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Maintenance & Value Creation | Still "putting out fires" or already optimizing?
It’s burning – the machine is down…
You plan one or two projects on the machine or plant for the day, but as soon as the machine breaks downs, everything gets delayed – and by the end of the shift you realize you’ve spent most of your time “putting out fires” instead of making real progress.
Maintenance teams often operate in reactive mode. Instead of working proactively, they’re forced to respond to unforeseen breakdowns. If that sounds familiar from your own daily work, this article is for you.
Contents
IN GENERAL: THE CORE ACTIVITIES OF MAINTENANCE
Maintenance covers all measures ensuring that assets can be operated reliably and economically. According to DIN 31051, it is divided into four basic measures:
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Corrective maintenance (repair)
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Preventive maintenance (servicing)
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Inspection
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Improvement
EN 13306 broadens this perspective with maintenance management:
Here the focus is on managing organizational and economic aspects – from planning and prioritization to continuous improvement and efficiency gains in maintenance.
MORE OR LESS MAINTENANCE – HAVE YOU FOUND THE GOLDEN MEAN?
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High, preventive & proactive intensity of maintenance = high maintenance costs
= lower breakdown costs and higher equipment availability
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Low intensity of maintenance = lower maintenance costs
= higher breakdown costs, lower availability & more reactive firefighting (stress!)
We’ve tried to illustrate this graphically. The numbers are fictional.
Explanation of the chart:
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Maintenance costs (blue): rise with higher intensity (more staff, more preventive measures, etc.)
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Breakdown costs (red): decrease with higher intensity (fewer stoppages, fewer emergency repairs)
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Equipment availability (green, dashed): increases with higher intensity (fewer disruptions)
Where do you see yourself on the curve?
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Middle to right third? → “We invest smartly in maintenance and avoid costly surprises.”
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Left side? → “We save on maintenance – but pay twice during breakdowns.”
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Far right side? → “Overengineering: high costs without real added value.”
Balance is key:
Too little or too much maintenance can both be economically harmful. The optimum lies somewhere in the middle – enough preventive work to avoid expensive failures, but without drifting into costly overengineering.
And it’s not static: the optimum is where each measure delivers a measurable contribution to value creation. In the next section, we take a closer look at what “value-adding maintenance” really means.
VALUE-ADDING VS. NON-VALUE-ADDING ACTIVITIES
Value-adding maintenance activities: |
Non-value-adding maintenance activities: |
| Tasks that directly contribute to maintaining or improving the availability, reliability, or performance of equipment – with the goal of supporting production economically and smoothly. They directly contribute to business success by preventing downtime and optimizing operating costs. | Tasks that don’t directly impact equipment availability, safety, or performance. They consume resources (time, money, staff) without actually improving or stabilizing the condition of the asset. Often these are avoidable or organizationally driven activities. |
FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE
After distinguishing which activities in maintenance truly add value and which mainly consume resources, the key question is:
Does that also apply to corrective maintenance – in full emergency mode?
The answer: Yes!
Even unplanned repairs can be value-adding – if processes, tools, and teamwork are aligned to minimize downtime and accelerate restart. This is exactly where modern, value-driven corrective maintenance comes in: data-based, planned, and effective.
CAN CORRECTIVE MAINTENANCE BE VALUE-ADDING? – YES.
A shout-out to all corrective maintenance teams! 🖤
Being relaxed when the signal light is red… 😅
The image is AI-generated – but yes, it’s possible! In the next section we’ll share tips & lessons learned from our customers’ service operations. With a bit of preparation, even downtime can be turned into a value-adding activity – even without predictive maintenance, a digital twin, or a completed FMEA*.
* FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) is a systematic, proactive method for identifying potential failures in a system, process, or product, and assessing their possible effects. It helps prioritize and eliminate risks before they occur, thereby reducing risk and improving reliability.
Image description:
A service technician and an admin staff member are standing by a machine on the shop floor. The signal light is red – the machine has a fault. The technician is still calm because he has a digital checklist and a colleague at his side who supports him with both corrective maintenance and pre-planned optimization.
PRACTICAL OPTIONS:
➟ Planned downtime: In calmer production phases, deliberately “crash” a machine or system in a controlled way, inspect/replace critical components, improve production processes along the value stream on the shop floor, fix “small stuff.”
➟ During service events: With solid admin support, know in advance which optimizations can be carried out during corrective work.
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Administration provides the right measures & steps for an efficient work plan at the right time
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Spare parts are ready
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Tools and equipment are prepared
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Safety checks completed beforehand
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Customers and internal teams have access to in-house e-learning (via the Academy HUB) for onboarding, training, and safety instructions
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Asset knowledge is digitally available – e.g. via a service platform like bitnamic CONNECT or a “digital machine file” in the Documentation HUB
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Key question clarified: “What can we improve during downtime and repair – beyond just restoring warranty compliance?”
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Direct line to the machine builder/experts ready – for optimized repair via service chats (inside the Service HUB). Thanks to live translation, service requests and support can happen in the user’s native language, including direct live video calls.
With service chats you maintain data sovereignty – all interactions are logged within your ticketing system. They provide second-precise support, full traceability, and billing capabilities – and can even be leveraged for business expansion.
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If you have any questions on this topic or would like to find out more about our software or development and optimization options for your company, our digitalization experts will be happy to assist you with advice and support!
🗓️ Book a meeting with us!
