How to Create a Maintenance Plan: 8 Steps to a Plan That Actually Gets Used

In the maintenance office cupboard there is a binder labelled “Maintenance plan”. It was carefully put together years ago, with tables for every machine. Since then, hardly anyone has opened it. Maintenance still gets done – based on experience, on request and mostly when something is noticed.

The problem is rarely a missing plan. It’s a plan that doesn’t fit day-to-day reality: too extensive, too vague or without clear responsibility. A good maintenance plan is short enough to be used and precise enough to actually prevent failures.

In this guide, you will create a maintenance plan for your machines in eight steps. At the end you will find a template in table form that you can adopt straight away.

What is a maintenance plan?

A maintenance plan defines which task is carried out on which equipment, when, how and by whom . It is the central tool of preventive maintenance: tasks are planned before damage occurs, instead of repairing only afterwards.

The German standard DIN 31051 divides maintenance into four basic activities: servicing, inspection, repair and improvement. A maintenance plan usually covers the first two – i.e. tasks that slow down the depletion of the wear reserve (such as lubricating, cleaning, readjusting) and tasks that determine the actual condition (such as visual checks, measurements, functional tests). Maintenance terminology as a whole is defined in EN 13306.

Which maintenance strategy suits which equipment?

Before you plan tasks, it is worth taking a quick look at the strategy. Not every machine has to be treated the same way:

• Reactive maintenance: repairs are only carried out after a failure. This can make sense for non-critical, easily replaceable parts, such as a light fitting or a fan with a spare in stock.
• Preventive maintenance: servicing and inspection at fixed intervals. It is the basis of every maintenance plan and suits components with predictable wear.
• Condition-based maintenance: action is taken when readings such as vibration, temperature or pressure loss indicate incipient damage. It pays off above all for critical drives, pumps and gearboxes.

In practice, almost every maintenance plan is a mix. What matters is choosing the strategy deliberately rather than leaving it to chance.

Step 1: record your equipment

Start with a complete list of all equipment and important assemblies. For each machine, include:

• unique asset number and location
• manufacturer, type, year of manufacture and serial number as shown on the nameplate
• reference to the operating manual, circuit diagram and spare parts list

This list is more than a formality. Later on, it is the basis for every spare parts enquiry and for analysing faults.

Step 2: assess criticality

Not every machine deserves the same effort. Assess each one using simple criteria:

• consequences of a failure for safety, the environment and production
• is there redundancy or a fallback process?
• fault frequency to date
• availability of the most important spare parts

Then divide the equipment into three classes, for example A (critical), B (important) and C (non-critical). For A equipment you plan in detail; for C equipment, a few basic tasks are often enough. If you want to go deeper, use an FMEA for A equipment.

Step 3: gather manufacturer information and inspection obligations

The manufacturer’s operating manual is the first source of maintenance tasks and intervals. Add statutory and accident-insurance inspection obligations, for example from the German Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health (BetrSichV) or the German accident prevention regulation for electrical installations and equipment (DGUV Vorschrift 3). These inspections have their own deadlines and documentation requirements, so they absolutely belong in the plan.

Note: work on electrical installations may only be carried out by qualified electricians or by electrically instructed persons under their supervision. Manufacturer instructions take precedence over general recommendations.

Step 4: describe tasks precisely

“Check pump” is not a maintenance task. A good description answers four questions:

• What exactly? “Measure bearing temperature on the pump housing”
• With what? “Infrared thermometer”
• How do you recognise a problem? A limit value or criterion, for example from the manufacturer’s data or your own experience
• What should be done then? “Inform shift supervisor, raise a fault report”

The more precisely a task is described, the less the result depends on who carries it out.

Step 5: set intervals

For each task, you define when it is due. Three types of interval have proven themselves:

Interval	Trigger	Suitable for
time-based	daily, weekly, monthly, annually	visual checks, statutory inspections, cleaning
usage-based	operating hours, switching cycles, units produced	oil changes, filter changes, wear parts
condition-based	reading exceeds a limit value	bearings, gearboxes, drives with condition monitoring

Start with the manufacturer’s figures and adjust the intervals based on your experience. If an inspection shows no findings over a long period, the interval can be extended. If failures occur between two maintenance visits, it is too long.

