Do you need Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)?

September 20, 2019September 20, 2019

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is without doubt the most effective method to determine your failure management policies, yet it is sometimes seen as an expensive and time consuming endeavor used to produce what some (mistakenly) believe they can get from manufacturer recommendations and other sources. The naysayers see it as a “gold plated” approach to a relatively simple challenge – produce a decent maintenance program. Read more “Do you need Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)?” →

Asset Management

Do you want a PM program that really works

August 20, 2019August 20, 2019

Reliability Centered Maintenance – Re-engineered (RCM-R®)…

… is the world’s leading method for identifying maintenance and other activities required to sustain reliable performance of physical assets. Previously I discussed the various maintenance approaches you can use. This method (RCM-R®) is a structured approach to making those choices. If you want a proactive maintenance program that really works, then Reliability Centered Maintenance is the most thorough approach you can take to get there. Read more “Do you want a PM program that really works” →

Asset Management

Corporate counter-dependency

July 29, 2019July 29, 2019

Organizations and Culture

Some organizations are poor or marginal performers, some high, and some truly great. Jim Collins, in “Good to Great” (2001) describes the differences among the latter two. Much of the difference boils down to people and the culture that is fostered within the organization. They foster learning in all forms, including learning from mistakes. They are typically “humble” and accept helpful input from outside, admitting when and where they need to improve. Read more “Corporate counter-dependency” →

Asset Management

Are you informed, or data distracted?

June 28, 2019June 29, 2019

This article takes about 4 minutes to read. We want to make “evidence based decisions”. Evidence of what is going on can be very useful. Increasingly, we are turning to our computers for that evidence. But do we find it? Or do we end up searching through data looking for that “needle in the haystack”. Do we spend our time making informed decisions, or seeking information from an increasingly large and confusing array of data? Information technology is complex, difficult to manage and a challenge getting people to use it. It can also be either a tremendous corporate asset or a huge drain on resources. Read more “Are you informed, or data distracted?” →

Asset Management

Myth busting 29: You can integrate your EAM /…

June 11, 2019

Reliability Centered Maintenance is an analytical process used in decision making about how best to manage equipment and system failures, and their consequences. Much of its output comprises maintenance tasks with assigned task frequencies. Those tasks will ultimately be managed in your Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) or Enterprise Asset Management Systems (EAM). You don’t need software to perform RCM analysis, but it is helpful. Read more “Myth busting 29: You can integrate your EAM / CMMS with RCM” →

Asset Management

Myth busting 28: RCM is expensive

May 31, 2019

Many of you may be surprised to learn that Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) was actually developed with cost cutting in mind! Aircraft maintenance costs were huge. For example the Douglas DC-8-32 aircraft (a four engine narrow body jet liner built from 1958 to 1967 that carried 150 passengers) required upwards of 4,000,000 man hours of maintenance work for only 20,000 hours of flying time! Read more “Myth busting 28: RCM is expensive” →

Asset Management

Myth busting 27: RCM is only for new assets

May 27, 2019May 31, 2019

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) was developed in the airline industry to be used for developing maintenance programs for new aircraft. There’s no doubting it – originally RCM was intended for new designs and arguably where the results of failure could be catastrophic, specifically the loss of life and where costs of maintaining had grown ridiculously high. Read more “Myth busting 27: RCM is only for new assets” →

Asset Management

Myth busting 26: I’ve read the book, now I’m…

May 27, 2019July 26, 2019

3 Minute Read. Educational institutions realize that we all learn differently and combinations of learning styles will reach most of us. Some of us learn by seeing (reading), some by doing (tactile), some by hearing (aural). Most of us have a bit of each of these and rarely only one is enough. In college and university there is reading as well as assignment and lab work. We need both, so, how do we learn once we leave the academic world?

We learn a lot from reading, but we don’t remember much of it for long. But reading alone is rarely enough to truly get that deep knowledge needed to be competent – we also need practice. Read more “Myth busting 26: I’ve read the book, now I’m an expert!” →

Asset Management

Myth Busting 25: We need engineers to do RCM

May 3, 2019July 28, 2019

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is method for determining the most appropriate failure and consequence management strategies. It deals with your physical assets in your current operating context. The first four questions in the RCM method, are defined in standard, SAE JA-1011, “Evaluation Criteria for Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Processes.” They utilize the time proven engineering method, Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA). Read more “Myth Busting 25: We need engineers to do RCM” →

Asset Management

Utility Asset Risk Management with RCM

February 21, 2019May 29, 2019

Reliability is a key to successful risk management in any industry. It is particularly important in electrical utilities where the service must be “always on”. Failures can result in power outages and major disruptions to many customers, some of whom are providing critical services like hospitals, banks, stock exchange computers, traffic signals, mass public transit, and so on. Read more “Utility Asset Risk Management with RCM” →

Reliability Centered Maintenance – Re-engineered (RCM-R®)…

Organizations and Culture

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