A preventive maintenance schedule for engineering and fabrication shops is the plan of checks, services and inspections that keeps the plant’s equipment running between breakdowns. Machine tools, presses, welding equipment and cranes. The schedule is built around spindle, coolant and hydraulic condition, and around lifting equipment that has to be examined on a fixed interval.
Below are the equipment types we list for this industry, each with its own preventive maintenance schedule and checklist, and the common utilities every plant has. The tasks and intervals follow common industry practice; the maker’s manual and site safety procedures come first.
Equipment in a engineering and fabrication shops preventive maintenance schedule
Machine tools, metalworking & assembly
Furnaces, foundry & surface treatment
Cranes, lifting & material handling
Valves, piping & hydraulics
Instruments, automation & laboratory
Conveying, bulk handling & dust control
| Equipment | Tasks | Hours per year, one unit |
|---|---|---|
| Belt conveyor preventive maintenance schedule | 9 | 128 h |
| Roller, chain and slat conveyor preventive maintenance schedule | 6 | 59 h |
| Bag filter / dust collector preventive maintenance schedule | 6 | 62 h |
| Overhead conveyor: power-and-free preventive maintenance schedule | 6 | 104 h |
Water & effluent treatment
| Equipment | Tasks | Hours per year, one unit |
|---|---|---|
| Reverse osmosis plant preventive maintenance schedule | 7 | 134 h |
| Water softener and pressure filters preventive maintenance schedule | 6 | 61 h |
| Effluent treatment plant preventive maintenance schedule | 7 | 133 h |
Heat exchangers, vessels & storage
| Equipment | Tasks | Hours per year, one unit |
|---|---|---|
| Shell-and-tube heat exchanger preventive maintenance schedule | 5 | 35 h |
| Plate heat exchanger preventive maintenance schedule | 5 | 35 h |
| Cryogenic tank and vaporiser preventive maintenance schedule | 6 | 59 h |
Pumps
| Equipment | Tasks | Hours per year, one unit |
|---|---|---|
| Gear pump preventive maintenance schedule | 7 | 68 h |
| Air-operated diaphragm pump preventive maintenance schedule | 7 | 54 h |
HVAC & refrigeration
| Equipment | Tasks | Hours per year, one unit |
|---|---|---|
| Variable refrigerant flow system preventive maintenance schedule | 5 | 30 h |
| Humidification plant, air washer preventive maintenance schedule | 6 | 102 h |
Fire protection & safety
| Equipment | Tasks | Hours per year, one unit |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency eyewash and safety shower preventive maintenance schedule | 5 | 6 h |
| Fall protection equipment: harnesses preventive maintenance schedule | 5 | 4 h |
Motors, drives & power transmission
| Equipment | Tasks | Hours per year, one unit |
|---|---|---|
| DC / servo motor and drive preventive maintenance schedule | 6 | 38 h |
Mining, cement, metals & minerals
| Equipment | Tasks | Hours per year, one unit |
|---|---|---|
| Rolling mill preventive maintenance schedule | 7 | 142 h |
Other equipment
| Equipment | Tasks | Hours per year, one unit |
|---|---|---|
| Machine guarding, interlocks preventive maintenance schedule | 5 | 18 h |
Electrical distribution & power quality
| Equipment | Tasks | Hours per year, one unit |
|---|---|---|
| EV charging station preventive maintenance schedule | 5 | 25 h |
Fans, blowers, vacuum & ventilation
| Equipment | Tasks | Hours per year, one unit |
|---|---|---|
| Local exhaust ventilation preventive maintenance schedule | 6 | 61 h |
Common plant equipment in engineering and fabrication shops
Pumps, compressors, motors, boilers, chillers, air handling units, transformers, generators and conveyors appear in almost every industry. Their schedules:
- Centrifugal pump preventive maintenance schedule
- Air compressor preventive maintenance schedule
- Electric motor preventive maintenance schedule
- Boiler preventive maintenance schedule
- Chiller preventive maintenance schedule
- Cooling tower preventive maintenance schedule
- Air handling unit preventive maintenance schedule
- Power / distribution transformer preventive maintenance schedule
- Diesel generator set preventive maintenance schedule
- Belt conveyor preventive maintenance schedule
- Overhead crane preventive maintenance schedule
- Fire pump set preventive maintenance schedule
The full list is on the page of equipment preventive maintenance schedules.
How big is the preventive maintenance schedule for engineering and fabrication shops?
For one unit of each of the 68 industry-specific equipment types in our library, the schedule has 421 recurring tasks and about 5,525 hours of work a year. Adding one unit of each of the 62 common equipment types makes it 788 tasks and about 8,293 hours. A real plant has several units of most of them, which is why the monthly workload needs balancing.
Build your engineering and fabrication shops preventive maintenance schedule
Pick your equipment in the free generator and download a 12-month schedule as an Excel file, with tasks, intervals and monthly workload hours. For the method, read the guide to the preventive maintenance schedule, and the preventive maintenance checklist.
To run it in software, see the preventive maintenance software module and maintenance software by industry.
Build my engineering and fabrication shops preventive maintenance schedule (free Excel)
Frequently asked questions
What should a preventive maintenance schedule for engineering and fabrication shops include?
The equipment that decides output and safety, the tasks and intervals for each, the time each task takes and who does it, and a record of completion. For this industry the biggest groups of equipment are machine tools, metalworking & assembly, furnaces, foundry & surface treatment, cranes, lifting & material handling, valves, piping & hydraulics. Add the statutory examinations that apply to your plant.
How many types of equipment does the engineering and fabrication shops schedule cover?
Our library lists 68 industry-specific equipment types for engineering and fabrication shops and 62 common plant equipment types, each with its own tasks, intervals and times.
Is there a free preventive maintenance schedule generator for engineering and fabrication shops?
Yes. The free preventive maintenance schedule generator opens with this industry selected, lets you choose your equipment and quantities, and gives a 12-month schedule as an Excel file.