Step 6: assign responsibility and materials

Every task needs an owner – a person or a clearly named role. Operators can take on many simple tasks such as visual checks or cleaning. This takes the load off maintenance and sharpens their eye for changes on the machine.

Just as important: which materials are needed? Lubricants, filters, seals, V-belts or other wear parts should be ready for the maintenance date. A maintenance plan that falls down because a filter is missing is quickly abandoned.

Step 7: choose the right format

Whether paper, spreadsheet or maintenance software – the best format is the one that actually gets used on your site.

• Checklist at the machine: good for daily and weekly operator tasks.
• Spreadsheet: a good start for smaller companies, but prone to outdated versions.
• Maintenance software (CMMS): sends automatic reminders, generates work orders and stores the history. Pays off beyond a certain number of machines.

Step 8: introduce, evaluate, improve

Introduce the plan step by step, ideally starting with the A equipment. Talk to those involved about effort and benefit. Evaluate regularly:

• Were the planned tasks completed on time?
• What were the findings?
• Have failures and downtimes changed, for example measured with MTBF and MTTR?

A maintenance plan is never finished. After modifications, new equipment or recurring faults, it needs to be reviewed.

Typical scenario: getting the team on board

A company introduces a new maintenance plan. The first version contains more than a hundred tasks, many of them weekly. After a month only some have been done; the rest get postponed. In the second round, maintenance sits down with shift supervisors and operators. Together they remove duplicates, combine visual checks into one short inspection round and hand simple tasks over to the operators. The plan gets shorter – and is completed in full for the first time.

Maintenance plan template

The following template shows the structure with a few example rows. The intervals are illustrative – the manufacturer’s instructions and your own experience are what count.

Equipment / assembly	Action	Type	Interval	Criterion / limit	Material	Responsible	Done on / by
Compressor K1	Check condensate drain for correct function	inspection	weekly	drain opens audibly, no water in the network	–	Operators
Compressor K1	Replace intake filter	Servicing	as per manufacturer, operating hours	–	Filter element	Maintenance
Conveyor belt F3	Check belt tracking and tension	inspection	weekly	belt runs centrally, no slip	–	Operators
Gearbox F3	Check oil level and for leaks	inspection	monthly	oil level visible in sight glass, no leakage	Gear oil as per manufacturer	Maintenance
Centrifugal pump P2	Check bearing temperature and noise	inspection	monthly	limit as per manufacturer	–	Maintenance
Control cabinet S1	Clean or replace fan filter	Servicing	quarterly	filter visibly clean	Filter mat	Qualified electrician
Electrical installation	Periodic inspection	inspection	according to risk assessment	as per inspection specification	–	Qualified electrician

Typical maintenance plan mistakes

• Everything at once: a plan covering all machines in full depth is rarely finished. Start with the critical equipment.
• Vague tasks: “check” without a criterion leads to different results depending on who does it.
• No feedback loop: findings are noted but not evaluated. The plan never learns anything.
• Spare parts forgotten: materials for planned maintenance aren’t in stock, so the date gets postponed.

Securing spare parts for the maintenance plan

A maintenance plan only works if filters, seals, bearings and other wear parts are available in time. With older machines or equipment from foreign manufacturers, this is often precisely the weak point.

KTB Europe is a family business from Hamburg and has been sourcing spare parts and MRO materials of all brands worldwide since 1976. Send us part numbers, nameplate photos or descriptions, including as a list for an entire maintenance shutdown. If a part has been discontinued, we look for suitable alternatives. Find out more on our pages about MRO procurement and spare parts management. Related reading: how to identify critical failures with an FMEA in maintenance and how to measure the effect of your plan with MTBF and MTTR .

Send us your enquiry via the contact page.

Conclusion

A maintenance plan that actually gets used is concrete, prioritised and kept up to date. Record your equipment, assess its criticality, describe each task with a criterion and an owner, and set intervals that you adjust based on experience. The template above gives you a starting point – begin with the machine that worries you most today.