Traditionally, if multiple preventive maintenance (PM) cycles for a piece of equipment coincided on the same date, maintenance teams had to create separate scheduled maintenance triggers in their CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System). This led to an increase in manual paperwork. Consider a simple analogy—owning a car necessitates various maintenance tasks such as:
In a basic CMMS system, you’d create multiple work orders for tasks overlapping on the same date, making management cumbersome—particularly challenging when managing numerous assets.
Nested preventive maintenance (Nested PM) is a unique feature of modern CMMS solutions like Fiix. This functionality allows maintenance teams to group PMs of varying durations and complexities, streamlining management when tasks are set to occur simultaneously.
For instance, if you have a monthly maintenance task alongside annual tasks, you can group them together, reducing the need for multiple work orders. When the monthly task is due, only that task will be released for work—similarly for the annual tasks. This method ensures that more frequent tasks are incorporated into less frequent ones, simplifying your maintenance schedule.
Consider a piece of equipment with the following PM cycles established:
| PM Cycle | Tasks | Nesting Code |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | 4 tasks | N1 |
| Monthly | Weekly tasks + 2 additional monthly tasks | N2 |
| Quarterly | Weekly tasks + 4 additional quarterly tasks | N3 |
| Annual | Quarterly tasks + 2 additional annual tasks | N4 |
During an annual PM, you execute all the tasks from the weekly, monthly, and quarterly schedules along with other annual tasks.
When setting up nested PMs, each PM activity builds off the shortest PM cycle, known as the root PM. For instance, if the weekly PM is the root with a nesting code of N1, this forms the base for all other PMs. With 52 weeks in a year, the annual PM becomes a multiplier of 52.
| PM Cycle | Number of Weeks | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | 1 | 1 |
| Monthly | 4 | 4 |
| Quarterly | 13 | 13 |
| Annual | 52 | 52 |
| PM Cycle | Multiplier | Nesting Code |
|---|---|---|
| 250-hour PM | 1 | N1 |
| 500-hour PM | 2 | N2 |
| 1000-hour PM | 4 | N3 |
| 2000-hour PM | 8 | N4 |
| 10,000-hour PM | 40 | N5 |
The 250-hour PM serves as the N1 root PM, establishing a straightforward mathematical relationship.
The nested PM feature is included with the enterprise package of CMMS solutions. If you’re already utilizing an enterprise CMMS, you can find the new nested PM tab available within your scheduled maintenance section. Note, however, that if you opt for traditional PMs, you can disregard the nested PM tab.
If you’re looking to upgrade your current CMMS to access these features, click the green upgrade button available on our site. Upgrading unlocks additional benefits such as rotating assets and enhanced reporting tools.
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