In 2025, manufacturers can’t afford to treat maintenance as an afterthought. Every minute of downtime means lost production, higher costs, and pressure on customer commitments. A modern CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) helps teams move from reactive fixes to proactive strategies—but the real power lies in tracking the right maintenance KPIs. Not all metrics matter equally, and knowing where to focus can transform efficiency. In this blog, we highlight the seven most important CMMS maintenance KPIs—from MTTR and MTBF to OEE—that every manufacturer must monitor to stay competitive and resilient.

Introduction: Why Maintenance KPIs Matter in 2025

What is a Maintenance KPI?

A maintenance KPI is a measurable indicator that links the effectiveness of maintenance processes with business goals. These KPIs give maintenance teams, managers, and executives a common language to evaluate performance, identify gaps, and drive improvements in reliability.

Why KPIs Exist

Maintenance KPIs are not just technical numbers — they are benchmarks that connect operational activities with outcomes such as uptime, cost control, and safety. For example, if a company wants to reduce unplanned downtime, it may set a KPI to increase preventive maintenance completion rates by 15%.

Why They Matter in 2025

Today’s manufacturing plants run with tighter schedules, leaner teams, and higher customer expectations. Without KPIs, maintenance risks becoming reactive, disconnected, and invisible to leadership. With KPIs, maintenance shifts from being seen as a cost center to becoming a strategic driver of performance.

A Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) strengthens this practice by making KPIs real-time, auditable, and actionable. It connects data from work orders, assets, and processes into one unified system that everyone can trust. (CMMS) strengthens this practice by making KPIs real-time, auditable, and actionable. It connects data from work orders, assets, and processes into one unified system that everyone can trust.

KPI #1: Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) is the average operating time before a piece of equipment experiences a failure.

Formula

MTBF = Total operating time / Number of failures

Example
A machine runs for 1,200 hours in a month and fails 6 times. This means the MTBF is 200 hours, showing that, on average, the asset runs smoothly for about 200 hours before failing.

Why It Matters
MTBF is a core reliability KPI. It highlights how dependable an asset is over time. A high MTBF indicates that assets are stable and well-maintained. A low MTBF reveals underlying issues in preventive practices, improper usage, or equipment design.

Tracking MTBF helps maintenance teams answer critical questions:

• Which assets are repeatedly failing?
• Are preventive schedules effective in extending operating hours?
• Do certain shifts, workloads, or operating conditions trigger failures more often?

Challenges in Tracking
MTBF often becomes unreliable due to:

• Inconsistent logging of failures across technicians.
• Treating minor stoppages and major breakdowns as equal.
• Ignoring different usage contexts (e.g., 24/7 machines vs. single-shift machines).

These inconsistencies distort the data and limit decision-making accuracy.

Role in Maintenance Management
MTBF supports both short-term and long-term strategies. In the short term, it identifies assets that require immediate attention. Over the long term, it helps justify investments in replacements or redesigns. For leadership, MTBF is more than a maintenance number — it is a financial signal of reliability that links directly to uptime, productivity, and customer commitments.

How CMMS Enhances MTBF Tracking
In manual environments, MTBF is often calculated using spreadsheets, which results in missing data and delayed insights. A CMMS transforms this process by:

• Automatically capturing every failure as a work order.
• Categorizing failures by asset, component, and cause.
• Providing real-time dashboards to identify downward or upward trends.
• Enabling comparison of MTBF across asset classes or production lines.

Instead of waiting for quarterly reports, teams can monitor reliability continuously. If an asset’s MTBF begins to decline, corrective actions can be implemented immediately.

KPI #2: Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)

Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) is the average time required to repair a failed asset and restore it to full operation.

Formula
MTTR = Total Downtime ÷ Number of Repairs

Example
If a pump fails 5 times in a month and the total downtime recorded is 50 hours, MTTR = 50 ÷ 5 = 10 hours. This means, on average, each breakdown requires 10 hours before the machine is operational again.

Why It Matters
MTTR is a critical KPI for responsiveness. A shorter MTTR indicates efficient repair processes, minimal disruption, and higher equipment availability. A longer MTTR exposes inefficiencies such as poor planning, delays in spare parts delivery, or lack of technician training. MTTR is often seen by executives as a direct measure of how much downtime is costing the business.

