1.

Firoozeh Nateghi
2. Arash Sepehri
3. Hossein Fotoohi Maleki
4. Jamshid Soorani
5. Ehsan Pourabedin
6. Ali Reza Mani
 Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)

RCM is a process to help people determine the

best policies for managing the functions of physical
assets—and for managing the consequences of
their failures.

Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has developed a standard,

to provide criteria that can be used to evaluate a maintenance-
program-development process and determine whether it is RCM
process or not.

Adapted from SAE website

Reliability Centered Maintenance by: John Moubray
 RCM History

1965: Studies show scheduled overhaul of complex

equipment has little or no effect on in-service reliability
1970: RCM had its beginning in the commercial airline
sector in 1970's. At that time, the commercial airline industry
was experiencing high number of crashes in the take-offs
which majority of them was related to equipment failures
After applying the RCM method, it proved to be highly
successful; in commercial airlines it reduced crashes from
60 per million take-offs to only 2 per million and more
important than that reduced the equipment related crashes
from 40 per million to only 0.3 per million take-offs.
Source: The value of RCM in business today
Source: www.plant-maintenance.com
RCM considers all asset management options:

• On-condition tasks or condition monitoring

• Scheduled restoration tasks
• Scheduled discard tasks
• One-time changes

Hardware design

Operating procedures

Personnel training

Other aspects of the asset outside the strict world of
maintenance
• Default actions
 RCM
• “RCM is the optimum mix of reactive, time
or interval based, condition based and
proactive maintenance practices”

Adapted from WBDG site : www.wbdg.org

Fig. 1. Components of an RCM Program.

Adapted from WBDG site : www.wbdg.org

Failure Patterns

Source: www.plant-maintenance.com
 Stan Nowlan and Howard Heap
Studies
They recognized that maintenance was a
contributing factor to many of the failures
but in some other cases maintenance was
able to improve the situation. They looked
for patterns and found them. There were
actually six patterns of Conditional
Probability of Failure.
Source: The value of RCM in business today
 Failure Patterns
– Pattern A; High incidence of failure at the
beginning followed by a constant or
increasing conditional probability of failure
then a wear-out (Bathtub curve)
– Pattern B; Classic wear-out, shows
constant or increasing conditional
probability of failure then a wear-out.
– Pattern C; Gradual aging wear out age is
not identifiable
– Pattern D; Best new, low conditional
probability of failure
– Pattern E; Totally random, constant
conditional probability of failure at all ages
– Pattern F; High rate of failure probability at
the beginning but decreasing and getting
constant after coming into service
 RCM Questions
1. Functions: what are the functions and associated desired standards of
performance of the asset in its present operating context?

2. Functional failures: in what ways can it fail to fulfill its functions?

3. Failure modes: what causes each functional failure?

4. Failure effects: what happens when each failure occurs?

5. Failure consequences: in what ways does each failure matter?

6. Proactive tasks and task intervals: what should be done to predict or

prevent each failure?

7. Default actions: what should be done if a suitable proactive task cannot be

found?
 Q1.FUNCTIONS Criteria
• The operating concept of the asset shall be
defined. The same hardware does not always
have the same failure management policy in all
installations
• All the functions of the asset shall be identified.
• All function statements shall contain a verb an
object and a performance
• Performance standards shall be in the same
level as owner’s desired performance

Adapted from SAE website

 Q2.Functional Failure Criteria
• All the failed states associated with each
function shall be identified. If functions are
well defined listing functional failures is
relatively easy.

Adapted from SAE website

 Q3.Failure Modes Criteria
The event that causes functional failure is failure mode

• All failure modes reasonably likely to cause each functional failure

shall be identified.
• The method used to decide what constitutes a “reasonably likely”
failure mode shall be acceptable to the owner or user of the asset.
• Failure modes shall be identified at a level of causation that makes it
possible to identify an appropriate failure management policy.
• Lists of failure modes shall include
o failure modes that have happened before
o failure modes that are currently being prevented by existing
maintenance programs
o failure modes that have not yet happened but that are thought to be
reasonably likely (credible) in the operating context.
• Lists of failure modes should include any event or process that is
likely to cause a functional failure, including deterioration, human
error whether caused by operators or maintainers, and design
defects.

Adapted from SAE website

 Q4.Failure Effects Criteria
• Failure effects shall describe what would happen if no specific task
is done to anticipate, prevent, or detect the failure.
• Failure effects include all the information needed to support the
evaluation of the consequences of the failure, such as:
a) What evidence (if any) that the failure has occurred (in the case of
hidden functions, what would happen if a multiple failure occurred)
b) What it does (if anything) to kill or injure someone, or to have an
adverse effect on the environment
c) What it does (if anything) to have an adverse effect on production or
operations
d) What physical damage (if any) is caused by the failure
e) What (if anything) must be done to restore the function of the system
after the failure.

