In maintenance, timing makes or breaks reliability.
Preventive tasks that slip through the cracks lead straight to unplanned downtime, overtime labor, and repeat failures. And while most teams have a maintenance plan, following it when priorities shift or the floor gets chaotic is an entirely different challenge.
Meeting this problem head-on is where Preventive Maintenance Compliance (PMC) shines. It steps in after the planning and scheduling stages, and lets you know whether it’s actually working.
In this article, we’ll break down what PMC really means, how to track it, and offer seven practical strategies to improve your compliance rate without adding extra administrative steps or increasing the backlog.
Understanding Preventive Maintenance Compliance
Preventive Maintenance Compliance (PMC) tracks the frequency of scheduled PMs that are completed on time, within their assigned window. It’s one of the most direct measures of maintenance execution, revealing whether your team is sticking to the plan or just reacting to whatever breaks next.
PMC results directly correlate with equipment uptime, cost control, and technician workload. That means when compliance drops, reliability follows.
What Your PMC Rate Tells You:
- 90% or higher: You’ve got discipline on the floor. PMs are prioritized, and reliability stays high.
- Below 70%: Reactive work is taking over. Backlogs build up. Equipment runs until it fails, and it fails more often.
And if you’re aiming for 100%, hold that thought. We’ll explain why that number can be misleading and how a high but balanced target keeps you reliable without becoming rigid.
How to Calculate Your Compliance Score
The formula for Preventive Maintenance Compliance is simple:
(Completed PMs ÷ Scheduled PMs) × 100 = PM Compliance (%)
Here’s how you put it into practice.
Let’s say your team scheduled 40 preventive maintenance tasks in March. By month’s end, you completed 35 of them within the assigned window.
(35 ÷ 40) × 100 = 87.5%
That’s a strong score. It reveals more than that you have a plan in place. The score tells you it’s being executed well. Teams using this routinely refer to it as their “PM-C”. They rely on it for a fast, reliable snapshot of how well maintenance is following through.
But a word of caution: If work orders are left open, completed late without updates, or rescheduled without documentation, your compliance score becomes misleading. Bad inputs or inconsistent data generate bad metrics. So, if you’re going to implement PMC, then do it thoroughly.
Tracking your PM-C over time enables you to spot trends, flag early warning signs, and measure the real impact of any changes to your maintenance process.
What Does PM Mean in Maintenance and Why It Matters
Let’s rewind for a second. PM stands for Preventive Maintenance, which is the work you schedule and perform before equipment fails.
It’s the opposite of reactive maintenance. Instead of scrambling when something breaks, PM means staying ahead of failure through planned, routine upkeep. The difference between these couldn’t be bigger, and probably represents the sharpest way to contrast types of maintenance strategies. Or, in some cases, between having and not having a strategy.
Types of Preventive Maintenance
PM isn’t one-size-fits-all. The most effective plans match the right strategy to each asset:
- Time-Based PM: Tasks scheduled on fixed intervals (weekly, monthly, quarterly).
- Usage-Based PM: Triggered by runtime, cycles, or production volume.
- Condition-Based PM: Initiated when asset data (vibration, temperature, etc.) shows signs of early wear.
Each method has its place. What matters most in all of these is that you follow through. Even the best plan fails if it’s not executed well. And this is precisely what Preventive Maintenance Compliance measures: whether the work is actually completed and done on time.
Setting an Optimal PM Compliance Target
What’s a strong preventive maintenance compliance target?
Most high-performing teams aim for 85–95%. That range gives you enough coverage to keep assets reliable without overloading technicians or performing unnecessary work.
Going too high and chasing 100% can backfire. You risk over-servicing equipment, stretching your team thin, and diverting resources from more impactful work.
Drop below 80%, though, and it’s a red flag. PMs are slipping, reliability is at risk, and reactive work is likely taking over.
How to Set the Right Target
Your ideal compliance rate depends on a few key variables:
- Asset Criticality: Equipment tied to safety, compliance, or major production output deserves a higher threshold.
- Team Capacity: Set targets that match your available labor and inventory, not just your intentions.
- Operational Constraints: Limited maintenance windows may necessitate prioritization and adjustments to your baseline.
- Industry Regulations: In pharma, food, energy, and other regulated industries, specific standards may apply.
A key point to remember is that your ultimate goal can’t be perfection. It must be realistic. A consistent target maintains high reliability and minimizes reactive work without overextending your resources.
7 Strategies to Boost PM Maintenance Adherence
Improving PM compliance isn’t about working harder. It’s about working smarter and putting the right systems and habits in place. The seven strategies below consistently empower maintenance teams to shift their default mode from reactive firefighting to proactive execution.
1. Standardize a PM Checklist
It’s well-known that pilots use checklists even after thousands of flights. There's a strategic reason for this: it saves lives by reducing errors and mistakes.
A well-built PM checklist ensures every technician performs the same task the same way, regardless of their shift or experience level. It closes the gap between “done” and “done right.”
What should a PM checklint include?
- Clear, concise task instructions
- Required tools and replacement parts
- Safety procedures and PPE requirements
- Inspection criteria
- Sign-off verification
The idea is not to micromanage your team. Everyone should understand that a checklist makes it easier to follow the plan, reduce variation, and consistently meet compliance targets. It’s an alignment tool.
2. Use a CMMS to Plan and Track PMs
Managing preventive maintenance manually through spreadsheets or whiteboards is a losing battle. It’s slow, error-prone, and impossible to scale.
A CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) replaces guesswork with digital memory and structure. It automates scheduling, assigns tasks based on technician availability, and tracks completion, all in one place.
