diff --git a/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/executor/async/AsyncHealthCheckExecutor.java b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/executor/async/AsyncHealthCheckExecutor.java
index fc598d1..13134eb 100644
--- a/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/executor/async/AsyncHealthCheckExecutor.java
+++ b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/executor/async/AsyncHealthCheckExecutor.java
@@ -39,8 +39,7 @@
 import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.executor.HealthCheckResultCache;
 import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling.AsyncIntervalJob;
 import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling.AsyncJob;
-import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling.AsyncQuartzCronJob;
-import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling.QuartzCronSchedulerProvider;
+import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling.CronJobFactory;
 import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.util.HealthCheckFilter;
 import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.util.lang.StringUtils;
 import org.osgi.framework.BundleContext;
@@ -72,7 +71,7 @@
     HealthCheckExecutorThreadPool healthCheckExecutorThreadPool;
     
     @Reference
-    QuartzCronSchedulerProvider quartzCronSchedulerProvider;
+    CronJobFactory cronJobFactory;
 
     @Activate
     protected final void activate(final ComponentContext componentContext) throws InvalidSyntaxException {
@@ -139,8 +138,8 @@
             if (isAsyncCron(descriptor)) {
             
                 try {
-                    healthCheckAsyncJob = new AsyncQuartzCronJob(getAsyncJob(descriptor), quartzCronSchedulerProvider, "job-hc-" + descriptor.getServiceId(), "async-healthchecks", descriptor.getAsyncCronExpression());
-                } catch(ClassNotFoundException|NoClassDefFoundError e) {
+                    healthCheckAsyncJob = cronJobFactory.getAsyncCronJob(getAsyncJob(descriptor), "job-hc-" + descriptor.getServiceId(), "async-healthchecks", descriptor.getAsyncCronExpression());
+                } catch(UnsupportedOperationException e) {
                     LOG.warn("Can not schedule async health check '{}' with cron expression '{}' since quartz library is not on classpath", descriptor.getName(), descriptor.getAsyncCronExpression());
                     return false;
                 }
diff --git a/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/monitor/HealthCheckMonitor.java b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/monitor/HealthCheckMonitor.java
index 36ce295..96c9046 100644
--- a/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/monitor/HealthCheckMonitor.java
+++ b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/monitor/HealthCheckMonitor.java
@@ -38,8 +38,7 @@
 import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.executor.HealthCheckExecutorThreadPool;
 import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling.AsyncIntervalJob;
 import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling.AsyncJob;
-import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling.AsyncQuartzCronJob;
-import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling.QuartzCronSchedulerProvider;
+import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling.CronJobFactory;
 import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.util.lang.StringUtils;
 import org.osgi.framework.BundleContext;
 import org.osgi.framework.InvalidSyntaxException;
@@ -127,7 +126,7 @@
     HealthCheckExecutorThreadPool healthCheckExecutorThreadPool;
 
     @Reference
-    QuartzCronSchedulerProvider quartzCronSchedulerProvider;
+    CronJobFactory cronJobFactory;
 
     @Reference
     private EventAdmin eventAdmin;
@@ -173,10 +172,9 @@
         this.cronExpression = config.cronExpression();
         if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(cronExpression)) {
             try {
-                monitorJob = new AsyncQuartzCronJob(this, quartzCronSchedulerProvider,
-                        "job-hc-monitor-" + componentContext.getProperties().get(ComponentConstants.COMPONENT_ID),
+                monitorJob = cronJobFactory.getAsyncCronJob(this, "job-hc-monitor-" + componentContext.getProperties().get(ComponentConstants.COMPONENT_ID),
                         "healthcheck-monitor", cronExpression);
-            } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
+            } catch (UnsupportedOperationException e) {
                 throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot use cron expression " + cronExpression
                         + " while class is not available: " + cronExpression);
             }
diff --git a/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/AsyncQuartzCronJob.java b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/AsyncQuartzCronJob.java
index 43b708d..2eafc29 100644
--- a/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/AsyncQuartzCronJob.java
+++ b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/AsyncQuartzCronJob.java
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
-/** Runs health checks that are configured with a cron expression for asynchronous execution. 
+/** Async job to be used by async health checks and async monitor. 
  * 
  * This implementation uses quartz to support the cron syntax (which is not supported by executors from standard java java.util.concurrent
  * package) */
@@ -42,16 +42,17 @@
 
     private static final String JOB_DATA_KEY_JOB = "asyncHcJob";
 
-    protected final QuartzCronScheduler quartzCronScheduler;
     private final String id;
     private final String group;
     private final String cronExpression;
 