Adapted from SAE website

Q5.Failure Consequences Criteria
• The assessment of failure consequences shall be carried
out as if no specific task is currently being done to
anticipate, prevent, or detect the failure.
• The consequences of every failure mode shall be
formally categorized as follows:

o The consequence categorization process shall separate hidden

failure modes from evident failure modes.
o The consequence categorization process shall clearly distinguish
events (failure modes and multiple failures) that have safety
and/or environmental consequences from those that only have
economic consequences (operational and non-operational
consequences).

Adapted from SAE website

 Q6.Proactive Tasks Criteria
It is complicated and its criteria are
presented in two groups;
• Failure Management Policies
• Scheduled tasks and intervals
o Proactive tasks
o Default actions

Adapted from SAE website

 Failure Management Policies
• The selection of failure management policies shall be carried out as
if no specific task is currently being done to anticipate, prevent, or
detect the failure.
• The failure management selection process shall take account of the
fact that the conditional probability of some failure modes will
increase with age (or exposure to stress), that the conditional
probability of others will not change with age, and the conditional
probability of yet others will decrease with age.
• All scheduled tasks shall be technically feasible and worth doing
(applicable and effective), and the means by which this requirement
will be satisfied are set out under scheduled tasks in the failure
management section.
• If two or more proposed failure management policies are technically
feasible and worth doing (applicable and effective), the policy that is
most cost-effective shall be selected.

Adapted from SAE website

 Scheduled Tasks and Intervals
• All scheduled tasks; performed at fixed,
predetermined intervals, including
continuous monitoring (zero interval).
• Specific kind of scheduled tasks
o On-condition
o Scheduled discard
o Scheduled restoration
o Failure finding

Adapted from SAE website

 Identifying tasks
• In the case of an evident failure mode that has safety or environmental
consequences, the task shall reduce the probability of the failure mode to a
level that is tolerable to the owner or user of the asset.
• In the case of a hidden failure mode where the associated multiple failure
has safety or environmental consequences, the task shall reduce the
probability of the hidden failure mode to an extent which reduces the
probability of the associated multiple failure to a level that is tolerable to the
owner or user of the asset.
• In the case of an evident failure mode that does not have safety or
environmental consequences, the direct and indirect costs of doing the task
shall be less than the direct and indirect costs of the failure mode when
measured over comparable periods of time.
• In the case of a hidden failure mode where the associated multiple failure
does not have safety or environmental consequences, the direct and
indirect costs of doing the task shall be less than the direct and indirect
costs of the multiple failure plus the cost of repairing the hidden failure
mode when measured over comparable periods of time.

Adapted from SAE website

 On-condition tasks
(condition-based, condition monitoring)

• There shall exist a clearly defined potential failure.

• There shall exist an identifiable P-F interval (or failure
development period).
• The task interval shall be less than the shortest likely P-F
interval.
• It shall be physically possible to do the task at intervals
less than the P-F interval.
• The shortest time between the discovery of a potential
failure and the occurrence of the functional failure (the P-
F interval minus the task interval) shall be long enough
for predetermined action to be taken to avoid, eliminate,
or minimize the consequences of the failure mode.

Adapted from SAE website

 Scheduled discard task
• There shall be a clearly defined (preferably a
demonstrable) age at which there is an increase in the
conditional probability of the failure mode under
consideration.
• A sufficiently large proportion of the occurrences of this
failure mode shall occur after this age to reduce the
probability of premature failure to a level that is tolerable
to the owner or user of the asset.

RCM selects scheduled discard only when there is clear

evidence that the asset experiences wearout

Adapted from SAE website

 Scheduled Restoration tasks
• There shall be a clearly defined (preferably a
demonstrable) age at which there is an increase in the
conditional probability of the failure mode under
consideration.
• The task shall restore the resistance to failure (condition)
of the component to a level that is acceptable to the
owner or user of the asset.
• A sufficiently large proportion of the occurrences of this
failure mode shall occur after this age to reduce the
probability of premature failure to a level that is tolerable
to the owner or user of the asset.

