All business transactions, which involve the planning, processing and documenting of repair tasks to corporate operating and production resources (for example buildings, machines and so on) in order to ensure availability for use, are grouped together under Plant Maintenance.

With respect to the complete life cycle of the fixed asset, the business transactions in Plant Maintenance primarily represent the technical aspects of general asset management. They comprise all the technical tasks (for example, maintenance and repair) that ensure the optimum condition and utilization of, for example, production systems, vehicles, hardware, software or buildings. This can involve both scheduled, periodic maintenance and inspection tasks, and issuing orders for internal and external repairs in the event of unforeseen malfunctions.

The ever-increasing degree of automation within industry results in high fixed asset costs, so high availability of production systems is essential for cost-effective distribution of fixed costs.

In addition, more stringent quality assurance requirements necessitate greater planned maintenance of production systems.

The importance of technical asset management has grown as a result of increasing legal and social requirements with respect to environmental protection and safety at work.

Plant Maintenance includes tasks for:

• Inspection (tasks to determine the actual condition) of operational systems
• Preventive maintenance (tasks to maintain the target condition) of operational systems
• Repair (tasks to restore the target condition) of operational systems

Other activity types for Plant Maintenance are:

• Modifications
• Refurbishment
• Production of tools
• Cleaning work