Better maintenance decisions start with a clear understanding of current performance. Without it, it's difficult to know which problems deserve your attention first or whether your improvement efforts are making a difference.

Organizations with a clear picture of their maintenance performance scored nearly 20% higher in work execution than those without it. The research also found that organizations with the strongest results consistently had the fundamentals in place, including planning, workforce development and preventive maintenance compliance.

Even still, nearly half of the organizations in this study couldn't confidently answer one of the most important questions: Is our maintenance operation actually improving? Without a shared understanding across maintenance, operations and leadership, it's difficult to build the alignment needed for lasting improvement. The best maintenance decisions are grounded in facts, not assumptions.

The strongest maintenance organizations rarely succeed because they've found a new process or invested in the latest technology. More often, they've built the discipline to consistently plan and prioritize work, learn from recurring failures and follow through on preventive maintenance.

Those fundamentals aren't glamorous, but they create the stability needed for long-term improvement.

More than half of the organizations in this study fell below the threshold for consistently closing the learning loop, meaning recurring problems were more likely to be repaired than permanently resolved.

When the fundamentals aren't in place, reactive work tends to fill the gaps and teams spend more time responding to today's problems than preventing tomorrow's. That's rarely because people don't recognize what needs to change. More often, it's because the immediate demands of keeping production running leave little time to address the underlying causes.

Every maintenance organization depends on knowledgeable people, but experience alone isn't enough to prepare an organization for the future. Lasting improvement requires a workforce that can adapt to new technologies, share knowledge across the team and continue developing the skills needed as operations evolve.

That kind of development also depends on having the time and structure to support it. Nearly half (45%) of the organizations in this study are still operating reactively or with only limited planning, making it difficult to consistently train employees and equip the next generation of maintenance leaders for success.

The research found that many organizations know they are vulnerable to workforce-related risks, from skill gaps and knowledge concentrated in a few individuals to the absence of succession planning.Yet building a stronger workforce takes more than hiring. Organizations also need to create the conditions for employees to learn from one another, develop new skills and pass along critical knowledge before it's lost.

Maintenance organizations aren't hesitating to invest in technology. In fact, the research indicates many are making those investments before they're operationally ready. The research found that 76% of organizations had already invested in maintenance systems.

And that’s the rub: while technology can improve visibility, streamline workflows and support better decision-making, it can't replace the maintenance fundamentals that drive long-term performance. Technology works best when it's reinforcing strong maintenance practices, not compensating for gaps in them.

New systems and training programs often feel like progress because they’re a tangible representation of investment. And they can be, but only when introduced in the right sequence. Otherwise, organizations risk adding complexity while the underlying problems remain unchanged.

Most maintenance leaders don't struggle to identify what needs to improve. The harder challenge is building organizational support to do something about it.

Maintenance improvements compete with many other business priorities, and visible solutions often receive the most attention. New technology, training initiatives and organizational partnerships can all represent worthwhile investments — but only when they're introduced at the right time and supported by the right operational foundation.

The organizations that gain support are the ones that can clearly demonstrate not only what they want to invest in, but why it's the next logical step based on measurable performance data. Use the findings in this report as a benchmark to help frame conversations with leadership and demonstrate why change is needed.

Maintenance improvement doesn't happen because a new process is introduced or a new system is implemented. It happens when organizations consistently measure whether those changes are producing better results.

The research found that 40% of organizations couldn't confidently determine whether their maintenance programs were improving. Without that visibility, it's difficult to know whether an investment is paying off, whether priorities should change or whether it's time to move on to the next improvement.

The organizations that made the greatest progress weren't doing fundamentally different work. They were measuring the impact of each improvement before taking the next step. That discipline made it easier to prioritize investments, build organizational support and continue improving over time.

Use the findings in this report as a benchmark for your own maintenance program. As you implement improvements, return to the seven questions to measure progress, validate what's working and identify where to focus next.

Preparing for the future doesn't always mean investing in something new. More often, it means building on the work that's already underway and making sure the fundamentals are strong enough to support whatever comes next.

Only 36% of the organizations in this study met the threshold across all three foundational areas. Those organizations consistently outperformed the rest of the sample not because they were doing more, but because they had the discipline to consistently do the right things first.

The research points to a clear pattern: organizations that make the greatest long-term progress don't try to solve every challenge at once. They strengthen one area and build on that success with each following decision.

The next step is understanding where your own organization stands. Use the findings in this report to identify your biggest opportunities, then take the Maturity Model Self-Assessment to compare your organization against the same framework used throughout this report.