- What is preventive maintenance?
- What is preventive maintenance for?
- Types of preventive maintenance
- Preventive maintenance in computing
We explain what preventive maintenance is, what it is for and what types exist. Also, its role in computing.
What is preventive maintenance?
When we speak of preventive maintenance or prior maintenance, we refer to the set of actions to review and clean equipment and facilities, which allow anticipating any type of failure or inconvenience through the preservation of its optimal state of operation.
In other words, preventive maintenance encompasses the different measures that can be taken in anticipation of equipment and machinery damage, rather than waiting for it to occur and then fixing it. That is its fundamental difference with the Corrective maintenance, which would be what is done to equipment that already has damage or damage.
Preventive maintenance usually consists of various methods of preserving components and their functionality, often recommended by the manufacturer of the appliance itself, or on the advice of specialists and experts in the field.
What is preventive maintenance for?
As its name implies, the primary objective of preventive maintenance is to prevent damage, or at least delay its appearance as much as possible, thus avoiding or at least mitigating its consequences.
To do this, replacement measures must be taken (change of worn parts, burnt lubricants, etc.), addition (incorporation of substances missing parts, etc.) or cleaning (removal of residues, etc.) that are necessary to extend the useful life of equipment and tools, especially when it comes to sophisticated material.
Types of preventive maintenance
Usually three possible types of preventive maintenance are distinguished, depending on their specific performance criteria:
- Scheduled maintenance. It refers to the maintenance tasks that must be carried out when a certain milestone or limit is met in the operation of the equipment. For example, an oil change is recommended for cars every 10,000 kilometers driven.
- Predictive Maintenance. It is one that is dedicated to evaluating the status of the pieces or components of a piece of equipment, in order to determine when and in what way preventive maintenance tasks should be carried out. For example, computer overhaul and maintenance programs.
- Opportunity maintenance. In this case, maintenance occurs when the equipment is not in use, that is, taking advantage of moments of free use. For example, if we take the car to the workshop for a repair, it is likely that the opportunity will be taken to do other essential maintenance work.
Preventive maintenance in computing
In the case of computing, preventive maintenance covers both the operation of the software as well as hardware of the computer, since both aspects have a decisive influence on the operation of the system, which in turn translates into speed and agility of the system.
- Regarding software, there are preventive maintenance programs that scan the system to determine and correct errors and debris left by everyday use, such as invalid registry entries, missing shortcuts, and other such details. Also common is computer defragmentation, which consists of reorganizing the information of the hard disk in such a way that its reading does not take more time than strictly necessary.
- Regarding hardwareOn the other hand, the preventive maintenance of this equipment is reduced more than anything to cleaning the exterior and the surroundings, to prevent the accumulation of dirt and dust inside the equipment and its peripherals. The internal cleaning of the computer is usually carried out by specialized technical personnel.