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Planned maintenance, planning and scheduling

Short answer

Planned maintenance is organized work following a programme. Planning identifies assets, jobs, methods, and budget; scheduling sets a calendar of inspections and works, considering weather and resources, and issues work orders to balance workload and reduce breakdowns.

Explain planned maintenance and the planning and scheduling of maintenance in a project.

Planned maintenance

Planned maintenance is maintenance organised and carried out with forethought, control and records, following a prepared programme. It includes preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance and planned corrective repair, in which the work is identified, estimated and scheduled before it is carried out.

Planning of maintenance

Planning decides what is to be done and how.

  • Inventory of assets and survey of condition.
  • Identify the jobs, their priority, methods, materials, tools, labour skills and cost.
  • Prepare job specifications, safety precautions and a budget.
  • Decide whether to use in-house staff or contractors.

Scheduling of maintenance

Scheduling decides when and by whom.

  • Prepare a calendar (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) of inspections and works.
  • Fix dates according to the weather (e.g. waterproofing before monsoon), occupancy and the availability of resources.
  • Group jobs to reduce disruption; use bar charts or networks for large works.
  • Issue work orders and keep history cards.
  • Monitor progress and update the schedule.

Benefits: balanced workload, fewer breakdowns, better budget control and longer life of the asset.

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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