Which maintenance strategy aims to prevent failures by performing regular tasks before wear leads to failure?

• A. Corrective maintenance
• B. Preventive maintenance
• C. Predictive maintenance
• D. Reactive maintenance

Answer: (B)

Regular, planned care aimed at stopping failures before they happen is the essence of preventive maintenance. The idea is to schedule routine tasks—such as lubrication, inspections, cleaning, adjustments, and part replacements—based on time, usage, or service hours, even if the equipment seems to be running fine. By addressing wear and potential problems before they manifest as a breakdown, you reduce unplanned downtime and extend the life of components. This contrasts with corrective maintenance, which fixes things after they fail; predictive maintenance, which acts based on real condition data and often targets maintenance when wear is detected or forecast to occur; and reactive maintenance, which means waiting until a failure occurs and then repairing. Because the goal here is to prevent failures through regular, proactive upkeep, preventive maintenance is the best fit.