What are the different types of maintenance work orders?

Nowadays companies are shifting towards work order in order to keep repair workflows perfect and accurate.  

When asset needs maintenance or breakdown occurs or any update needs to be done in an asset, for that purpose work order is created.  

What is the work order?  

A work order is a document in which all the information is provided related to each work order. A work order can be a small job or a very big job. For example, a work order may contain regular servicing of an asset or due to sudden failure asset is broken so identifying and resolving the problem is also a work order. Therefore, it depends on the nature of the work order. It can also include adding a new part or replacing the old part. Basically, the work order is related to every industry and it includes MRO activities.  

According to Statista,  

In Western Europe, the market for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) is estimated to reach around 20.7 billion U.S. dollars by 2030.  

What are the different types of work orders are there?  

Different types of work orders are as follow:  

1. Preventive maintenance work order –   

A preventive maintenance work request is a planned routine upkeep task performed on a particular asset or group of assets. Preventive upkeep keeps hardware in its current state and avoids disintegration or asset failure. Preventive work orders define asset prerequisites, guidelines, agendas, and notes for each job that need to be done.  

Preventive maintenance is a scheduled maintenance job that occurs after a specific time interval. This specific time is defined by the maintenance managers, it might be performed after 15 days or 30 days or 60 days as per the requirement and how frequently machines & equipment works. So, there is no specific number it varies from company to company. Because this maintenance is done on a routine basis. Some people also refer to it as a routine maintenance work order.  

1. Inspection –   

We know that asset is very crucial for an organization. Each asset needs an inspection and audit to know and to check if it is working efficiently or not. For an inspection, there are defined parameters to see the performance of each asset.  

When the technicians find that an asset is not meeting the defined parameters or issue found in an asset then the work order is created! Overall inspection emphasizes on finding the potential issue  

1. Corrective maintenance - 

Corrective maintenance is done when a technician is doing jobs mentioned in the work order. While doing the same the technician found some other issue as well. So, these issues will be sorted in the next work order or as per the manager’s decision. The objective of corrective maintenance is to identify & eliminate issue so that asset is restored to its primary condition.  

A corrective maintenance work order is also scheduled because the risk was identified on time. It includes activities such as replacing worn and torn parts, adding new parts, oiling, removing dust and particles.  

1. Emergency maintenance –   

Unlike the corrective or any other maintenance type it is unplanned and unscheduled. Emergency maintenance type of work order occurs when an unexpected asset failure occurs. In this maintenance, the priority of asset is high it means that it needs to be restored in running position as soon as possible.  

Because it might be possible that this asset is very crucial for the company. It may impact the daily business of an organization. It can hinder business production as well. In the work order one very important this is done, which is documentation or report generation.   

Let us take emergency maintenance work order for instance. The maintenance team will create a detailed report in which everything is mentioned such as why the incident occurred how much time is taken to resolve what actions are taken to resolve the issue and how this problem can be avoided to reduce failure chances.  

What are the main maintenance categories?  

There are mainly two maintenance categories:  

1. Proactive maintenance –   

Proactive maintenance needs planning so that asset breakdown does not occur. If the technician finds the smallest issue, he informs the manager. The manager generates the work order after checking.  

Proactive maintenance reveals the hidden inefficiency of an asset if there is any. It keeps the asset performance-optimized and stabilized.  

Preventive maintenance identifies the potential problem and eliminates it before it becomes an actual problem. This maintenance strategy helps the business in the long run. It is effective in saving money.  

1. Reactive maintenance –   

Reactive maintenance is that maintenance which is done when asset failure has occurred and now asset needs to be brought back into running condition in minimum time. It is also known as breakdown maintenance.   

This maintenance can make a huge dent into your pocket as this can be very costly. But the good thing is reactive maintenance does not require any planning. Reactive maintenance is not fit for the long run you want your business.   

Asset downtime is more compared to proactive maintenance.  

Conclusion – Maintenance can either make it or break it! If proper attention is given in this area than you can save lots of expenses and if ignore it no matter how much profit you make it will leak by maintenance expenses way. So, if you want to control maintenance expenses you need to pay attention to it.   

We know just paying attention is not enough there are so many factors to consider and alone human will not be sufficient. That is why you need asset management software that can help your business in many ways by generating reports, keeping track of assets. Scheduling maintenance task & access data from mobile. Undoubtedly this software will take your business to another level.