PPM Optimisation: Remove Work That Does Not Prevent Failure

Why inherited PPM needs to be challengedPreventive maintenance only creates value when the task changes the probability or consequence of failure. Food factories accumulate inspections, lubrication tasks and component changes over many years. Some remain essential; others survive because nobody has challenged the original assumption.Start with the failure modeFor every task, define the failure it is intended to prevent or detect. If the team cannot describe the failure mode, the task interval and the evidence that the task is effective, the activity should be challenged rather than automatically repeated.Separate useful work from maintenance noisePrioritise statutory work, food-safety controls, condition-based interventions and tasks supported by failure history. Remove duplication, combine inspections where practical and move suitable activities toward operator care or condition monitoring without weakening control.Use evidence to set the intervalIntervals should reflect deterioration rate, operating duty, environment, failure history and consequence. A calendar interval inherited from an OEM manual is a starting point, not proof that the interval remains correct for the installed application.Measure whether the programme is workingTrack repeat failures, emergency work, defects found during planned work, planned-versus-reactive hours…