+    private final Scheduler quartzScheduler;
+
     private JobKey jobKey = null;
 
-    public AsyncQuartzCronJob(Runnable runnable, QuartzCronSchedulerProvider quartzCronSchedulerProvider, String id, String group, String cronExpression) throws ClassNotFoundException {
+    public AsyncQuartzCronJob(Runnable runnable, Scheduler quartzScheduler, String id, String group, String cronExpression) {
         super(runnable);
-        this.quartzCronScheduler = quartzCronSchedulerProvider.getQuartzCronScheduler();
+        this.quartzScheduler = quartzScheduler;
         this.id = id;
         this.group = group;
         this.cronExpression = cronExpression;
@@ -77,13 +78,12 @@
     public boolean schedule() {
 
         try {
-            Scheduler scheduler = quartzCronScheduler.getScheduler();
 
             JobDetail job = getQuartzJobDetail();
             CronTrigger cronTrigger = newTrigger().withSchedule(cronSchedule(cronExpression)).forJob(job)
                     .build();
 
-            scheduler.scheduleJob(job, cronTrigger);
+            quartzScheduler.scheduleJob(job, cronTrigger);
             LOG.info("Scheduled job {} with trigger {}", job, cronTrigger);
             return true;
         } catch (SchedulerException e) {
@@ -95,10 +95,9 @@
 
     @Override
     public boolean unschedule() {
-        Scheduler scheduler = quartzCronScheduler.getScheduler();
         LOG.debug("Unscheduling job {}", jobKey);
         try {
-            scheduler.deleteJob(jobKey);
+            quartzScheduler.deleteJob(jobKey);
             return true;
         } catch (SchedulerException e) {
             LOG.error("Could not unschedule job for " + jobKey + ": " + e, e);
diff --git a/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/AsyncSimpleCronJob.java b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/AsyncSimpleCronJob.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1114fac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/AsyncSimpleCronJob.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership. The SF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling;
+
+/** Simple cron job implementation without quartz dependency. */
+public class AsyncSimpleCronJob extends AsyncJob {
+
+    public AsyncSimpleCronJob(Runnable runnable, /* some scheduler has to be passed here */ String cronExpression) {
+        super(runnable);
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("AsyncSimpleCronJob not yet implemented");
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean schedule() {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("AsyncSimpleCronJob not yet implemented");
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean unschedule() {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("AsyncSimpleCronJob not yet implemented");
+    }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/CronJobFactory.java b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/CronJobFactory.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..313128c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/CronJobFactory.java
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership. The SF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling;
+
+import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.executor.HealthCheckExecutorThreadPool;
+import org.osgi.service.component.annotations.Component;
+import org.osgi.service.component.annotations.Deactivate;
+import org.osgi.service.component.annotations.Reference;
+import org.quartz.SchedulerException;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+/** Component without direct quartz imports (can always start) that will provide a QuartzCronScheduler on demand. */
+@Component(service = CronJobFactory.class)
+public class CronJobFactory {
+
+    private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(CronJobFactory.class);
+    private static final String CLASS_FROM_QUARTZ_FRAMEWORK = "org.quartz.CronTrigger";
+
+    @Reference
+    HealthCheckExecutorThreadPool healthCheckExecutorThreadPool;
+
+    org.quartz.Scheduler quartzScheduler;
+
+    public AsyncJob getAsyncCronJob(Runnable runnable, String id, String group, String cronExpression) {
+
+        if(isQuartzAvailable()) {
+            return new AsyncQuartzCronJob(runnable, getQuartzCronScheduler(), id, group, cronExpression);
+        } else {
+            return new AsyncSimpleCronJob(runnable, cronExpression);
+        }
+    }
+    
+    private synchronized org.quartz.Scheduler getQuartzCronScheduler() {
+        if (quartzScheduler == null) {
+            QuartzCronSchedulerBuilder quartzCronSchedulerBuilder = new QuartzCronSchedulerBuilder(healthCheckExecutorThreadPool);
+            quartzScheduler = quartzCronSchedulerBuilder.getScheduler();
+            LOG.info("Created quartz scheduler health check core bundle");
+        }
+        return quartzScheduler;
+    }
+
+    
+    public boolean isQuartzAvailable() {
+        return classExists(CLASS_FROM_QUARTZ_FRAMEWORK);
+    }
+
+    @Deactivate
+    protected synchronized void deactivate() {
+        // simpleScheduler follows its own SCR lifecycle
+        
+        if (quartzScheduler != null) { // quartz scheduler needs to be shut down
+            try {
+                quartzScheduler.shutdown();
+                LOG.info("QuartzCronScheduler shutdown");
+            } catch (SchedulerException e) {
+                LOG.info("QuartzCronScheduler shutdown with exception: "+e);
+            } finally {
+               quartzScheduler = null;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private boolean classExists(String className) {
+        try {
+            Class.forName(className);
+            return true;
+        } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/QuartzCronScheduler.java b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/QuartzCronSchedulerBuilder.java
similarity index 87%
rename from healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/QuartzCronScheduler.java
rename to healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/QuartzCronSchedulerBuilder.java
index 8fc6cb7..9ba0f95 100644
--- a/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/QuartzCronScheduler.java
+++ b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/QuartzCronSchedulerBuilder.java
@@ -26,14 +26,14 @@
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
-public class QuartzCronScheduler {
-    private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(QuartzCronScheduler.class);
+public class QuartzCronSchedulerBuilder {
+    private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(QuartzCronSchedulerBuilder.class);
 
