CORE Principles of Reliability-

Centered Maintenance
Rich Overman,
Overman CMRP
(904) 655-0787 Cell
Rich@coreprinciplesllc.com

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 Introduction
L
Late
t 1970s
1970 ushered
h d ini a new era off assett
maintenance
United States Department of Defense
published the seminal book entitled
Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM)
Entire industries have g
grown from this one
book
Growth brings variability
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 Definition of RCM
a logical discipline for the development of
scheduled maintenance p programs.
g Nolan and
Heap
Reliability-centered
Reliability centered Maintenance: a process used to
determine what must be done to ensure that any
physical asset continues to do what its users wanted
it to do in its present operating context. John
Moubray

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 Definitions of RCM
RCM is the best way to develop a maintenance
improvement program.
program A.M.
A M Smith
RCM uses a cross-functional team to develop a
complete
l t maintenance
i t strategy
t t designed
d i d to t ensure
inherent design reliability for a process or piece of
equipment.
i t Doug
D Pl
Plucknett
k tt
RCM is to identify components whose functional
failures can cause unwanted consequences to ones
plant or facility. Neil Bloom
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 Process Variants
Jack Nicholas categorized various RCM
p
processes:
Classical
Variants
Derivatives
Result is RCM has come to mean different
things to different people

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 CORE Principles of RCM
Not presenting:
RCM process
RCM philosophy
Primary or CORE Principles of RCM
Underlying principles upon which all RCM
processes are based.
b d

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 Core Principles of RCM
Components Fail
Operational Impact
Reliability Engineering Solutions

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 Components Fail
Without intervention everything will eventually fail
Each component has failure characteristic
Nolan and Heap identified six failure characteristics

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 Components Fail
Failure characteristic curves basis for all of
the RCM processes
One fundamental principle of RCM is
identification of component failure
characteristic
The
Th goall isi to
t attempt
tt t to
t understand
d t d failure
f il
characteristic to identify appropriate
i t
intervention
ti

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Failure Characteristics

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 But There is More
It is intuitively obvious that components will fail
It is possible to intervene in some way to try to
pprevent all failures
It is equally intuitively obvious that no company can
afford to try to prevent all failures
The primary purpose of RCM is to identify the
appropriate intervention
Simply recognizing that components fail is not
sufficient
ffi i t
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 Core Principles of RCM
Components Fail
Operational Impact
Reliability Engineering Solutions

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 Operational Impact
Every component failure has some degree of
operational impact
Direct operational impact ranges from shutting
down to none
Indirect operational impact is to drain resources
Every failure requires resources that could be more
efficiently and effectively used to increase company
value
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 Operational Impact
Goal of RCM
evaluate
categorize
Prioritize
understand the operational impact of failure
Identify the appropriate intervention.
intervention

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 But There is More
Components fail
They impact operations
That knowledge, by itself, is not sufficient
to identify appropriate intervention
Need a logical way of organizing and
evaluating
l i information
i f i to make k soundd
intervention decisions

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 Core Principles of RCM
Components Fail
Operational Impact
Reliability Engineering Solutions

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Reliability Engineering Solutions
Reliability Engineers used analytical
q
techniques for yyears
Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis
(
(FMECA) )
Stochastic analyses
Only logical to apply these techniques to the
issue of failure intervention.

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 FMECA
FMECA provides logical method for identifying
failures and evaluating operational impact
Every component failure leads to loss of a function
Loss
oss of
o function
u ct o has
as process
p ocess effect
e ect
FMECA process identifies and documents
Functions
Functional failures
F il
Failure modes
d
Effects of failure at various levels
C i i li analysis
Criticality l i categorizes/prioritizing
i / i i i i failure
f il modes
d
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 FMECA
Importance of FMECA to RCM process cannot be
overstated
Understanding operational impact of failure is
crucial to developing appropriate intervention
a good FMECA will not guarantee a good RCM
analysis but a bad FMECA will guarantee a bad
RCM analysis.

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 Stochastic Analysis
FMECA is great existing Reliability Engineering
tool for understanding operational impact of failures
Not sufficient for developing intervention schemes
FMECA C iss foundation
ou dat o but not
ot eend
d oof RCM
C pprocess
ocess
Stochastic analysis is other Reliability Engineering
tool that needs to be employed
Most common stochastic analysis used in RCM is
Weib l analysis
Weibul anal sis
Weibul analysis can identify failure characteristic
curve applicable
li bl to failure
f il mode
d
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 Relating Failure to Intervention
Failure characteristic defines intervention
Scheduled overhaul/replacement would not work for
infant mortality characteristic
A random
a do failure
a u e characteristic
c a acte st c iss more
o e appropriate
app op ate
for applying a predictive maintenance
A wear out characteristic would benefit from either
a predictive maintenance or overhaul/replacement
intervention
Stochastic techniques provide information to
determine intervention interval
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 Function Preservation
How do I keep
fl id flowing
fluid fl i out
A Classical RCM asks: of tank?

Traditional analysis asks: B

How do I keep the
pump
p p operating?
p g

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 Function Preservation
What are ways to keep How do I keep
fluid flowing out of
fl id flowing
fluid fl i out
A Tank B other than
keeping the pump of tank?
running?
i ?
Bypass valve
Standby pump
B
Keep tank B full enough to
give time to change a failed
pump
With a functional approach
many alternatives are available

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 7 Steps in the RCM Process
1. System Selection
2. Systems Boundary Definitions
3. System Description
4. Identify System Functions &Functional Failures
5. Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
6 Task
6. k Selection
S l i
7. Program Implementation
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Source: William A. Keeter, MQS and Jack Nicholas
 SAE Standard
1. What are the functions, performance standards in the
present operating context? (Function)
2. In what ways does it fail to fulfill its functions? (Functional
failure))
3. What causes each functional failure? (Failure mode)
4. What happens when each failure occurs? (Failure effects)
5. Why does the failure matter (Failure consequences)
6 What can be done to predict or prevent each failure?
6.
7. What should be done if a suitable task cannot be found?

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Example Analysis Water Jet Machine

Nagging Failures Worn and failed tips

Lots of down time

Cause Dirty Water

Source Versatile Reliability-Centered

Reliability Centered
Maintenance
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System and Boundaries

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Water Jet Reclamation System

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 Water Jet RCM Analysis
7 Functions
14 F
Functional
ti l Failures
F il
47 Failure Modes
8 Inspections
4 Overhaul/discard
1 Failure finding
25 R
Run-to-failure
t f il
Estimated annual savings $334K
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 Conclusion
All RCM processes apply CORE Principles of RCM

Must be applied to identify appropriate failure

intervention

Component failure must be understood

Operational impact assessed

Reliability Engineering tools applied

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 Conclusion
Each RCM process available today applies the CORE
Principles of RCM to varying degree
Degree applied is indicative of overall benefit
If CORE Principles of RCM applied superficially - some
but limited benefit
More rigorous application of the CORE Principles of RCM
- enhanced benefits
Degree to which CORE Principles of RCM are applied
affects
ff cost off analysis
l i
The more a company is willing to invest in RCM the more
b fit they
benefit th can expectt
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