Preventive Maintenance Checklist Template for Machines

Download the template: Excel, PDF and Word

All three files hold the checklists for all 10 machine types, free and without signup. Pick the machine type on the cover sheet of the Excel file, print the PDF page for the machine you need, or edit the Word tables before you print.

What goes on a preventive maintenance checklist

A preventive maintenance (PM) checklist is the list of routine tasks that keep a machine from failing: cleaning, inspecting, lubricating, adjusting, measuring and replacing wear parts before they break. Each line should answer five questions: what to do, on which machine, how often, who does it, and what was found.

• Task: one action per line, written so a new starter can do it. "Check the seal for leaks" beats "check pump".
• Frequency: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. The groups are a common starting point; the manufacturer's manual sets the real intervals for your model.
• Who: operators take the daily look, listen and feel checks; technicians and electricians take the work that needs tools, measurements or a stopped machine.
• Result: done, problem found, not done or not applicable, with the name, the date and a note. A problem found becomes a work order.

How to use this template

1. Pick the machine type. The builder loads the tasks for it, grouped daily to annually.
2. Name the asset and location so the printout belongs to one machine, not a family of them.
3. Check every line against the manual. Change the wording, move tasks between frequencies, delete what your model does not have and add what it needs.
4. Print it or download the Excel file. Tick each task on the round, write who did it and when, and note anything you found.
5. Act on findings and review the intervals. Every "problem found" becomes a work order; each quarter, compare the checklist with the failure history and adjust.

Worked example: the pump checklist this page opens with

The builder opens on a centrifugal pump with 16 tasks and 250 operating days a year. Here is how often each group comes round:

Four daily checks make 83% of everything done on this pump in a year. That is why the daily round belongs with the operator who runs the machine: it is short, it happens anyway, and it is where leaks, noise and heat show up first. Technicians take the other 207 checks, weekly to annual, with an electrician for the quarterly motor current reading. On the calendar, January carries 9 of those monthly to annual checks (3 monthly, 3 quarterly, 3 annual) against 3 or 6 in other months; moving the annual work to February spreads the load to 6 at most.

What the data says about reactive maintenance

In a NIST survey of US discrete manufacturers (2016 data), 45.7% of machinery maintenance was reactive on average, and the most reactive quarter of plants lost 13.0% of planned production time to downtime against 4.0% for the least reactive, 3.3 times more (Thomas and Weiss, NIST AMS 100-34, 2020, Table 7.2).

A US Department of Energy guide estimates 12% to 18% cost savings for preventive over reactive maintenance (O&M Best Practices Guide, Release 3.0, 2010, page 5.3). It was written for federal facilities and does not name the surveys behind the range, so read both numbers as averages for their scope, not a promise for one plant.

Common mistakes

• Copying a generic list as it is. These tasks are a starting point. The manufacturer's manual sets the intervals, the lubricant, the quantity and the torque values for your model.
• Replacing parts on the calendar when the failure has nothing to do with age. In the study that started reliability-centered maintenance, 89% of the aircraft components analyzed had no wear-out zone, so an age limit could not improve them (Nowlan and Heap, Reliability-Centered Maintenance, 1978, page 47). Factories are not airlines, but the lesson carries: inspect for condition and act on what you find. More in reliability-centered maintenance and condition-based maintenance.
• Over-greasing bearings. More grease is not better. Too much can run the bearing hot and push past the seals. Use the grease and quantity in the manual.
• Ticking "done" without recording what was found. A problem found with no work order behind it is a failure you already knew about.
• One list for everyone. When operator checks and technician tasks sit in one long list, neither gets done well. Split them by who does the work.
• Working inside guards without lockout. Isolate and lock out the machine before any task inside guards or covers, every time.
• Never reviewing the intervals. Compare the checklist with the failure history every quarter: shorten intervals where the same failure returns, lengthen them where a check never finds anything. Track it with maintenance KPIs and the MTBF and MTTR calculator.

When a check finds a problem

Each machine type has a troubleshooting guide with the usual causes and fixes:

• Centrifugal pump troubleshooting
• Air compressor troubleshooting
• Conveyor troubleshooting
• Electric motor troubleshooting
• Gearbox troubleshooting
• Filling machine troubleshooting
• Packaging line troubleshooting
• CNC machine troubleshooting
• Injection molding troubleshooting
• Hydraulic system troubleshooting

To plan the whole program around these checklists, read the preventive maintenance program guide, compare preventive vs predictive maintenance, and hand the daily checks to operators with autonomous maintenance. To put a number on the program, try the preventive maintenance ROI calculator.

PM checklist FAQ

What should a preventive maintenance checklist include?

Each line names one task, the machine it belongs to, how often it is due and who does it, with space to record the result: done or problem found, who did it, the date and a note. Grouping the tasks by frequency, daily to annually, turns the list into a schedule that operators and technicians can follow.

How often should preventive maintenance be done?

Follow the manufacturer's manual for intervals first. The daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual groups in this template are a common starting point, not a rule: shorten an interval when the same failure keeps coming back, and lengthen it when a check never finds anything.

What is the difference between a PM checklist and a PM schedule?

The checklist says what to do on each visit. The schedule says when each visit happens across the year. This template gives you both: the tasks grouped by frequency, and a 12 month calendar, on this page and as a sheet in the Excel file, that shows which months the monthly, quarterly and annual work lands in.

Who should do the daily checks?

Usually the operator who runs the machine. Looking, listening and feeling for leaks, noise and heat at start-up catches problems early, and it is the autonomous maintenance part of total productive maintenance. Operators often take simple weekly cleaning too; technicians keep the work that needs tools, skills or a stopped machine.

Can I use this checklist in Excel or as a PDF?

Yes. The Excel file has a cover sheet, one sheet per frequency for all 10 machine types and a 12 month schedule sheet that marks the months each monthly, quarterly and annual task is due. Every task row has a status list, done by, date, next due and notes columns, and the cover counts what is done and what is due. The PDF has one printable page per machine type, and the Word file has the same tables to edit. All three are free with no signup, and you can also edit the list on this page and print it.

When should I move from a checklist to a CMMS?

When paper or a spreadsheet can no longer show you what is overdue across all your machines, or when a problem found on a round has to become a tracked repair. A CMMS plans the tasks on a calendar, keeps the history and turns a finding into a work order.

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