With a CMMS purpose-built for industrial maintenance:
- Techs know what to do and when
- Managers get visibility into task status
- The entire team stays aligned and accountable
With a CMMS, your PM planner becomes your operational command center, turning your maintenance schedule into a live, executable workflow, rather than a static list.
3. Monitor PM Metrics in Real Time
You can’t fix what you don’t track. Without post-maintenance oversight, by the time a missed PM appears in a report, it’s usually too late. The overlooked issues have already caused damage, failures, or breakdowns..
Real-time monitoring gives you visibility while there’s still time to course-correct. Using condition monitoring sensors or conducting periodic inspections, you can continuously track equipment health, ensuring that inspections and PMs are actually needed and that they’re happening on time.
Early visibility into maintenance results lets you:
- Reallocate resources before compliance drops
- Adjust schedules to meet actual workload
- Have targeted conversations instead of blanket corrections
Pair that with a CMMS that flags overdue tasks and upcoming work, and you’ll have a live view into which assets or PM types are falling behind.
4. Implement a 10% Scheduling Buffer
Preventive maintenance doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Production delays, missing parts, and unplanned events can all push PMs off schedule.
That’s why high-reliability teams use a 10% buffer around their maintenance intervals. For a 30-day task, that means allowing a 3-day grace period to complete it without marking it non-compliant.
This built-in flexibility helps your team manage real-world disruptions without losing sight of the plan or compromising asset health. It’s a smart way to keep structure without becoming rigid.
5. Conduct a Monthly PM Compliance Review
Regular reporting creates accountability and visibility. A monthly PM compliance report gives your team a clear view of where things stand: what’s getting done, what’s falling behind, and what needs attention.
The key is consistency. Run the report at the same time every month, use a standardized format, and involve both maintenance leads and production stakeholders.
Regular reviews make compliance visible, and they catch small problems before they spiral into system-wide breakdowns.
6. Train and Incentivize Technicians
Your team drives compliance. If techs don’t see the value in preventive work, or worse, see it as a low priority, it won’t get done consistently.
Shift the mindset by embedding PM values into your culture:
- Deliver short, focused training during shift meetings
- Recognize high compliance and quality work, not just task count
- Give feedback on missed steps or recurring issues from inspections
The goal is to create a culture where preventive maintenance is valued, not viewed as extra work that gets pushed aside when things get hectic.
7. Audit PM Data and Adjust Intervals
If your compliance rate keeps dipping, the issue might not be execution. It might be the plan.
PM schedules that are too frequent, irrelevant, or based on outdated OEM specs lead to skipped tasks and team frustration.
Reviewing your historical data helps fine-tune the program. Look at completion rates, failure history, and technician feedback. Then adjust intervals based on the actual behavior of the equipment rather than generic recommendations.
This kind of optimization makes your PM program more effective and easier to execute consistently.
Measuring PM Service Value Through Reporting
Preventive maintenance reports should prove the impact of compliance, and not just track it.
When leadership asks about the value of PM service, your reporting needs to demonstrate how scheduled work is preventing downtime, optimizing labor, and protecting production.
Strong reports connect maintenance execution to business outcomes. They move the conversation from “Did we do it?” to “What did we prevent and what did we gain?”
Include these elements in every report:
- Compliance trends: Are you improving over time, or falling behind?
- Cost avoidance: Quantify avoided failures and their financial impact.
- Labor and parts usage: Track resource efficiency, not just hours spent.
- Asset performance: Highlight improvements in uptime and reliability.
Make it visual. Make it relevant. Show how preventive work keeps the operation stable and scalable. That’s what turns a PM score into strategic value.
Turning PM Compliance Into a Competitive Advantage
While preventive maintenance compliance involves checking boxes on a checklist, it’s actually much more. PM compliance is really about building a system your team can trust and execute consistently.
When PMs are done on time and tracked accurately, you gain more than just uptime. You gain predictability, safer operations, lower repair costs, and the breathing room to plan, instead of just reacting. But hitting those compliance targets consistently takes more than good intentions.
This is where Tractian’s CMMS makes the difference. It automates scheduling, streamlines technician workflows, and provides real-time visibility into every PM: what’s been done, what’s overdue, and what’s slipping through.
You also get the data to back it up. You can find compliance reports, labor tracking, asset performance history, and cost avoidance metrics all in one place.
Start building a maintenance program that runs on discipline, not struggle. Track what matters and hit your PM targets with Tractian’s CMMS.
FAQ
1. What’s a good preventive maintenance compliance rate?
Aim for 85–95%. That range strikes a balance between discipline and flexibility: high enough to drive reliability, yet realistic enough to avoid burnout or over-maintaining low-risk assets.
2. How often should PM compliance be measured?
Track it continuously. Use real-time dashboards for daily visibility, review trends weekly to identify potential slippage, and run formal analysis monthly to inform strategic adjustments.
3. What are the main causes of low PM compliance?
It often comes down to:
- Poor scheduling discipline
- Staffing or parts shortages
- Vague or outdated procedures
- Reactive work consuming planned maintenance time
4. How does PM compliance affect reliability?
Directly. Higher compliance leads to fewer failures, longer asset life, and more predictable performance across your operation.
5. Can compliance be too high?
Absolutely. Chasing 100% compliance across the board can waste resources and even cause reliability issues, especially if assets are over-serviced without clear justification.
6. How can I improve preventive maintenance compliance?
Start by standardizing tasks, tracking real-time metrics, and automating schedules. A CMMS like Tractian’s simplifies all three and gives you the visibility to keep PMs on track.