     private static final String HC_SCHEDULER_NAME = "quartz.hc.scheduler_name";
 
     private Scheduler scheduler;
 
-    public QuartzCronScheduler(HealthCheckExecutorThreadPool healthCheckExecutorThreadPool) {
+    public QuartzCronSchedulerBuilder(HealthCheckExecutorThreadPool healthCheckExecutorThreadPool) {
         try {
             DirectSchedulerFactory schedulerFactory = DirectSchedulerFactory.getInstance();
             ThreadPool threadPool = new QuartzThreadPool(healthCheckExecutorThreadPool);
@@ -46,17 +46,6 @@
         }
     }
 
-    public void shutdown() {
-        if (scheduler != null) {
-            try {
-                scheduler.shutdown(false);
-                LOG.debug("Shutdown of quartz scheduler finished: {}", scheduler);
-            } catch (SchedulerException e) {
-                throw new IllegalStateException("Could not shutdown quartz scheduler " + HC_SCHEDULER_NAME, e);
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
     public Scheduler getScheduler() {
         return scheduler;
     }
diff --git a/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/QuartzCronSchedulerProvider.java b/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/QuartzCronSchedulerProvider.java
deleted file mode 100644
index fa2afdc..0000000
--- a/healthcheck/core/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/hc/core/impl/scheduling/QuartzCronSchedulerProvider.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,69 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
- * or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
- * distributed with this work for additional information
- * regarding copyright ownership. The SF licenses this file
- * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
- * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
- * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
- * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
- * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
- * KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
- * specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
- */
-package org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.scheduling;
-
-import org.apache.felix.hc.core.impl.executor.HealthCheckExecutorThreadPool;
-import org.osgi.service.component.annotations.Component;
-import org.osgi.service.component.annotations.Deactivate;
-import org.osgi.service.component.annotations.Reference;
-import org.slf4j.Logger;
-import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
-
-/** Component without direct quartz imports (can always start) that will provide a QuartzCronScheduler on demand. */
-@Component(service = QuartzCronSchedulerProvider.class)
-public class QuartzCronSchedulerProvider {
-
-    private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(QuartzCronSchedulerProvider.class);
-    private static final String CLASS_FROM_QUARTZ_FRAMEWORK = "org.quartz.CronTrigger";
-
-    private QuartzCronScheduler quartzCronScheduler = null;
-
-    @Reference
-    HealthCheckExecutorThreadPool healthCheckExecutorThreadPool;
-
-    public synchronized QuartzCronScheduler getQuartzCronScheduler() throws ClassNotFoundException {
-        if (quartzCronScheduler == null) {
-            if (classExists(CLASS_FROM_QUARTZ_FRAMEWORK)) {
-                quartzCronScheduler = new QuartzCronScheduler(healthCheckExecutorThreadPool);
-                LOG.info("Created quartz scheduler health check core bundle");
-            } else {
-                throw new ClassNotFoundException("Class " + CLASS_FROM_QUARTZ_FRAMEWORK
-                        + " was not found (install quartz library into classpath)");
-            }
-        }
-        return quartzCronScheduler;
-    }
-
-    @Deactivate
-    protected synchronized void deactivate() {
-        if (quartzCronScheduler != null) {
-            quartzCronScheduler.shutdown();
-            quartzCronScheduler = null;
-            LOG.info("QuartzCronScheduler shutdown");
-        }
-    }
-
-    private boolean classExists(String className) {
-        try {
-            Class.forName(className);
-            return true;
-        } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
-            return false;
-        }
-    }
-}