A Technician’s Guide to Planned Preventative Maintenance

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Being able to properly maintain a commercial kitchen is vital in ensuring a safe and efficient working environment. As a technician, it’s important to let your customers know about these tasks and explain why a technician should be the one to complete them. This guide will help you explain planned preventative maintenance, or PM, its importance and more to your customers.

Commercial Planned Preventative Maintenance Checklist

Weekly Tasks

Check all gas connections for leaks or signs of wear.
Adjust thermostats on refrigeration units.
On all hoods and exhaust fans, inspect the fans and clean out all filters.
Inspect all applicable units with heating elements.
Inspect all circuit breakers and outlets for signs of damage.

Monthly Tasks

Recalibrate any temperature and pressure gauges.
Replace and clean any HVAC filters and inspect coils.
Ensure proper seals on all units.
Inspect all gas connections and replace any worn parts.
Check coolant levels on refrigeration units.

Yearly Tasks

Conduct a full kitchen inspection to ensure all units are working properly.
Ensure each unit is meating health and safety regulations.
Replace any parts that are showing significant wear.

Important Maintenance Procedures

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) – Using your step-by-step PM process, complete any maintenance tasks needed.
Safety Protocols – Ensure that the proper safety precautions are taken.
Equipment Inspection – Each maintenance plan should include regular inspections to check for signs of potential unit failures.
Testing – Test each unit after you’ve performed maintenance tasks on it, but before finishing your maintenance routine.

The Importance of Planned Preventative Maintenance

Staying up to date on preventative maintenance tasks is crucial to extending the lifespan on equipment and ensuring a safer working environment. Having a preventative maintenance plan will help customers keep up with the maintenance needs of each unit, preventing an expensive breakdown.

Benefits of Preventative Maintenance

Reduces repair costs – When a piece of equipment is well maintained, it’s easier to plan for major repairs before they’re required. This gives managers time to budget and source the parts needed to find the best pricing without having to worry about downtime for an emergency repair.
Optimizes the product line – If a unit isn’t routinely serviced, there’s a good chance something on it will wear and need replacing. As a worker, this means the unit is down until fixed and the product line comes to a halt.
Reduces time spent on maintenance – Ensuring maintenance is planned regularly is crucial to fast repairs. Having a technician come in to maintain a unit will reduce the amount of time a unit needs serviced since they will be able to identify smaller issues and resolve them before they become larger problems.

How to Pitch a Preventative Maintenance Plan

After explaining what preventative maintenance is and the importance of it, you’ll want to know how to go over creating a maintenance plan with your customers. Follow these steps to pitch a great plan that’ll be hard to say no to:

Step 1. Recognize that Buyers are Interested in Saving Money

Your customers are likely asking themselves questions such as, “What does PM prevent?” and, “Can we do pieces of the PM job ourselves?” They want the answers to these questions to resolve their issue without costing an arm and a leg. Once you explain the types of maintenance tasks that need to be done as well as the frequency, it should help your customers understand that these tasks are necessary and will help prevent any long-term damage if done by a professional. The end costs will be worth it, knowing that their units will last longer and work more efficiently, saving them money in the long run.

Step 2. Reframing the Value

How can you let your customers know about the true value of a planned preventative maintenance package? Break down your services into bite-sized pieces. First you have the execution of the maintenance, then the reporting of those activities. Finally, you have the communication and interpretation of results. Ask your customers which piece is most valuable to them and focus on that in the most detail. This helps you put their needs first. There may be some customers that want to interpret the results for themselves whereas others may find great importance in a full report.

Step 3. Have a Flexible Preventative Maintenance Package

If you’re flexible with your plans, your customers will have the freedom to pick and choose what they want in order to save even more. Preventative maintenance can be tailored to many different products, and there’s always room for upselling services later down the line.

Explaining the Importance of a Technician Completing the Task

It’s well known that planned preventative maintenance is essential for all commercial equipment. However, sometimes it can be tough to explain to customers why it’s important that service technicians complete some of these tasks. Here’s a simple way to explain the importance of a technician completing preventative maintenance tasks:

By allowing a technician to complete inspections, cleaning and maintenance, it’s easier for them to identify potential issues before they become major. They can offer a more proactive approach that helps maintain a safe and efficient commercial kitchen that operates at peak performance.

Additionally, technicians play a vital role in routine preventative maintenance, helping to ensure an energy-efficient environment and reducing operational costs by using their expertise to keep units running properly. Having a technician take a look means getting an accurate assessment of leaks, wear and tear, electrical issues and more for a more reliable and safe workplace.

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