State of Maintenance Survey

Company Name

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What is your primary role?

AC-Suite / VP of Operations BDirector of Operations / Director of Maintenance CPlant Manager / Site Manager DMaintenance Manager / Reliability Manager EOther

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What industry best describes your operation?

AFood & Beverage BAutomotive / Transportation CChemical / Petrochemical DConsumer Goods / Packaging EMetal / Fabrication / Industrial Manufacturing FPharmaceutical / Life Sciences GOther

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How many facilities does your organization operate?

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Approximately how many people are in your maintenance function across all locations?

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How would you describe the current state of unplanned downtime in your operation?

AIt's our most urgent operational problem BIt's a significant problem we're actively managing CIt's a moderate problem we're making progress on DIt's mostly under control EIt's not a meaningful issue for us

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How clearly does your leadership team understand the true cost and frequency of maintenance-related disruptions in your operation?

AFlying blind. No reliable data — leadership works from gut feel and memory. BPartial picture. Some data exists but it's incomplete or rarely reviewed at the leadership level. CReasonable visibility. Performance is reviewed regularly, though data gaps remain. DClear and actionable. Reliable data drives maintenance investment decisions. EPredictive. Data gets ahead of problems — leadership doesn't wait to be surprised.

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When your maintenance function identifies what it needs — budget, staffing, program investment — how does the organization typically respond?

AIt's a fight. Requests are denied or ignored unless there's a crisis. BHit or miss. Some requests get through; others stall without clear reason. CUsually heard. Legitimate needs get met, though making the case takes effort. DPlanned together. Operations and maintenance align on investment with shared accountability. EProactively supported. Maintenance investment is a business priority — the org doesn't wait to be asked.

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How would you describe the relationship between your maintenance function and operations or production leadership?

AAdversarial. Production overrides maintenance. Maintenance gets blamed when things go wrong. BTransactional. They call when something breaks and question the budget when it doesn't. CFunctional. Mutual respect exists and maintenance needs get reasonable consideration. DCollaborative. Reliability is a shared goal. Both sides plan together. EIntegrated. Genuinely aligned. Downtime prevention is everyone's responsibility.

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How prepared is your maintenance organization for the workforce and operational changes coming in the next 3–5 years?

ANot on the radar. We're stretched today and haven't seriously discussed what's coming. BAware, not acting. We know retirements and skill gaps are coming — no real plan yet. CPlan in progress. Succession and development are on the agenda, not yet resourced. DActively managing it. Succession plans, training pipelines, and recruiting strategies are live. EAhead of the curve. Proactive planning — confident in our ability to adapt.

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How would you describe how maintenance work gets prioritized and executed day to day?

AAlways reacting. We chase the loudest emergency. There's no plan that holds. BPlan exists, rarely holds. Urgency and production pressure override the schedule more often than not. CMostly planned. A consistent process exists and is followed most of the time. DPlanning drives the work. Schedule adherence is tracked and variances are addressed. ESelf-managing. The process runs and improves itself. Leadership rarely needs to intervene.

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When the same piece of equipment fails more than once, what typically happens?

AFix and forget. No process to understand why it failed or prevent it from happening again. BFlagged, rarely followed through. Root cause gets noted inconsistently depending on who's involved. CInvestigated and applied. Recurring failures update our maintenance approach. DSystematically captured. Failure data feeds back into the PM program and asset strategy. ERarely happens. When it does, the team treats it as a system improvement signal, not just a repair.

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How confident are you that your preventive maintenance program is being executed as designed?

ANot confident. PMs are regularly skipped or delayed when production pressure is high. BInconsistent. Some sites or teams comply well — others don't. CMostly on track. Most PMs are completed on schedule, though gaps exist. DConfident. Compliance is tracked and gaps are addressed when they appear. EVery confident. High, consistent compliance — and we have the data to prove it.

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When maintenance falls short — a missed PM, a repeated failure, an unsafe shortcut — what typically happens?

ADepends who's watching. Shortcuts happen under pressure and rarely get addressed directly. BInconsistent accountability. Some leaders act on it — others let it slide. CClear expectation. Standards are upheld and most leaders address it when it happens. DTeam holds itself accountable. Peer accountability is as common as manager accountability. ENon-negotiable. The team enforces standards without waiting for leadership to step in.

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How would you describe the current state of your maintenance workforce?

ADangerously thin. Heavily dependent on a few key people — if they left, we'd be in serious trouble. BAdequate numbers, real skill gaps. Some people carry everything; others struggle with the basics. CRight people, mostly right seats. Roles are clear and skill gaps are actively managed. DDeliberately developed. People know their growth path and succession plans exist for key roles. EDeep and self-managing. The team attracts good people, retains them, and performs without heavy oversight.

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How much of your maintenance operation's critical knowledge lives in people's heads rather than in documented systems or processes?

AAlmost all of it. Key knowledge walks out the door when experienced people leave — no plan to prevent it. BToo much. We've started documenting but tribal knowledge still dominates daily operations. CMaking real progress. Standard procedures exist for most critical tasks. New people can get up to speed. DSystematically managed. Institutional knowledge is captured and treated as an operational asset. EFully embedded. Knowledge transfer is how we work. Capability doesn't depend on any individual.

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How well do the systems and tools your maintenance team uses today support the way work actually needs to get done?

AWorking around them. Outdated or absent systems — most work is managed manually or from memory. BUnderutilized. Tools exist but adoption is low or data quality isn't reliable enough to act on. CGetting the job done. Core systems work and the team uses them, though more capability is available. DSupporting the process. Systems give us useful data and help drive decisions. EActively improving work. Integrated, well-adopted tools that the team continuously leverages.

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What is the single biggest obstacle preventing your maintenance function from performing at the level you know it should?

ALack of skilled people or chronic understaffing BInconsistent processes or poor execution discipline CThe organization doesn't treat maintenance as a strategic priority DBudget constraints or inability to make the investment case ETechnology gaps or inability to get useful data from our systems FMisalignment between maintenance and operations leadership GOther

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D5 — Closing Question

If you could change one thing about how your organization approaches maintenance, what would it be?

State of Maintenance 2026

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