Question

List the three types of maintenance and indicate how much time is spent on each type. Given the amount of time spent on the three different types of maintenance, discuss what this would mean to you when you are setting up a development organization and configuring your team(s) and development methodologies.

Software engineering

Answer 1

Three maintenance types:

Preventive maintenance:

This is a very popular type. This is because it doesn't require the use of any modern technology. It doesn't require any condition monitoring, software integration, or other type of sensors, etc. It could be that some tasks are over-scheduled. This is because the time of the taks matters a lot here. It does save a lot of money. Since it goes with time of activity, it is regular and periodic rather than a one time process.

For such a maintenance it is essential to have a list of important and crucial activities along with their timeline. So that preventive maintenance is performed at a specific time.

Corrective maintenance:

This type of maintenance activity is used when there is a need to do it. It is an emergency task. Which also means that it is done when something needs to be fixed or an error needs to be corrected, etc. It is also reactive in nature, that is the result is seen immediately. There is no timeline for it but it can be performed every time an analysis or monitoring audit is done.

Predictive maintenance:

This is a type of maintenance where prediction about the variables are made. The reports are made and necessary capacity is checked. Based on the variables, one can also represent operational ability in the future. For this type of maintenance, it is important to identify all the physical variables. Such as temperature, power consumption, vibration, etc. If one of the variables indicates any problem, it can be noted and checked in future as well. It is mainly technical and might require use of modern technology and expert knowledge.

It is done at the end of the development process.