Challenges in Tracking

• Incomplete Data: If start and end times of repairs aren’t logged properly, MTTR calculations lose accuracy.
• Mixing Delays with Repair Time: Waiting for parts, approvals, or technicians can inflate MTTR if not separated from actual wrench time.
• Complexity Variation: Averages may mislead when minor fixes are blended with complex overhauls.

Role in Maintenance Management

• Short-Term: MTTR highlights immediate inefficiencies in repair processes that need quick resolution.
• Long-Term: Patterns in MTTR help managers see if training, parts management, or process redesign is needed.
• Executive View: Leadership interprets MTTR as a financial signal—longer repairs mean longer production loss and greater hidden costs.

How CMMS Enhances MTTR Tracking

• Automatic Time-Stamping: Logs when a failure is reported, when work starts, and when it finishes—ensuring accuracy.
• Bottleneck Analysis: Identifies whether downtime was caused by waiting for approvals, parts, or technician availability.
• Shift Comparisons: Provides visibility into how repair times differ across shifts, teams, or plants.
• Continuous Monitoring: Enables managers to see MTTR trends and act before inefficiencies worsen.

KPI #3: Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP)

Planned Maintenance Percentage (PMP) measures the proportion of total maintenance hours that are spent on scheduled, proactive tasks compared to unplanned, reactive work.

Formula
PMP = (Planned Maintenance Hours ÷ Total Maintenance Hours) × 100

Example
If a team spends 320 hours on preventive maintenance and 80 hours on emergency breakdowns out of 400 total hours, PMP = (320 ÷ 400) × 100 = 80%. This means 80% of the effort went into proactive work and only 20% into firefighting.

Why It Matters
PMP is a maturity indicator. A higher percentage means the maintenance team spends more time preventing failures rather than reacting to them. This reduces costs, increases uptime, and ensures more predictable operations. A lower PMP reflects a reactive culture where unplanned downtime dominates, leading to overtime costs, safety risks, and unpredictable production losses.

Challenges in Tracking

• Misclassification: Some reactive tasks may be incorrectly logged as planned, inflating PMP.
• Skipped Preventive Jobs: In peak production cycles, preventive work may be skipped and distort PMP.
• Inconsistent Standards: Different teams or plants may use different definitions of “planned.”

Role in Maintenance Management

• Short-Term: Shows whether preventive schedules are being followed or ignored.
• Long-Term: Demonstrates maintenance maturity and supports resource allocation decisions.
• Executive View: PMP proves whether investments in preventive programs are paying off in reduced breakdowns.

How CMMS Enhances PMP Tracking

• Automated Scheduling: Generates preventive work orders automatically.
• Alerts & Escalations: Flags overdue tasks and missed preventive jobs.
• Analytics: Provides dashboards that show the ratio of planned vs. reactive work across teams, shifts, or plants.

KPI #4: Work Order Cycle Time

Work Order Cycle Time measures the average time from when a work order is created until it is fully closed. It captures not only the repair or inspection itself but also approvals, resource allocation, and follow-up documentation.

Formula
Cycle Time = Total Time to Close All Work Orders ÷ Number of Work Orders

Example
If 40 work orders take a combined 800 hours to close, the average cycle time is 800 ÷ 40 = 20 hours per work order. This indicates that, on average, each work request takes 20 hours from initiation to closure, including waiting and execution time.

Why It Matters
Cycle time reflects end-to-end process efficiency. Shorter cycle times mean streamlined workflows, timely approvals, and effective task execution. Longer cycle times reveal bottlenecks—such as waiting for spare parts, delayed approvals, or poor prioritization—that slow down maintenance responsiveness and increase downtime risk.

Challenges in Tracking

• Approval Delays: Paper-based or manual approvals can stretch timelines unnecessarily.
• Lack of Clarity: Start and end times may be inconsistently logged, creating misleading averages.
• Mixed Timelines: Waiting periods for parts or resources often get bundled into actual repair time, making it hard to pinpoint true inefficiencies.

Role in Maintenance Management

• Short-Term: Identifies process bottlenecks that slow down resolution of issues.
• Long-Term: Provides insights into workload distribution and technician productivity.
• Executive View: Cycle time helps leaders understand whether maintenance processes are lean and responsive, or bureaucratic and slow.

