Maintenance KPIs are key indicators used to measure the efficiency, availability, and reliability of industrial equipment. They enable a shift from reactive maintenance to a data-driven strategic approach, reducing breakdowns, unplanned downtime, and operational costs.
This approach helps industrial companies improve operational continuity, optimize maintenance planning, and extend asset lifespan by analyzing key indicators such as MTBF, MTTR, or maintenance backlog.
In this article, you will learn:
- What a maintenance KPI is,
- how they are used in industry,
- the main benefits of monitoring them,
- the 5 most important industrial maintenance KPIs,
- and how digitalization with CMMS systems enables optimized maintenance management in plants.
What is a maintenance KPI and what is it for?
A maintenance KPI is a quantitative indicator that measures the efficiency and effectiveness of industrial maintenance activities.
Its purpose is not just to count breakdowns or working hours, but to provide critical information to:
- Evaluate asset availability and operational reliability.
- Make data-driven decisions about maintenance strategies: preventive, predictive, or condition-based.
- Optimize equipment lifecycle costs.
- Improve technical planning and operational continuity.
In the era of Industry 4.0, not measuring these indicators means operating without control: less efficiency, more downtime, and higher costs.
Proper monitoring allows maintenance to become a strategic function that directly impacts industrial profitability.
Summary of the main industrial maintenance KPIs
| KPI | What it measures | How it’s calculated | Operational target | How to improve it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) | Equipment reliability and the average time it operates without interruptions. | Total operating time / Number of failures. | Increase availability and reduce recurring failures. | Reinforce preventive maintenance, conduct root cause analysis, and optimize the backlog. |
| MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) | How quickly maintenance diagnoses, repairs, and restores equipment. | Total repair time / Number of interventions. | Reduce downtime and improve technical responsiveness. | Digitalization, process standardization, centralized access to technical information, and better planning. |
| Maintenance Backlog | The volume of pending work (preventive, corrective, and urgent). | Planned work hours pending execution. | Maintain a controlled level to allow planning without generating unexpected breakdowns. | Prioritize by criticality, structured planning, and continuous monitoring of work orders. |
| PMP (% of Planned Maintenance) | The proportion of scheduled maintenance versus total maintenance performed. | (Planned maintenance hours / Total maintenance hours) × 100. | Reach values around 80–85% for a strategic approach. | Better technical planning, use of historical data, and transition from corrective to preventive maintenance. |
| PMC (Preventive Maintenance Compliance) | The extent to which preventive tasks are carried out according to the established plan. | (Preventive tasks completed / Preventive tasks planned) × 100. | Exceed 90% to ensure reliability and operational continuity. | Automated scheduling, order tracking, and systematic control of the preventive plan. |
Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
MTBF is calculated as the total time that a piece of equipment or system operates correctly divided by the number of failures that occurred during that period.
It is an important indicator because it reflects asset availability and industrial reliability.
A high MTBF indicates that equipment is more reliable and experiences fewer stoppages. Conversely, low values signal critical equipment that requires intensive preventive maintenance or a review of its maintenance strategy.
To improve MTBF, it is recommended to implement a preventive maintenance strategy, optimize the maintenance backlog, and analyze recurring failures to reduce their frequency.
Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
MTTR is the time it takes for the maintenance team to diagnose, repair, and restart a machine after a failure.
High MTTR values indicate issues with technical planning, insufficient documentation, or lack of training. That’s why implementing digital tools such as a CMMS is crucial, as it centralizes information and provides real-time support to accelerate fault resolution and achieve a low MTTR.
Maintenance backlog
The backlog is a maintenance KPI that measures the hours of work pending, including preventive, corrective, and urgent tasks.
It is important because an excessive maintenance backlog increases unplanned failures and downtime. Controlling it helps prioritize tasks based on criticality, equipment usage, or maintenance cost.
To improve this KPI, it is recommended to establish a schedule of activities, prioritize by criticality, and use a CMMS that allows real-time KPI monitoring.
Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP)
PMP measures the proportion of time spent on scheduled maintenance tasks relative to the total maintenance time.
A high PMP (ideally around 85%) indicates that the plant is focused on strategic maintenance, reducing corrective interventions. A low PMP reflects an excess of unplanned tasks and the need to optimize the maintenance strategy.
To improve this KPI, adopt a data-driven maintenance strategy, advanced technical planning, and digitalization with the help of a CMMS.
Preventive Maintenance Compliance (PMC)
PMC is the percentage of preventive tasks completed according to the established plan.
A high PMC ensures that preventive maintenance plans are effective, increasing availability and reliability. A PMC below 90% indicates a risk of failures and the need to review preventive programs.
A CMMS is key to improving this KPI because it allows planning, scheduling, and controlling all work orders from a single platform.
The system automates notifications, assigns tasks based on priority and available resources, and provides complete traceability of executed maintenance.
Additionally, it provides contextual access to historical records, technical instructions, and equipment documentation, helping technicians perform interventions on time and correctly, without relying on scattered information or manual processes.
Case study: Mapex integrates AI into its CMMS to reduce MTTR
Industrias Teixidó, a manufacturer of high-precision metal components, faced the challenge that its technical knowledge in the Maintenance department was scattered across manufacturer documents, internal manuals, diagrams, images, and the individual experience of operators.
To address this, and after years of using Mapex’s CMMS, they decided to integrate Maik, our AI-based intelligent assistant, into their daily maintenance operations.
Now Maik centralizes all maintenance information, organizes it, and provides context, giving technicians immediate access to the data they need for each intervention.
This means operators no longer waste time searching for documentation or consulting different sources; the AI delivers precise, contextualized information ready to use in real time.
Thanks to this centralization and contextualization:
- Technicians can prioritize tasks and plan interventions more efficiently.
- Relevant information is available at the right time, in different languages if necessary.
- The effectiveness of planned maintenance is increased, and plant operational continuity is improved.
- MTTR is progressively reduced.
If you want to take the next step in optimizing your industrial maintenance, download this free eBook and discover how to define, measure, and improve your KPIs with a CMMS system, boosting equipment efficiency and data-driven decision-making.
FAQs on industrial maintenance KPIs
Which KPIs should be measured in industrial maintenance?
The main ones are MTBF, MTTR, maintenance backlog, Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP), and Preventive Maintenance Compliance (PMC). Other complementary indicators include industrial reliability metrics and predictive maintenance KPIs.
What is a good MTBF?
There is no universal value: a good MTBF depends on the type of asset, its criticality, and the production context.
The important thing is not to compare with other companies but to analyze internal trends. If MTBF increases over time, it indicates that the maintenance strategy is improving operational reliability and reducing recurring failures.
How can MTTR be reduced?
Reducing MTTR is not just about repairing faster, but about intervening smarter. The most effective actions are: centralize technical information, histories, and procedures, use a CMMS that provides contextual data to the technician for each work order, standardize diagnostics and technical planning, and apply condition-based maintenance to anticipate failures.
When the technician has the right information at the right time, diagnostic time is drastically reduced.
What is the difference between planned and corrective maintenance?
Planned maintenance is designed in advance based on data, criticality, and maintenance strategy. It aims to prevent failures and ensure operational continuity.
Corrective maintenance occurs after a failure. It is more expensive, causes production downtime, and reduces asset availability.
The most efficient organizations ensure that the majority of maintenance time is planned (usually above 80%).
How can I tell if maintenance is efficient?
Maintenance is efficient when: equipment availability increases, urgent interventions decrease, preventive maintenance dominates over corrective maintenance, and KPIs show stable or improving trends, not just isolated values.
The key is data-driven decision-making, not relying on operational perceptions.
Which KPIs should a CMMS display?
MTBF, MTTR, backlog, PMP, PMC, and other indicators of reliability, productivity, and condition-based maintenance.
