Preventive Maintenance Schedule for Pharmaceutical Plants

A preventive maintenance schedule for pharmaceutical plants is the plan of checks, services and inspections that keeps the plant’s equipment running between breakdowns. Validated process equipment, cleanroom air handling, purified water and calibrated instruments. Every task needs a record, so the schedule is also an audit trail.

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 pharmaceutical plants preventive maintenance schedule

Pharmaceutical & biotech

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Tablet compression machine preventive maintenance schedule	7	138 h
High shear mixer granulator preventive maintenance schedule	6	63 h
Fluid bed dryer / processor preventive maintenance schedule	6	63 h
Tablet coating machine / pan preventive maintenance schedule	6	62 h
Capsule filling machine preventive maintenance schedule	6	63 h
Vial / bottle washing machine preventive maintenance schedule	7	138 h
Sterile vial filling preventive maintenance schedule	7	140 h
Lyophilizer preventive maintenance schedule	6	109 h
Steam sterilizer preventive maintenance schedule	7	121 h
Purified water and WFI generation preventive maintenance schedule	7	138 h
Pure steam generator preventive maintenance schedule	6	65 h
Cleanroom AHU, HEPA filters preventive maintenance schedule	6	105 h
Stability chamber preventive maintenance schedule	6	67 h
Blister / strip packing machine preventive maintenance schedule	7	135 h
Tube filling and sealing machine preventive maintenance schedule	7	134 h

Cranes, lifting & material handling

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Overhead crane preventive maintenance schedule	7	110 h
Gantry, jib and mobile crane preventive maintenance schedule	6	108 h
Electric chain hoist preventive maintenance schedule	6	57 h
Forklift truck preventive maintenance schedule	6	104 h
Electric forklift / reach truck preventive maintenance schedule	6	96 h
Hand pallet truck, dock leveller preventive maintenance schedule	6	38 h
Lifting tackle: slings, shackles preventive maintenance schedule	5	20 h
Automated guided vehicle preventive maintenance schedule	6	60 h
Pallet racking preventive maintenance schedule	6	75 h
Winch, hydraulic jack preventive maintenance schedule	5	33 h

Process & chemical equipment

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Reactor preventive maintenance schedule	6	109 h
Agitator / mixer / homogeniser preventive maintenance schedule	6	63 h
Centrifuge preventive maintenance schedule	7	142 h
Filter press / filtration unit preventive maintenance schedule	6	100 h
Spray dryer preventive maintenance schedule	6	109 h
Rotary dryer / tray dryer preventive maintenance schedule	6	107 h
Evaporator / concentrator preventive maintenance schedule	6	111 h
Distillation / absorption column preventive maintenance schedule	6	111 h
Ball mill / hammer mill / pulveriser preventive maintenance schedule	6	107 h
Ribbon / paddle / cone blender preventive maintenance schedule	6	62 h

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
Screw conveyor / auger preventive maintenance schedule	6	59 h
Pneumatic conveying system preventive maintenance schedule	6	65 h
Vibratory feeder / conveyor preventive maintenance schedule	6	41 h
Rotary airlock valve preventive maintenance schedule	6	39 h
Silo, hopper and storage bin preventive maintenance schedule	5	32 h
Bag filter / dust collector preventive maintenance schedule	6	62 h
Magnetic separator, sifter preventive maintenance schedule	6	58 h

Packaging, filling & inspection

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Vertical form-fill-seal packing preventive maintenance schedule	7	136 h
Cartoning machine, case erector preventive maintenance schedule	7	136 h
Shrink wrap tunnel, stretch wrapper preventive maintenance schedule	7	135 h
Labelling, capping preventive maintenance schedule	7	135 h
Coding and marking equipment preventive maintenance schedule	7	82 h
Checkweigher, metal detector preventive maintenance schedule	7	127 h
Palletiser / robotic packing cell preventive maintenance schedule	6	107 h

Fire protection & safety

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Gaseous fire suppression system preventive maintenance schedule	5	15 h
Emergency eyewash and safety shower preventive maintenance schedule	5	6 h
Fixed gas detector preventive maintenance schedule	5	7 h
Hazardous-area electrical equipment preventive maintenance schedule	5	24 h
Breathing apparatus and escape sets preventive maintenance schedule	5	4 h
Smoke extraction preventive maintenance schedule	6	32 h
Fall protection equipment: harnesses preventive maintenance schedule	5	4 h

Instruments, automation & laboratory

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Flow meter or level instrument preventive maintenance schedule	5	5 h
Online process analyser preventive maintenance schedule	6	103 h
Weighbridge, platform scale preventive maintenance schedule	6	59 h
Online condition monitoring preventive maintenance schedule	5	31 h
Laboratory balance preventive maintenance schedule	6	75 h
Laboratory fume hood preventive maintenance schedule	5	22 h
Building management system preventive maintenance schedule	5	38 h

