Reliability Centered Maintenance Online by Terrence
O'Hanlon, CMRP
Originally Published at Maintenance Technology October
2004
Reliability centered maintenance (RCM) is one of the
most misunderstood processes in the maintenance world.
RCM techniques were first developed by Nowlan and Heap
to transform aircraft maintenance as the Boeing 747 was
being introduced. It was quickly adapted to industrial
maintenance by pioneers such as John Moubray and Anthony
“Mac” Smith.
As time
went by, others adapted RCM further, some adding
elements and other taking them away. At last count there
were over a dozen major RCM derivations and many other
less popular methods. The only thing some of the
processes have in common are three little letters: R,C,
and M.
Like many
technical subject areas, you do not know what you do not
know about RCM and its derivations until it is too late.
Luckily the Web is a great place to learn more about the
world of RCM.
Let’s start with the archives at MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY
magazine. Visit
www. mt-online.com
and click on Articles. There are
dozens of archived RCM articles including many by John
Moubray.
Reliabilityweb.com also
features an RCM knowledge base linked from the home page
that includes articles, and streaming tutorials.
Reliability
Radio includes an audio
interview with Anthony “Mac” Smith, co-author of
RCM–Gateway to World Class Maintenance.
You
can also visit
Aladon, the company founded by
John Moubray and the current promoter of RCM-2
methodology . There are several excellent articles and
papers that anyone exploring RCM should read.
You
can also read some articles by Mac Smith at the
JMS Software
site including one that covers
implementing an RCM program.
The
Society of Automotive Engineers has written a rigorous
RCM standard that some companies have adopted to ensure
a consistent RCM service level. There are advantages and
disadvantages of using a standard like SAE-JA1011;
however, understanding it should be included in your RCM
learning goals. Visit
www.sae.org
and search for Reliability
Centered Maintenance to purchase the standard.
Jack
Nicholas Jr. is building on the work of Nowlan and Heap,
John Moubray, and Mac Smith with the help of Doug
Plucknette, the developer of RCM Blitz, to create an RCM
scorecard method for applying consistent metrics for
short and long term RCM results.
Jack will deliver a full day workshop at the Reliability
Centered
Maintenance Managers’ Forum,
March 9-11, 2005, in Clearwater, FL and welcomes e-mail
input from people who have experience implementing
reliability centered maintenance. Specifically Jack is
inviting comments that explain:
• How the
results of RCM projects are measured during and after
completion
• What
pitfalls and problems have been encountered when
identifying adequate metrics
• What
solutions may be beneficial to practitioners, vendors,
customers, managers, sponsors, or anyone else interested
in the progress and eventual outcome of an RCM project.
You
can e-mail your comments about RCM metrics to
Jack
or send an email to
me
at along with any other great online resources you would
like to know about.
Terrence O’Hanlon, CMRP, is the publisher of
Reliabilityweb.com. He is the director of strategic
alliances for the Society for Maintenance & Reliability
Professionals (SMRP). He is the event manager for
IMC-2004,
the 19th International Maintenance
Conference, December 5-8, 2004, on the Naples Coast, FL.
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