How CMMS Enhances Cycle Time Tracking

• Workflow Automation: Digitizes approvals, reducing paperwork and unnecessary waiting.
• Granular Tracking: Separates waiting time (for parts, approvals) from active repair time, providing clearer insights.
• Dashboards: Displays average cycle times by asset, team, or plant, helping managers identify recurring bottlenecks.
• Continuous Improvement: Trends over time reveal whether process changes are shortening or lengthening cycle times.

KPI #5: Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is a composite KPI that measures how effectively equipment is being used. It combines three elements—availability, performance, and quality—into a single number that reflects true productivity.

Formula
OEE = Availability × Performance × Quality

Example
If a machine is available 90% of scheduled time, runs at 85% of ideal speed, and produces 95% good units, OEE = 0.90 × 0.85 × 0.95 = 72.7%. This indicates the equipment is operating at just under three-quarters of its full potential.

Why It Matters
OEE is a powerful KPI because it reveals where losses occur: downtime, slow performance, or quality defects. An OEE above 85% is considered world-class, 60–85% is average, and below 60% signals major inefficiencies. It ties directly to production efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Challenges in Tracking

• Downtime Coding: Inconsistent categorization of downtime events skews availability calculations.
• Micro-Stoppages: Small, frequent stoppages may go unrecorded, underestimating performance losses.
• Quality Measurement: Excluding rework or defective parts distorts the quality score.

Role in Maintenance Management

• Short-Term: Identifies immediate productivity losses on the shop floor.
• Long-Term: Guides investment decisions by revealing whether inefficiencies are due to aging equipment, process flaws, or operator habits.
• Executive View: Provides a single, strategic number that summarizes the effectiveness of production assets and highlights potential revenue losses.

Deeper Insights

• Influencing Factors: Preventive maintenance quality, operator training, and consistency of raw materials all impact OEE.
• Common Pitfalls: Overemphasizing speed while ignoring quality, or assuming high availability alone equates to high productivity.
• Different Perspectives: Technicians may see OEE as a diagnostic tool, while executives use it as a performance benchmark for the entire plant.

How CMMS Enhances OEE Tracking

• IIoT Integration: Connects directly with machine sensors to capture availability, speed, and quality data.
• Standardization: Ensures downtime and quality losses are logged consistently across teams.
• Dashboards: Provides real-time OEE trends that highlight weak points—whether in availability, performance, or quality.
• Root Cause Analysis: Links OEE losses back to specific work orders or recurring maintenance issues, enabling targeted improvements.

KPI #6: Maintenance Cost as % of Replacement Asset Value (RAV)

This KPI measures the total annual maintenance cost of an asset expressed as a percentage of the asset’s current replacement value. It helps organizations compare the financial efficiency of continuing maintenance versus investing in a new asset.

Formula
Cost % RAV = (Total Maintenance Cost ÷ Replacement Asset Value) × 100

Example
If maintaining an asset costs $25,000 annually and its replacement value is $500,000, then RAV = (25,000 ÷ 500,000) × 100 = 5%. This means the organization spends 5% of the asset’s value on maintenance each year.

Why It Matters
Cost as a percentage of RAV is a financial lens on maintenance. A higher percentage suggests an aging or unreliable asset draining resources. A lower percentage indicates controlled costs, but if too low, it could also suggest under-maintenance and risk of failure. It allows leadership to balance operating expenses with capital investment decisions.

Challenges in Tracking

• Hidden Costs: Overtime pay, rentals, or outsourcing often go unrecorded, underestimating actual maintenance spend.
• Outdated Valuations: Using book value instead of current replacement cost skews the calculation.
• Scope Issues: Not all costs (energy consumption, downtime impact) are consistently included.

Role in Maintenance Management

• Short-Term: Highlights assets that are becoming financial liabilities due to repeated high-cost repairs.
• Long-Term: Informs lifecycle planning, budget allocation, and replacement strategies.
• Executive View: Finance and operations teams rely on RAV to justify replacement investments and optimize asset portfolios.

Deeper Insights

• Influencing Factors: Inflation, spare part cost escalation, and frequency of breakdowns.
• Common Pitfalls: Treating all assets equally instead of comparing within similar classes or age groups.
• Different Perspectives: Maintenance teams may push to repair longer, while executives may prefer replacement based on cost ratios.

