Maintenance work orders come in three types, and the type is the most important field on the form because the mix of them is the first thing a manager reads about a site. Preventive work orders are raised by the schedule. Corrective work orders are raised from what an inspection found. Reactive work orders are raised when something fails. This page says what each type records, how each is raised and closed, and how the mix, this site's worked example runs 240 a month with 35% reactive, is read as the measure of whether the function is ahead of its equipment or behind.
Preventive work orders
Raised by the schedule when a task's trigger comes round: a date, a meter reading, a season. They carry the checklist or procedure, the interval, and the asset's history. The technician records readings and findings against the checklist, replaces what the task says to replace, and closes with the meter reading and the hours. The next one is dated from the close. Compliance, the share done by the due date, is read from these.
Corrective work orders
Raised from a finding: an inspection measured something outside its limit, an operator's daily check noticed a leak, a contractor recommended a repair. They reference the work order that found the fault, carry a priority from the matrix, and are planned into the week rather than done on the spot. They are the cheapest repairs a site does, because the fault was found before the failure, and a site with many corrective work orders and few reactive ones has a programme that works.
Reactive work orders
Raised when an asset has failed or is failing now. They carry the reported time, the symptom, and a priority from the consequence; the technician records the fault found, the repair, the parts, the times and the hours, and raises a follow-up for the cause. MTTR, downtime and the repeaters are read from these. This site's worked example prices each at 3.4 hours against 1.1 for the same work planned, $110.40 at a $48 loaded rate.
Reading the mix
Count the month's work orders by type. A site that is mostly preventive and corrective is ahead of its equipment; one that is mostly reactive is behind it, and its preventive work is being deferred to fight fires. The example's 35% reactive is in between. The share is only readable if the type is recorded on every work order, which is why it is a compulsory field on the maintenance work order template worksheet on this site and in every CMMS.
Questions people ask about maintenance work orders
Is a corrective work order the same as a repair?
It is a repair done before the failure, planned from a finding. A reactive work order is a repair after the failure. The work may be identical; the cost and the disruption are not.
Should every job have a work order?
Every job on an asset, yes, including five-minute ones, because the history is only complete if it is. A site that skips small jobs loses the repeaters.
How many work orders a month is normal?
It depends on the register. This site's example runs 240 across 180 assets; the number matters less than the mix.