Reactive vs Preventive vs Predictive

Reactive vs Preventive vs Predictive

Every maintenance strategy answers the same question differently: when do we work on an asset?

The Three Modes

• Reactive (run-to-failure) — fix it after it breaks. Cheap upfront, brutal on critical assets.
• Preventive (time-based PM) — service on a fixed interval regardless of condition. Predictable, but over-maintains healthy gear and still misses surprise failures.
• Predictive (condition-based) — act on what the asset is telling you right now. Maximum uptime, minimum waste.

When Predictive Pays Off

1. The asset is critical to production or safety.
2. Failure develops slowly enough to detect (hours or days, not seconds).
3. The cost of monitoring is less than the cost of an unplanned outage.

Tips

Predictive is not all-or-nothing. Keep PM for cheap, low-criticality assets and route your monitoring budget where an unplanned failure actually hurts.