preventive maintenance
[pri′ven·tiv ′mānt·ən·əns] (engineering)
A procedure of inspecting, testing, and reconditioning a system at regular intervals according to specific instructions, intended to prevent failures in service or to retard deterioration.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Preventive maintenance
The maintenance contractor performs regular inspections, maintenance, and calibration according to an agreed schedule, and reports any obvious deterioration of the plant. The owner is responsible for the cost of all major repairs.
Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
preventive maintenance
The care and servicing by personnel for the purpose of maintaining equipment and facilities in satisfactory operating condition by providing for systematic inspection, detection, and correction of incipient failures either before they occur or before they develop into major defects. Preventive maintenance is periodic in nature—the periodicity is based on hours flown, on calendar basis, or combination of both.
An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
preventive maintenance
This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)
preventive maintenance
Inspecting hardware on a regular basis to ensure it stays in good running order. Preventive maintenance generally implies taking the equipment out of operation during the maintenance period. In the 1960s and 1970s, preventive maintenance took hours every week or month and was performed by a field engineer.
Starting in the 1980s, computers began to run without breaking down for weeks and months on end, and preventive maintenance became less of an issue over time. Today, electronic devices are rarely taken out of operation on a regular basis. The only exception is the periodic cleaning of automatic feeders and paper paths in high-volume printers and scanners. See remedial maintenance, predictive maintenance and percussive maintenance.Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Preventive Maintenance
in technology, a systematic and preventive operation or group of operations for maintaining technical devices or items at a given level of reliability in a serviceable or active state. Preventive maintenance is generally performed at specified intervals that are determined in advance. The procedure consists in an inspection of the item and the replacement or repair of its parts and units. The item is also cleaned, lubricated, and adjusted. Preventive maintenance reduces the likelihood of a sudden loss of operating efficiency (failure) that can result from, for example, the deterioration of the parts of a device or the clogging of its contacts. Preventive maintenance may also be performed at irregular intervals in conjunction with the restoration of the operating efficiency of an item after its failure.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.