The Basics of RCM
Reliability Centered Maintenance (SAE Standard J1011) is a logic based approach to maintaining plant equipment. Born out of the commercial airlines industry by a research project completed by Nolan and Heap, the discipline offers a means of identifying and tracking the condition of mission critical pieces of equipment. The fundamental finding of their study revealed that there was not a strong correlation between the age of equipment and its failure rate. This implies that the premise of time based maintenance was false. No doubt that pm’s have their place but preventative maintenance does not provide any information about the reliability or availability of production equipment.
The application of RCM closely follows the form of an FMEA with the distinction that RCM is directed at quantifying how a piece is supposed to work and defining what is necessary to keep it that way. By applying the seven questions of RCM, one is able to identify critical equipment, quantify its condition, and show what is necessary to keep it running.
The seven questions of RCM:
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What are the functions and associated performance standards
of the asset in its present operating context?
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In what ways does it fail to fulfill its functions?
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What causes each functional failure?
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What happens when each failure occurs?
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In what way does each failure matter?
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What can be done to predict or prevent each failure?
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What should be done if a suitable proactive task cannot be found?
By applying these questions to each piece of equipment, one is on the way to defining a predictive approach to maintenance.
