RCM Logic Process Overview

RCM applies to any industry that requires reliable, cost-effective performance from their assets. Applicable industries include, but are not limited to, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical, Food Processing, Chemical Processing, Mining, Facilities, Weapon Systems, Aerospace, Agriculture, Alternative Energy, Energy Distribution, and Power Generation.

History of RCM

RCM concepts were developed from research in the 1960s by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the commercial aviation industry while looking for ways reduce the cost of maintenance that was based on extensive periodic overhauls of equipment.

Interesting findings from this research included:

• Failure of components did not correlate to age in many cases
• Periodic overhaul did not improve system reliability and often decreased it (infant mortality)
• The concept of potential failures and condition-based maintenance (only taking corrective action when a potential failure was discovered) was introduced.
• Maintenance Steering Group (MSG) logic was developed as the first analytical means to develop preventive maintenance requirements based on these findings

In 1978, United Airlines was asked by the US Department of Defense to develop a process based on the MSG logic for its systems and RCM was born. Over the years many variations and refinements of the process have been developed for use in a myriad of industries.

Today the most widely accepted forms of RCM follow the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Standard SAE JA1011, Evaluation Criteria for Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Processes with a minimum criteria to achieve the RCM standard. SAE JA1011, available from  http://www.sae.org