Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)

A survey of maintenance management effectiveness for complex and large capacity equipment revealed that one third of all maintenance costs are wasted as a result of unnecessary or improperly carried maintenance. It is seen that task selection in maintenance needs not be optimal but still very subjective in approach. The RCM together with predictive maintenance can help in reducing maintenance costs.

The RCM is defined as a process or method used to determine maintenance of equipment in its environment after proper evaluation of failure consequences. The RCM is a systematic approach to quantitatively assess the need to perform or revise preventive maintenance tasks and plans. The RCM focuses on the system function, functional failures, dominant failures and their effects. The RCM uses Decision tree to classify the critically based on the consequences of analysis to identify applicable and significant tasks.

Once the significant maintenance tasks are identified, their maintenance intervals can be estimated by either using condition monitoring devices or by Reliability Analysis of the failure statistics. Close analysis of RCM approach indicates that it concerns with system effects (safety, economic, social) on consequences without any reference to human aspects are advocated and treated as key to success in business and maintenance. The philosophy of RCM focuses on enhancing the probability of the machine not failing in the given time span and assuring or building up the confidence of using the equipment in the specified time.