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Preventative Maintenence

Build Your Plant, Avoid Surprises

Unexpected breakdowns or unplanned downtime cost far more than parts and labor — they cost lost production, overtime and lost confidence. Sterling Systems & Controls offers PMPlanR™, a standalone preventative maintenance (PM) planning application that lets you “Build Your Plant”, schedule maintenance, track work orders and keep your assets running reliably.

Why Preventative Maintenance Matters

  • Downtime prevention: Scheduled inspections and part replacements stop failures before they occur.
  • Cost control: Proactive maintenance reduces emergency repairs and extends asset life.
  • Audit readiness & data: A structured database of assets, work orders and history supports GFSI, GMP and ISO-type requirements.
  • Simple to adopt: Unlike complex predictive-only systems, PMPlanR focuses on what you own today and gives quick wins.

How PMPlanR Works

  1. Build your plant hierarchy — Define Plants → Areas → Machines → Assets (including vendor/part number).
  2. Assign asset attributes — Link each asset to location, vendor, maintenance intervals, and work-order types.
  3. Create and schedule maintenance tasks — Time-based or usage-based triggers generate work orders.
  4. Track execution & history — Record who did the work, when, parts used, cost, and next due date.
  5. Report & optimize — Pull data on overdue tasks, asset cost trends and MTBF/MTTR for continuous improvement.

Key Features & Benefits

  • Windows 7/10 compatible and deployable on-site or in virtual environments.
  • User roles & security — Define user access, maintain audit trails and control changes.
  • Multi-plant management — If you run multiple sites, view all plants in a central dashboard.
  • Scalable for industries — Ideal for food & baking, feed milling, pet food, chemical powders, plastics and more.
  • Rapid deployment & ROI — Low-risk software investment with immediate impact.

Typical Industries & Use-Cases

  • Food & baking lines where ingredient tracking and sanitation matter
  • Feed mills needing strict inventory and maintenance logs
  • Pet food and specialty nutrition manufacturing
  • Chemical, rubber and plastics operations with high throughput and critical interlocks
  • Building on Sterling’s foundation in process controls and automation, PMPlanR fits many production environments.

Ready to replace reactive maintenance with reliable planning? Request a demo of PMPlanR™ below or schedule an application review today — we’ll help you build your plant virtually and protect uptime, productivity and data.

Plant Builder

  • A Plant is identified graphically using a unique icon. Each Plant is given a name and address location to help identify the Plant. The Plant icon is in the tree view on the left side of the Plant Builder Screen. Multiple Plants can be created, each containing Areas, Machines and Assets.

  • An Area uses a unique icon. Each Area is given a name to help identify it. An Area must be inside a Plant. Multiple Areas can exist in a Plant that usually defines a department within the Plant. The Area icon is shown in the Tree View on the left side of the Plant Builder Screen under the Plant icon.

  • Each Machine, such as a bulk bag unloading system or batching system, is given a name to help identify the Machine and must be created under an Area. Each machine can have several Parts or Assets that perform specific tasks. Multiple Machines can be contained within a single Area.

  • Assets are resources owned by a Category (Plant, Area or Machine) that performs a specific function. Each Asset is given a name and vendor part number. Multiple Assets can be created for each Plant, Area and Machine Category.

Schedule a Demo

Frequently Asked Questions

What is preventative maintenance for control and automation systems?
Preventative maintenance for control and automation systems involves scheduled checks, software backups, component inspections, code review, and system tuning to reduce unexpected downtime and extend the life of controls hardware and software.

Why is preventative maintenance important for automation systems?
Regular preventative maintenance helps identify worn or obsolete components, ensures backup integrity, keeps security and firmware up to date, improves system reliability, and reduces unplanned outages that disrupt production.

What does Sterling include in preventative maintenance services?
Sterling’s preventative maintenance services include control panel inspection, PLC/HMI/SCADA code assessment, backup and restore validation, firmware and OS reviews, alarm rationalization checks, documentation updates, and recommendations for future improvements.

Can preventative maintenance help with system upgrades?
Yes. During maintenance visits, Sterling can evaluate opportunities for software modernizations, code cleanup, hardware revisions, and integration enhancements that align with longer-term modernization goals.

How often should automation preventative maintenance be performed?
The frequency depends on system complexity and production schedules, but many plants adopt quarterly, semi-annual, or annual cycles to keep firmware current, backups verified, and controls performing reliably.