OpexMX Articles
Insights and best practices on maintenance management, reliability, and manufacturing operations.
The 5 Most Common Maintenance Strategy Mistakes
Reactive firefighting, over-maintenance, gut-feel decisions — avoid these 5 maintenance strategy mistakes that drain budgets and erode reliability.
Maintenance Planning vs Scheduling: What's the Difference?
Discover the difference between maintenance planning and scheduling. Separate them and wrench time can rise from ~35% to 55% or more. This article also demonstrates how a CMMS can support both disciplines.
How to Calculate Optimal Spare Parts Inventory Levels
Stop guessing how many spare parts to keep. A practical guide to min-max levels, reorder points, and safety stock for maintenance inventory.
How to Build a Preventive Maintenance Schedule That Actually Works
Most PM schedules fail from too much or too little maintenance. Learn the 5-step framework to build a preventive maintenance schedule that balances workload, respects technician skill levels, and minimizes downtime.
How to Calculate the ROI of Your Maintenance Program
Learn how to calculate maintenance program ROI using the cost avoidance formula. Includes a real-world example, what costs to include, and how a CMMS provides the data.
What is Shutdown and Turnaround Management?
Shutdown and turnaround management explained: how plants plan multi-week full stoppages for major maintenance, inspections, and upgrades.
What is Precision Maintenance?
Precision maintenance is doing maintenance with engineering precision — torque specs, alignment tolerances, and cleanliness standards. Learn how it extends asset life 2-3x.
What is Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM)?
RCM explained for manufacturing teams: the 7-question framework, how it differs from traditional PM, the four maintenance strategy categories, and when RCM is worth the effort.
What is Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)?
Learn what Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is, its 8 pillars, how it eliminates the Six Big Losses, and how CMMS software supports TPM programs in manufacturing.