Reliability centered maintenance (RCM) is a reputable method of analysis which aims at preventing maintenance planning. Reliability in this context is the main reference for planning. However, consequences of failures are also put into consideration. To a certain extent, uncertainties and risks involved in planning are also addressed by the RCM technique. The final mandate of RCM is to implement specific maintenance strategies on every asset in a given company. The maintenance strategies are important to a company because it boosts productivity using the cost-effective maintenance techniques. There are four basic principles that drive an RCM. They include; the preservation of the system functions, prioritizing the failure modes, identifying the failure modes that may affect the system function, and selecting applicable and effective tasks which controls the failure modes (Bloom 45). The RCM works by indentifying the most critical sections of the company and optimize their maintenance to ensure that there are no cases of system failures. This is meant to increase the reliability and availability of the machineries. This is an important part in any company and therefore there is a cost that is attached to the Reliability centered maintenance. The cost of this service exclusively depends with the service provider. The paper will indulge into the cost that a company may accrue to the service. RCM has a number of applications in modern companies. Most factories, especially those that run of full basis cannot function without the intervention of the RCM. This is because the maintenance program identifies the most critical assets which are likely to fail or have large consequences of failure (Bloom 69). With this program, possible failure modes are identified together with their consequences. After identifying the modes, the cost-effective techniques are then determined to minimize the possibility of failure.
In terms of the cost incurred in operating an RCM, one would argue that it is worth a dime, especially to those operating companies with machineries. The RCM helps reduce the cost of running a business and provides for an opportunity to run a company efficiently. Before determining the cost of RCM, it is important to determine the considerations in the cost of failure for the equipment and maintenance part of running a company. The first cost involved is the cost of downtime. This is cost incurred when equipment is idle and not running when scheduled to. Due to the downtime, the company losses sales, the production hours go down, and unscheduled overtime and idle assets hours (Li 34). The company also surfers wait time which is the time it takes a work crew to respond to a failure, investigate the problems and find solutions to the problems. In most cases, loss of sales and productive labor wait time are the highest losses associated with the lack of RCM in a company. The actual lost incurred will depend on the demand of the product and could range from a hundred to thousand dollars. Another cost incurred by a company which lacks the RCM program is that of maintenance labor (Li 56). The cost of maintenance labor is the cost incurred in fixing equipment that have worn out or stopped working. The cost of maintenance labor the wait time (time taken to source parts and equipments), time to stage the repair, time it takes to make the repair, the verification time for the repair, and time taken to return the equipment to production status. The final cost incurred to the company which does not have the RCM is the cost of parts. This is the cost incurred by a company in repairing parts which are required to the system into operation. It includes the cost of parts and the cost labor involved. Bearing in mind the cost that a company gets without the program, every company should consider implementing the RCM program (Li 67). Some companies in the United States pay as much as $80,000 dollars per year for the service of RCM.
There are a number of applications that are associated with RCM program. The first one is preventive maintenance which tries to identify and address the impending failures prior to their occurrence. Identifying the problem in advance helps the company to do the fix at the slightest costly expense. The renovation may be done when the apparatus is not in operation and is accessible for repairs activities. The strategy is also important as it offers the chance to reduce the expenditure of labor connected with the refurbishment of the machineries. Another application of RCM is that of predictive maintenance. This is an activity that utilizes the inspection techniques to try and identify the failure modes or cause of problems prior to their occurrence (Wheeler 38). It also paves way for corrective measures to be put into place during planned downtime. There are a number of approaches to performing a predictive maintenance; visual inspection and using sophisticated equipment to detect failure. Some of the signs of problems include high levels of heat, wear, noise, vibration, among others. The technique used for predictive maintenance is depended on the equipment being serviced and the equipment availability to perform the inspection. The third application of RCM is inspection maintenance which is a work endeavor o identify the failures in the system. Some of the failures are hidden and therefore, it is important that skilled personnel should be used in the process. Likewise, sophisticated machineries may be used in the process (Wheeler 40). The final application of RCM is corrective maintenance. This is an approach normally reserved for failure modes or causes which have low costs of failure. It is also applies to unexpected failures which occur to the machineries which have both preventive and predictive maintenance plans.
Works Cited
Bloom, Neil B. "Reliability centered maintenance." New York: Mac Graw-Hill (2006).
Wheeler, Paul. "Reliability-centered maintenance." Buildings 101.11 (2007): 38-40.
Li, Wenyuan. "Reliability-Centered Maintenance." (2009).