Water & effluent treatment

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Reverse osmosis plant preventive maintenance schedule	7	134 h
Demineralisation plant preventive maintenance schedule	6	96 h
Water softener and pressure filters preventive maintenance schedule	6	61 h
Effluent treatment plant preventive maintenance schedule	7	133 h
Water treatment plant: aerators preventive maintenance schedule	6	104 h
UV disinfection and ozone system preventive maintenance schedule	6	59 h

Valves, piping & hydraulics

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Control valve with positioner preventive maintenance schedule	5	8 h
Safety and relief valve preventive maintenance schedule	5	4 h
Valve actuator preventive maintenance schedule	5	6 h
Hydraulic power pack, accumulators preventive maintenance schedule	6	103 h
Central lubrication system preventive maintenance schedule	6	61 h
Industrial gas cylinder storage preventive maintenance schedule	5	85 h

Pumps

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Gear pump preventive maintenance schedule	7	68 h
Screw / progressive cavity pump preventive maintenance schedule	7	70 h
Air-operated diaphragm pump preventive maintenance schedule	7	54 h
Metering / dosing pump preventive maintenance schedule	7	66 h
Magnetic-drive pump preventive maintenance schedule	7	69 h

HVAC & refrigeration

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Variable refrigerant flow system preventive maintenance schedule	5	30 h
Cold room preventive maintenance schedule	6	65 h
Desiccant dehumidifier preventive maintenance schedule	6	59 h
Precision air conditioner for data preventive maintenance schedule	6	67 h
Vapour absorption chiller preventive maintenance schedule	7	145 h

Fans, blowers, vacuum & ventilation

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Roots blower preventive maintenance schedule	6	51 h
Liquid ring vacuum pump preventive maintenance schedule	7	72 h
Dry screw / rotary vane vacuum pump preventive maintenance schedule	6	39 h
Local exhaust ventilation preventive maintenance schedule	6	61 h

Boilers, steam & thermal systems

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Boiler preventive maintenance schedule	7	213 h
Thermic fluid heater preventive maintenance schedule	7	167 h
Steam distribution: traps preventive maintenance schedule	6	56 h
Feed water system and deaerator preventive maintenance schedule	6	94 h

Compressors & compressed air

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Oil-free screw / scroll compressor preventive maintenance schedule	6	55 h
Compressed air dryer (desiccant) preventive maintenance schedule	6	38 h
Nitrogen generator preventive maintenance schedule	6	38 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

Food, dairy & beverage

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
High-pressure homogeniser preventive maintenance schedule	6	63 h
CIP system preventive maintenance schedule	6	105 h
Rotary bottle / can preventive maintenance schedule	7	138 h

Motors, drives & power transmission

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
DC / servo motor and drive preventive maintenance schedule	6	38 h

Plastics & rubber

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Blow moulding machine preventive maintenance schedule	7	136 h

Other equipment

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Machine guarding, interlocks preventive maintenance schedule	5	18 h

Healthcare & hospital

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Blood bank refrigerator preventive maintenance schedule	6	38 h

Oil, gas, power plant & environment

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Wet scrubber preventive maintenance schedule	6	105 h

Electrical distribution & power quality

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Power distribution unit preventive maintenance schedule	5	20 h

Buildings & facilities

Equipment	Tasks	Hours per year, one unit
Waste compactor, baler and shredder preventive maintenance schedule	6	60 h

Common plant equipment in pharmaceutical plants

Pumps, compressors, motors, boilers, chillers, air handling units, transformers, generators and conveyors appear in almost every industry. Their schedules:

The full list is on the page of equipment preventive maintenance schedules.

How big is the preventive maintenance schedule for pharmaceutical plants?

For one unit of each of the 111 industry-specific equipment types in our library, the schedule has 675 recurring tasks and about 8,374 hours of work a year. Adding one unit of each of the 62 common equipment types makes it 1042 tasks and about 11,142 hours. A real plant has several units of most of them, which is why the monthly workload needs balancing.

Build your pharmaceutical plants 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 maintenance software for pharmaceutical and maintenance software for api bulk drugs, or the preventive maintenance software module.

Build my pharmaceutical plants preventive maintenance schedule (free Excel)

Frequently asked questions

What should a preventive maintenance schedule for pharmaceutical plants 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 pharmaceutical & biotech, cranes, lifting & material handling, process & chemical equipment, conveying, bulk handling & dust control. Add the statutory examinations that apply to your plant.

How many types of equipment does the pharmaceutical plants schedule cover?

Our library lists 111 industry-specific equipment types for pharmaceutical plants and 62 common plant equipment types, each with its own tasks, intervals and times.

Is there a free preventive maintenance schedule generator for pharmaceutical plants?

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.