The annual maintenance plan that fits on one sheet

In most industrial SMEs, maintenance is one experienced person with a good memory putting out fires. It works... until the critical machine breaks on a Tuesday at 10, with the week's order running. A breakdown can be more costly than a preventive task once downtime, urgent repair and a late order are included: downtime, urgent repair, a late customer and a few heated conversations.

The solution is not buying maintenance software (a CMMS) that nobody will fill in. The solution is an annual plan so simple it actually gets used. So simple it fits on one sheet.

Step 1: the inventory with criticality (one hour)

List your equipment, machine by machine, with four data points: code, line, year and criticality. Criticality is a letter:

• A: if it stops, the factory stops or the customer notices within days.
• B: uncomfortable, but there's a workaround.
• C: it can wait.

Criticality decides where preventive starts. The A equipment first. If you only have time for 3 machines this month, you already know which ones.

Step 2: the calendar on one sheet (two hours)

For each A machine, write the preventive tasks with their frequency and starting month: belt check every 3 months, monthly greasing, six-monthly filter change. Nothing exotic: what the machine manual says and what your people already do "when they remember".

The format that works: rows = tasks per machine, columns = the 12 months, an X where it's due. One sheet on the workshop wall that anyone can glance at and say "this is due this week". If the plan can't be seen, it doesn't exist.

Step 3: log every intervention (5 minutes a day)

Every breakdown and every preventive task, one line: machine, date, downtime hours and cost. Without this log there is no memory: you won't know which machine is bleeding you or whether the preventive plan works. Review the log after the first quarter and compare with your baseline.

The 3 numbers that tell you if you're improving

• Downtime hours per month. The measure that hurts. If it falls consistently, check whether the plan contributed and whether production demand changed.
• Preventive/corrective ratio. How much of the work is planned vs firefighting. Set a baseline for your site before choosing a target. The right preventive/corrective mix depends on equipment and risk.
• MTTR (mean time to repair). If it falls, your repairs are getting faster: better preparation, better spares, better checklists.

And a fourth that falls out of the data on its own: the machine with the most downtime hours in the quarter. That's the next candidate for a serious plan - or for a conversation about replacing it.

Quick wins for the first week

• Inventory done and criticalities assigned. One hour, coffee in hand.
• Calendar for the 3 most critical A machines, up on the workshop wall.
• Critical spares identified: what must NEVER be out of stock.
• A 10-minute Monday routine: what's due this week and who does it.

The typical mistake is trying to cover everything in the first month. Don't: 3 A machines done properly are worth more than 15 half-done. When the routine survives a quarter, you expand.