RCM selects scheduled discard only when there is clear

evidence that the asset experiences wearout

Adapted from SAE website

 Q7.Default Actions
• This question pertains to unscheduled
failure management policies: the decision
to let an asset run to failure, and the
decision to change something about the
asset’s operating context (such as its
design or the way it is operated).
• Failure finding tasks
• Run to failure
• Changing the operating context
Adapted from SAE website
 Failure Finding Tasks
• Failure-finding tasks are scheduled tasks
like the proactive tasks. However, failure-
finding tasks are not proactive. They do
not predict or prevent failures. They detect
failures that already have happened, in
order to reduce the chances of a multiple
failure—the failure of a protected function
while a protective device is already in a
failed state
Adapted from SAE website
 Run to Failure
• In cases where the failure is hidden and there is no
appropriate scheduled task, the associated multiple
failure shall not have safety or environmental
consequences.
• In cases where the failure is evident and there is no
appropriate scheduled task, the associated failure mode
shall not have safety or environmental consequences. In
other words, the process must not allow its users to
select “run to failure” if the failure mode, or (in the case
of a hidden failure) the associated multiple failure, has
safety or environmental consequences.

Adapted from SAE website

 RCM analysis Selection of Maintenance Actions

• Tool: Decision Tree analysis & Mistake Proofing

• Options
– do nothing: run to failure
– prevent: scheduled or non-scheduled tasks
– predict: checking the condition of equipment and
detecting failure
– redesign
• Equipment
• Detection
• Process
• Procedures
Source: Reliability-Centered Maintenance and Real-Time Diagnostics
Dennis Wilson, Jeff Johnson & John Lowell
 RCM Implementation—Eight
Steps
1. Define the scope and objectives of the project
2. Establish review groups
3. Train the review group
4. Estimate the amount of time to review the selected
equipment
5. Plan meetings
6. Plan senior management audits
7. Implement the selected tasks
8. Document the tasks and procedures
 RCM Principles
• RCM is Function Oriented.
• RCM is System Focused
• RCM is Reliability-Centered
• RCM Acknowledges Design Limitations
• RCM is Driven by Safety, Security, and Economics
• RCM Defines Failure as "Any Unsatisfactory Condition
• RCM Uses a Logic Tree to Screen Maintenance Tasks.
Tasks
• RCM Tasks Must Be Applicable
• RCM Tasks Must Be Effective
• RCM Acknowledges Three Types of Maintenance Tasks :
o Time directed (PM)
o Condition directed (CM)
o Failure finding (Proactive Maintenance)
• RCM is a Living System

Adapted from WBDG site : www.wbdg.org

Adapted from WBDG site : www.wbdg.org
 Types of RCM
There are different ways to conduct and implement
an RCM program;
• Classical/Rigorous
Classical or rigorous RCM provides the most knowledge and data
concerning system functions, failure modes, and maintenance actions
addressing functional failures of any of the RCM approaches

• Intuitive/Streamlined/Abbreviated
The intuitive approach identifies and implements the obvious, usually
condition-based, tasks with minimal analysis. In addition, it culls or
eliminates low value maintenance tasks based on historical data and
Maintenance and Operations (M&O) personnel input.

Adapted from WBDG site : www.wbdg.org

Decision Making on Techniques
The decision of what technique to be used is
based on;
• Consequences of failure
• Probability of failure
• Historical data available
• Risk tolerance
• Resource availability

Adapted from WBDG site : www.wbdg.org

 Advantages of RCM
1. Increasing the input; for example by more customers' satisfaction
about the products or services.
2. Reducing the maintenance costs, for instance by reducing the
maintenance amount.
3. Reduction of production losses by improved operation performance
4. Improving the quality of products and services.
5. Reducing the warranty costs, for example because of better quality
of products.
6. Improving the safety.
7. Increasing the reliability of products.
8. Education; improved overall level of skill and technical knowledge
9. Rationalization; unnecessary preventive work is eliminated
10. Greater motivation of individuals
 Difficulties in Implementation of
RCM
• 1. Potential cost savings means reduction in labor use that could
mean loss of jobs. This leads to increased resistance to
implementing the RCM program. (HR Problem)
• 2. Getting some analysts to participate in the program, causes some
problems due to the time commitment it requires. In fact, the
analysis time competes with their job responsibilities.
• 3. Implementation of RCM program takes a lot of time, especially in
large and complex industries (even some years).
• 4. RCM is not cheap; it imposes many accomplishing costs to
system, for example training costs and costs of employing some
new experts for replacement with those who entered in the program
and have not enough time to fulfill their responsibilities as before.
• 5. Dealing with hidden failures causes challenges for many analysts
(and then others) not familiar with the concept.

Source: The value of RCM in business today