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Maintenance Management: What It Is, the Strategies, and How It Differs from a CMMS
Maintenance management is how an organization plans, schedules and improves all its maintenance work, and picks the right strategy for each asset. It gets equated with a CMMS, but a CMMS is the software, while maintenance management is the approach the software supports.
Why is maintenance management important?
Maintenance management matters because buying a CMMS doesn’t fix maintenance if there is no strategy behind it. Without a plan that matches each asset to the right approach, from breakdown to preventive to predictive maintenance, work stays reactive, spares are wrong, and downtime climbs. Good management is what turns scattered work orders into a deliberate, measurable program.
What strategies does maintenance management balance?
The job isn’t picking one strategy; it’s matching each asset to the right one:
- Run-to-failure for the cheap, non-critical stuff, covered under breakdown maintenance.
- Preventive maintenance on a time or usage schedule for known wear.
- Condition-based and predictive maintenance for critical assets worth monitoring.
- Spares, planning and scheduling so the work actually gets done.
- Metrics like MTBF and MTTR to see whether the mix is working.
How does maintenance management differ from a CMMS?
Approach versus tool. Maintenance management is the discipline: the strategy, the planning, the priorities. A CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) is the software that stores assets, schedules work orders and holds the history. The CMMS runs the paperwork; maintenance management decides what the paperwork should say. Good software with no strategy just digitizes the chaos.
Maintenance management vs CMMS at a glance
The discipline versus the software.
| Aspect | Maintenance Management | CMMS |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The approach and strategy | The software |
| Decides | What to do and why | Records what was done |
| Scope | Strategy, planning, metrics | Assets, work orders, history |
| Without the other | Plans with no system | A system with no plan |
Free Preventive Maintenance Schedule
It lays out each asset, its maintenance strategy, the task and the interval, so the plan is explicit instead of living in someone’s head. Download the checklist (PDF). You can also complete the checklist digitally in flowdit on your phone, tablet or PC.
Related Terms
- Breakdown Maintenance– the run-to-failure option.
- Condition-Based Maintenance– service on measured condition.
- Manufacturing Asset Management– the wider asset view.
- Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)– a core management metric.
- DIN EN 13306
- Work Order
