = Availability x Performance x Quality

We offer a data-driven view of the effectiveness and efficiency of your maintenance procedures. To reduce product defects, an OEE value of 100% is what you should aim for. By adopting proactive maintenance measures, maintenance professionals can increase OEE to more than 90% as maintenance statistics from Deloitte have found.

Maintenance Backlogs

Maintenance backlogs refer to the accumulation of maintenance tasks that have not been completed, either because of a lack of resources or because of other priorities. A high maintenance backlog suggests that maintenance teams are struggling to keep up with demand, leading to equipment downtime and increased maintenance costs.

Maintenance Backlogs = Number of pending work orders / Total number of work order

A decent maintenance backlog value is achieved by prioritizing maintenance tasks, improving scheduling practices, or increasing resources.

Preventive Maintenance Compliance (PMC)

The percentage of tasks completed on time as per the schedule is known as PM compliance. It’s an additional metric for assessing the consistency and resource-saving effectiveness of a Preventative Maintenance (PM) program. It is expressed by,

PMC = (Number of PM tasks completed on schedule / Total number of PM tasks) x 100%

As a general guideline, PM tasks should be completed within 10% of the planned maintenance interval. Monthly PMs must be finished three days before the deadline.

A high PMC indicates that maintenance teams are following the preventive maintenance schedule effectively, while a low PMC indicates needed improvements in maintaining compliance.

Equipment Downtime

Equipment downtime refers to the time that equipment is not functioning due to maintenance or unplanned issues. It is one of the important equipment maintenance metrics and can have a significant impact on business operations, causing delays, reduced productivity, and higher costs. Equipment downtime can be calculated by,

Equipment downtime = Total downtime / Total available production time x 100%

By analyzing equipment downtime, maintenance teams can identify patterns and trends that may point to larger issues with equipment, such as recurring breakdowns or failures. According to the International Society of Automation (ISA), at each downtime incident, factories lose between 5 and 20 percent of their productive potential.

How to Implement and Track Maintenance Metrics Effectively

Implementing and tracking the right metrics is key to effective maintenance. Here’s how you can go about it.

Kick Start by Defining

To begin tracking maintenance metrics, the first essential step is to clearly define what you’re measuring and why. Without well-defined metrics, your tracking efforts may lack direction, making it difficult to identify which data points actually matter.

Here’s how to proceed with defining the right metrics:

• Set clear objectives: Determine what you want to achieve with each metric, such as reducing downtime, increasing asset life, or improving response time.
• Categorize your metrics: Identify both operational and financial metrics, like Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) for reliability or Cost per Maintenance Hour (CPMH) for efficiency.
• Align metrics with business goals: Ensure that the metrics you’re tracking are in line with your broader organizational goals, like cost reduction or uptime maximization.

Identify and Proceed

Once your metrics are defined, the next challenge is identifying the right tools and methods to capture and measure them accurately. The selection of tools should not only facilitate accurate data collection but also be scalable and adaptable as your tracking needs evolve.

To determine the best approach, consider:

• Choose automated systems: Leverage maintenance management software or IoT-based sensors for real-time tracking. Automation helps streamline data collection, reducing the chance of human error.
• Select manual tracking methods for specific cases: In smaller operations, spreadsheets or manual logs might be practical for tracking certain metrics like labor hours or repair costs.
• Ensure consistency in measurement: Whether using software or manual systems, standardize your methods across the board to maintain reliability in your data.

Benchmark to Succeed

To evaluate the effectiveness of your maintenance strategies, benchmarking is essential. Benchmarks give you a point of reference to measure performance against, helping you determine if you’re on the right track or need improvements.

When setting benchmarks, take into account:

• Industry standards: Refer to widely recognized industry benchmarks to compare your performance with the best practices in your sector.
• Internal historical data: Compare your current performance with past data to track improvements or identify areas for further optimization.
• Competitor analysis: Where possible, compare your performance to similar organizations or competitors to gauge your relative position.

Set a Schedule for Data Collection

Creating a consistent schedule for maintenance data collection ensures that your maintenance tracking remains reliable over time. The frequency of data collection depends on the types of metrics you’re tracking and the nature of your maintenance activities.

Key considerations for scheduling:

• Link data collection to maintenance: For example, if you’re tracking metrics like downtime, align the collection with scheduled maintenance cycles or failure events.
• Establish regular intervals: For some metrics like asset performance, set weekly or monthly intervals for data collection to track trends over time.
• Ensure team buy-in: Make sure that your team understands the importance of adhering to this schedule and how it affects overall performance.

Gather and Extract

Once your tools and schedule are in place, it’s time to start gathering the data. Accurate and consistent data collection is essential for meaningful analysis. Any lapse or inconsistency could lead to unreliable metrics and poor decision-making.

Here’s how to streamline data collection:

• Implement automated systems: Use sensors, IoT devices, and CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) to gather real-time data without manual intervention.
• Train your team: Ensure your maintenance team is well-trained in the proper methods for logging and recording data, whether it’s through digital tools or manual logging.
• Maintain Accuracy: Regularly audit your data collection methods to confirm that they are accurate and that any discrepancies are addressed immediately.

Unearth and Explore

Once the data is collected, the next step is to analyze it for trends and patterns. The purpose here is to identify recurring issues, inefficiencies, or failures that could be addressed proactively to improve your maintenance performance.

Focus on the following actions:

• Conduct root-cause analysis: Look for patterns that may indicate underlying causes of equipment failures or maintenance inefficiencies. This helps you move from just reacting to failures to preventing them.
• Use statistical tools: Leverage techniques like regression analysis or control charts to visualize trends and identify areas needing attention.
• Spot actionable trends: Focus on the most important trends that directly impact your operational goals, like high downtime or frequent failures.

Communicate to Help Interpret

Finally, to make the most of your maintenance metrics, communication is key. Sharing insights from the data ensures that everyone in the organization, from the maintenance team to upper management, understands performance and is aligned on actions needed for improvement.

Follow these steps to improve communication:

• Use data visualization: Graphs, charts, and dashboards make complex data more accessible and understandable to stakeholders.
• Regular updates: Share results with your team on a regular basis, so they can adjust their actions and behaviors based on the latest findings.
• Drive change: Use the insights from your data to propose and implement changes that can drive efficiency, like adjusting maintenance schedules or upgrading equipment.

Getting Practical Insights

A mid-sized maintenance service provider was facing challenges in keeping track of maintenance operations and managing the team’s workload. It approached us, and after analysis of the context, we identified the key metrics that were essential to improve the maintenance process.

In order to overcome the toughest challenge – tracking the identified maintenance metrics, we implemented our CMMS and configured it to their bespoke needs.

The results were remarkable. Apart from automating task tracking, our solution resulted in downtime reduction and increase in planned maintenance percentage. The software also streamlined their yearly audit and freed its team from remaining stuck to minute details, allowing them to focus on the larger picture and resulting in cost savings in the long term.

Streamline Maintenance Metric Tracking with a Robust Maintenance Software Suite

These are important maintenance metrics that are ultimately responsible for maximizing the potential of the equipment. Because as we saw, they give crucial insights about equipment performance and reliability. Each of these metrics is unique and hugely beneficial to maintenance operations.

When tracking metrics, it’s essential to understand what these metrics tell you and how they can help you improve your operations. Leverage equipment maintenance tracker that comes with an all-encompassing maintenance management software, and you can effortlessly streamline performance metrics tracking in one centralized location, allowing for better communication and collaboration across teams.