Preventive maintenance
What is a preventive maintenance plan?
A preventive maintenance plan is the list, machine by machine, of the upkeep to carry out before a breakdown: which task, at what interval (every X hours or every X months), who does it and when it was last done. For an equipment fleet, it is based on the manufacturer’s manual and hour meters. Download our free Excel template to build one.
Preventive maintenance means acting before a machine breaks down. But you still need to know what to do, when, and on which machine. That is the role of the preventive maintenance plan. Here is how to build one simply, with a ready-to-fill Excel template.
Preventive maintenance: a simple definition
Preventive maintenance covers all work carried out before a breakdown, to make it less likely: oil changes, filter replacement, greasing, checks on hoses, brakes and safety devices. It is the opposite of corrective (or reactive) maintenance, which repairs after the breakdown.
The preventive maintenance plan is the tool that organises it. For each machine, it answers four questions: which task? at what interval? who handles it? when was it last done? Without a written plan, preventive maintenance depends on everyone’s memory, and it ends up slipping into corrective work.
Scheduled, condition-based, predictive: the three ways to trigger maintenance
There are generally three types of preventive maintenance, depending on what triggers the task. In an equipment fleet, the first two are most often combined.
| Type | What triggers the task | Example on a machine |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled | A fixed interval, in operating hours or time, regardless of apparent condition | Oil and filter change at the intervals set by the manufacturer’s manual |
| Condition-based | The observed condition of the machine: wear, leak, noise, a measurement exceeding a threshold | Replacing a hose after a leak reported during the morning check |
| Forecast or predictive | A trend measured over time, which lets you predict degradation | Tracking the trend of a measurement (oil analysis, sensors) to schedule the task |
How to build your plan in 6 steps
- List all your equipment with its fleet number, category, make and model.
- Open the manual for each model and note the maintenance tasks and their intervals (in hours, in months, or both). The manual is the reference, not a general rule.
- Choose the trigger for each task: hours, calendar, or whichever comes first.
- Note when each task was last done (meter reading and date). If you don’t know, do it now and start from there.
- Assign who does what: in-house mechanic, dealer, rental company.
- Take regular meter readings and review the plan every week to prepare the workshop’s work.
Example plan for a small equipment fleet
Here is what a plan looks like once filled in. The intervals below are presentation examples: always replace them with those from your own equipment’s manual, which vary by manufacturer, model and working conditions. Regulatory inspections, such as VGP, are listed separately: they are not part of maintenance and are carried out by a qualified person.
| Equipment | Task | Trigger | Interval (example) | Who |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mini excavator PEL-01 | Pre-shift check (fluid levels, leaks, tracks) | Calendar | Every day of use | Operator |
| Mini excavator PEL-01 | Greasing joints | Hours | Per the manual | Operator |
| Mini excavator PEL-01 | Engine oil and filter change | Hours | E.g. 250 h or 500 h, per the manual | Mechanic |
| MEWP NAC-02 | Visual round and safety device test | Calendar | Every shift start | Operator |
| MEWP NAC-02 | Periodic upkeep (fluids, filters, wear) | Hours or calendar | Per the manual | Mechanic |
| MEWP NAC-02 | VGP (regulatory inspection) | Calendar | 6 months for a MEWP (French ministerial order of 1 March 2004) | Qualified person |
| Telehandler TEL-03 | Tyres, boom, stabilisers, hoses | Calendar | Frequent visual check | Operator |
| Telehandler TEL-03 | Greasing, fluids, filters | Hours | Per the manual | Mechanic |
The free Excel template: how it works
Our “preventive maintenance plan” template opens in Excel, LibreOffice or Google Sheets. One row corresponds to one task on one machine. You fill in the white columns; the green columns calculate themselves.
For each row, you choose the trigger (hours, calendar or both), the interval, the meter reading and date of the last time it was done, then the current meter reading. The sheet calculates the next due date in hours and date, the hours and days remaining, and shows the status: overdue in red, due soon in orange, up to date in green. A filter on the “Status” column gives you the week’s work list.
- Free, no sign-up, free to edit.
- Three example rows to delete to get started.
- An “Instructions” tab in English.
When the spreadsheet is no longer enough
An Excel spreadsheet works well as long as one person keeps it up to date. It shows its limits once several mechanics are involved, once meter readings are taken on site, or once you need to keep proof of every job.
Trackary applies the same logic in a shared tool: a record per machine with its hour meter, maintenance and inspection due dates, field anomalies reported with photos, technician job scheduling and a maintenance logbook. Technicians close out their jobs from the mobile app, even without a connection, and the job report joins the machine’s history. Trackary does not carry out VGP inspections and does not replace the manufacturer’s manual. It does not handle invoicing, parts stock or GPS.
To go further on day-to-day organisation, read our guide to preventive maintenance for heavy equipment.
Is your maintenance plan stuck in an Excel file that only you keep up to date? Trackary shares it with your mechanics and alerts you before every due date. Request a demo →