Some Common Misconceptions about RCM

“RCM is expensive”

1. Unreliability is almost always more expensive
2. If you haven’t got any reliabilty problems, don’t spend money trying to improve reliability
3. The business case for all RCM projects should be made, and agreed, beforehand. If this is done, and the process is applied properly and the results implemented, the benefit invariably massively outweighs the cost.

“We need failure data before we can do RCM”

While data can be used to help refine the analysis, we never have perfect failure data (particularly about failures with high consequences) and we need to have a maintenance programme for new assets, with no failure data. RCM allows us to make robust decisions using experience and judgement, in the absence of perfect data, and refine our failure management programme when better data becomes available.

“RCM is a process to determine a maintenance programme”

RCM considers all causes of failure, incliuding those due to deterioration, design, operations, training/ competence and human factors. The outcomes of RCM therefore include maintenance, design, training, procedures, spares and procedures. In short RCM is about Reliability, not just about Maintenance.

“A world class failure management programme can be developed by software/ AI without any involvement of people”

The increasing use of technology, and the complication that often goes with it, does not mean that the humans responsible for managing assets and processes can give up trying to understand how they work, how they can go wrong, and how the failures should be managed.

“RCM takes a lot of time”

While unearthing and recording the causes of failure takes some effort, this effort needs to be targeted, and the level of detail needs to be appropriate. Doing so allows benefits to be realised quickly and efficiently. This is an important job of the RCM Facilitator. Some analyses fail because the facilitator is not taught these key skills

“RCM can be applied by one person on their own.”

Unreliability comes from many sources, and reliability is everyone’s business. Doing RCM properly requires a multi-disciplinary team of people that know the asset best. It cannot be successfully applied by one person working alone.

“RCM can be carried out by one department without the involvement and support of others”

RCM outputs include maintenance, training, new, updated or reinforced procedures, spares, design etc. These outputs impact different departments. In short, successful RCM requires input and buy-in from all relevant stakeholders.

“RCM is just for mechanical equipment”

RCM can be applied to any physical asset – mechanical, electrical, electronic, instrumentation and civil. It can also be applied to systems and processes. Systems and processes have context, functions, failure modes, effects and consequences, and failure management tasks.

“RCM is finished when the analysis has been completed”

At the end of the analysis the only result is a report. For any improvements to be achieved, the recommendations need to be implemented. This means changes need to be made to the equipment, the people and the processes. A common cause of failure of an RCM initiative is failure to implement.

“RCM is finished when the outcomes have been implemented”

RCM provides an audit trail for the failure management programme enabling continuous improvement – as things change and new information becomes available, the failure management programme can be updated and improved. After implementation of the results it is essential to keep the analysis up-to-date

“An RCM analysis is a theoretical study”

RCM focusses on outcomes, and these involve changes to maintenance, to assets, and to the competence, knowledge and actions of the people working with the equipment. Successful application of RCM results in practical changes to maintenance, people, assets, practices and processes

“RCM is a mathematical process/ it is rocket science”

Reliability is not only achieved by mathematics and statistics. While some mathematical formulae can guide reliability improvement initiatives, the quality of the available data is often poor, and usually, the biggest reliability improvements are made by simple and practical changes – by ensuring assets are fit for purpose, that people do the right things, they do them correctly, and they don’t interfere unnecessarily.

“RCM is a piece of software”

The late, great, John Moubray described RCM as ‘thoughtware’ rather than software. It is requires an understanding of an asset or process in it’s operating context – what is needs to do, how it can fail, and what should be done to manage those failures. (Software has a supporting part to play – storing analyses, version and access control, linking failure modes to assets, and storing all information in one place.)

“I am too busy to do any RCM”

Think of where you might start rather than where you would finish, and start small. Make sure you do it properly on key assets. This could enable to to get yourself out of firefighting mode on these assets, and free up resource to use RCM to regain control on other key assets

“We don’t need RCM to tell us things we already know”

Sometimes people say that an RCM analysis hasn’t told them anything they didn’t already know …. but then admit the RCM recommendations are not being applied to their equipment. It is not sufficient for someone somewhere to think they know what should be done – the organisation as a whole needs to be brought along.

“RCM needs to be done everywhere”

Even the aircrafty industry does not do RCM on everything. Many orgainsations just apply RCM to their most critical assets, or those that are the worst performers. Even within an analysis, if guided by a skilled facilitator, it is possible to target the analysis to known problem areas.

“My RCM process is better than yours”

If an RCM process conforming to the SAE standard is applied correctly, the outputs should be the same as any other SAE compliant RCM process. Subtle variations in process will not change the results. (The big challenges are 1. Doing the analysis well 2. Implementing the results.)

“My process is the next evolution of RCM”

SAE standard RCM includes risk identification and management, can handle modern instrumented/ I4 systems and was developed by numerous experts in the most demanding environment of all and has been proven by decades of successful and extensive application. The big challenges are not to improve the process but: 1. Doing the analysis well 2. Implementing the results.

“Additional fields and boxes make the RCM process better”

The basic process defined by the SAE standard is concise yet comprehensive. Additional fields need to add value – they need to be defined, they need to be consistently applied and they need to be completed. These things take time and effort, and this needs to be justified in terms of the additional benefit these fields provide.

“RCM is CBM”

Condition Based Maintenance CBM is a type of maintenance task that is considered as part of an RCM analysis. While CBM is considered first in RCM for sound reasons, RCM considers all types of maintenance, (and it is not just about maintenance either).

“RCM is a type of maintenance”

RCM considers all types of maintenance – condition based, preventive, corrective and failure finding and selects the most appropriate task (not limited to maintenance tasks) for managing any failure mode. It is not a type of maintenance.

“RCM is only for large organizations, and large assets”

Smaller organizations can also benefit significantly from RCM. It is scalable and can be tailored to fit the needs and resources of any size organization.

“RCM is only for old equipment”

RCM is beneficial for both new and old equipment. For new equipment it helps maximise reliability and optimise costs from the outset.

“All failures can be predicted and prevented”

Not all failures are predictable or preventable. RCM helps manage risks and manage the consequences of failures. Under certain circumstances a policy of No Scheduled Maintenance is a valid option for managing a specific failure mode.

“RCM guarantees zero downtime”

RCM focusses on managing the failures that are reasonably likely and that matter. One strategy to do this is to reduce the probability of failure (ie change the likelihood), another is to change the consequences (ie the extent to which they matter). Therefore RCM does not guarantee zero downtime.

“RCM does not require specialised knowledge”

The quality of the outputs is only as good as the quality of the inputs and the way this information is handled. The RCM review team consists of trained personnel with a good understanding of the equipment or process under review. The RCM facilitator has specialist training in the RCM process

“RCM does not require senior management support”

Strong support and commitment from senior management are essential for successful RCM implementation – they need to support the involvement of the team and the implementation of the results

“RCM is too complicated”

With proper training and tools, RCM concepts can be easily understood and applied effectively. While the concepts are simple, it is sometimes challenging to apply them because information from the right people throughout the organisation is required.

“RCM is too simple”

Sometimes, reliability is about making sure the simple and (sometimes seemingly) obvious things are done correctly, on the assets in the field. It is amazing how often companies that do really clever things can have equipment failures for simple reasons.