How CMMS Enhances RAV Tracking

• Comprehensive Cost Capture: Records labor, materials, parts, and contracted service costs directly against assets.
• Real-Time Tracking: Provides up-to-date histories so leaders see rising cost trends before they become critical.
• Decision Support: Generates reports comparing maintenance costs to replacement values, supporting repair vs. replace decisions with real data.

KPI #7: Schedule Compliance

Schedule Compliance measures the percentage of planned maintenance tasks that are completed within their scheduled time frame. It provides a view of how disciplined and effective the maintenance team is in following preventive schedules.

Formula
Schedule Compliance = (Tasks Completed on Time ÷ Total Tasks Scheduled) × 100

Example
If 90 of 100 scheduled preventive tasks are completed on time, schedule compliance = (90 ÷ 100) × 100 = 90%. This shows a high level of adherence to the maintenance plan.

Why It Matters
Schedule compliance is about discipline. High compliance indicates a proactive culture where preventive maintenance is executed as planned, reducing risks of unplanned downtime. Low compliance signals skipped or delayed tasks, which can lead to breakdowns, audit failures, and reduced equipment reliability. For leadership, it provides a clear indication of how well maintenance strategy is being carried out.

Challenges in Tracking

• Missed Tasks: Sometimes uncompleted tasks are not logged, artificially inflating compliance.
• Inaccurate Reporting: Late completions may be incorrectly marked as on-time.
• Inconsistent Standards: Different teams may define “on time” differently.

Role in Maintenance Management

• Short-Term: Provides quick visibility into whether the team is keeping up with preventive tasks.
• Long-Term: Builds a culture of accountability and process reliability.
• Executive View: Demonstrates whether the organization can sustain preventive strategies, audits, and compliance standards.

Deeper Insights

• Influencing Factors: Workforce availability, production interruptions, spare part readiness, and task complexity.
• Common Pitfalls: Pushing preventive jobs aside during peak production, or rushing them just to meet targets.
• Different Perspectives: Technicians may feel pressured by compliance targets, while managers view it as an essential sign of discipline.

How CMMS Enhances Schedule Compliance

• Automated Alerts: Sends reminders for upcoming tasks and escalations for overdue jobs.
• Precision Tracking: Logs exactly when tasks are completed versus when they were scheduled.
• Audit Readiness: Produces compliance reports that are ready for audits and inspections.
• Continuous Monitoring: Trends over time show whether compliance rates are improving, stable, or declining.

How CMMS Brings It All Together

Without CMMS, KPIs remain siloed in spreadsheets, prone to errors, and disconnected from daily workflows. Failures go underreported, preventive tasks slip, and costs get buried in other systems. This creates a reactive culture where problems are solved only after they escalate, instead of being prevented at the root.

A CMMS unifies all maintenance processes in one platform. It ensures KPIs are not just tracked but continuously improved:

• MTBF and MTTR: Accurate failure logging and repair tracking help identify recurring issues and optimize repair workflows.
• PMP and Schedule Compliance: Automated scheduling and reminders ensure preventive work is executed on time, reducing reliance on reactive repairs.
• Cycle Time: Digital workflows streamline approvals, reduce bottlenecks, and accelerate work order completion.
• OEE: Integration with IIoT ensures downtime, performance, and quality data flow directly into dashboards for real-time insights.
• Cost vs. RAV: Financial and operational data come together, supporting informed replacement or maintenance decisions.

By connecting these KPIs, a CMMS creates a closed feedback loop: problems are detected, analyzed, addressed, and verified — all within one system. This allows both frontline teams and leadership to act with confidence, turning KPIs into tools for continuous reliability and efficiency improvements.

Final Thoughts

In 2025, the most competitive manufacturers will treat KPIs as everyday tools, not just reports. Each KPI — from MTBF to Schedule Compliance — shows where reliability is strong, where risks exist, and where leadership must act.

With a CMMS, these indicators become practical levers for daily decisions. Instead of static numbers, they guide teams toward less downtime, smarter resource use, and safer operations.

KPIs are not just measurements. They are the compass pointing maintenance toward continuous improvement and long-term resilience.