RCM or not? Are you shooting mosquitos with a big cannon?

RCM or not?

Christer Idhammar, Founder, IDCON INC

Posted 10/17/2024

The first time I learned about elements of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) was in 1968 when I spoke at a conference in Stockholm with Professor Horst Grothus. Since then, I have used one part of his teaching –the theory of failures in manufacturing equipment. Failures can occur randomly or regularly in time. Some failures have a time lapse from the point of failure to breakdown (functional failure). Understanding this theory helps you understand the different types of failures and the difference between a failure vs. a breakdown. 

This chart can be used as a model to describe failure distribution in time. I call the time between failure and breakdown the Failure Developing Period (FDP).

Everything else such as criticality, failure mode and effect analyses, hidden failures, etc. we have already used. In the 1990s there was a lot of training and interest in RCM, but it fizzled out relatively soon because industry quickly realized that it was way too complicated – and practically impossible – to justify a full-blown implementation. Some equaled RCM with “shooting mosquitos with a big cannon.” 

One plant I worked with did decide to take on a complete RCM implementation, then after spending two million dollars they gave up because no results were delivered. Reasons for this included:

• It was way too complicated and time consuming.
• The very core of maintenance work management including prioritization, planning and scheduling of work orders is not included in RCM, and this diverted improvement initiatives of these processes

RCM can be useful to do for very complicated and advanced pieces of equipment and manufacturing processes. I have worked in hundreds of manufacturing plants and engine rooms on ships, and I estimate that RCM can be justified for about a whopping 3% of all equipment.

When would you be ready to implement RCM?

If you decide to implement RCM in your plant, be sure that your organization is ready for it. If you are not ready for it, you will divert your attention from more important and cost-effective improvement initiatives you can do. If you are not prepared, an RCM implementation would be a waste of time and money.

An example of when your organization is ready for more advanced initiatives (including RCM on very select equipment) is when the very basics of reliability and maintenance processes are instituted and sustainable. The chart below can serve as an example of readiness in your organization.

The results presented by RCM advocates are not relevant in most plants. They claim reduction of Preventive Maintenance tasks by 65 – 75%. These results are from military equipment including the navy, where fixed time replacements and overhauls was used for all equipment. Of course, you can eliminate 65-75% of all PM tasks in that situation, but you do not need RCM to do that; you can use knowledge of failure theory, common sense, and experience instead, and move fixed time tasks to condition monitoring.

RCM should be understood and used in early design of equipment and manufacturing processes. At this stage, criticality of the manufacturing process using Reliability Block Diagrams (see below) combined with RCM and maintainability design would deliver more reliable and maintainable equipment.

Conclusion

Undertaking an RCM training and implementation of what you learned is an unnecessarily expensive and time-consuming initiative. It will divert your focus on the basics and more cost-effective improvement efforts, so before considering using RCM, do not expect to get the exaggerated savings that are proposed by some enthusiasts for RCM unless all your Preventive Maintenance consists of fixed time replacements and repairs. 

IDCON provides short one to two days of training which is useful to understand different types of failures, how they develop and how they might occur in time. If you have very critical systems or equipment that are new to you, a focused RCM exercise can be helpful but remember that using your team’s experience and common sense most often leads to the same or better results.

Christer Idhammar

Christer Idhammar started his career in operations and maintenance 1961. Shortly after, in 1985, he founded IDCON INC in Raleigh North Carolina, USA. IDCON INC is now a TRM company. Today he is a frequent key note and presenter at conferences around the world. Several hundred successful companies around the world have engaged Mr. Idhammar in their reliability improvement initiatives.

Awards:

• He received the coveted EUROMAINTENANCE Incentive 2002 award during the biannual EUROMAINTENANCE 2002 conference in Helsinki in June 2002. Among 19 member European countries he was nominated and received the award from EFNMS – European Federation of National Maintenance Societies – for outstanding achievement and worldwide accomplishments in the field of reliability and maintenance.
• In 2008 he received the Salvetti Foundation Best Speaker all categories award among 154 speakers at Euromaintenance 2008 in Brussels, Belgium
• In 2013 he received the “Best presentation award” among 120 speakers at Reliability 2.0 conference in Las Vegas.

Related Articles

How to Fix the 70/30 Phenomenon

When you ask front line supervisors or team leaders if all people in their teams are performing to the same standards or if some are doing more work and achieving more results than others, you will often get the same answer. All over the world, the most common answer, after some analysis, verifies that about 30% of the people do 70% of the work.

When you ask front line supervisors or team leaders if all people in their teams are performing to the same standards or if some are doing more work and achieving more results than others, you will often get the same answer. All over the world, the most common answer, after some analysis, verifies that about 30% of the people do 70% of the work.

See More

Zen and the Art of Managing Maintenance

Unfettered expression and spiritual satisfaction? How does this relate to managing a maintenance department, especially one in the U.S. Postal Service? Open your mind. Take a page from the Zen Buddhist monks who preach: When you are quiet and listen, you become aware of sounds not normally heard. USPS maintenance leaders are listening and beginning to understand that maintenance success doesn't come through closed minds and closed doors.

Unfettered expression and spiritual satisfaction? How does this relate to managing a maintenance department, especially one in the U.S. Postal Service? Open your mind. Take a page from the Zen Buddhist monks who preach: When you are quiet and listen, you become aware of sounds not normally heard. USPS maintenance leaders are listening and beginning to understand that maintenance success doesn't come through closed minds and closed doors.

See More

Why do maintenance improvement initiatives fail to deliver? (Hedgehog or Fox?)

It is not uncommon that many reliability and maintenance improvement initiatives fail to deliver expected results. Why is it so? Some of the most common causes I have observed include:

It is not uncommon that many reliability and maintenance improvement initiatives fail to deliver expected results. Why is it so? Some of the most common causes I have observed include:

See More

Why Maintenance Improvement Efforts Fail

Why do improvement efforts fail or perhaps not sustain the gains? There are many reasons, but those most often stated are “lack of commitment” and not “following the process”. But why is there lack of commitment, and why aren’t processes followed? Here are a few of the reasons that I’ve seen:

Why do improvement efforts fail or perhaps not sustain the gains? There are many reasons, but those most often stated are “lack of commitment” and not “following the process”. But why is there lack of commitment, and why aren’t processes followed? Here are a few of the reasons that I’ve seen:

See More

TPM and RCM: Whirled Class

When a piece of production machinery broke down at the Whirlpool plant in Findlay, Ohio, several years back, it was accepted practice for the machine operator to call maintenance and then sit back and wait for the problem to be fixed. Critical information and knowledge was not shared between the operator and maintenance technician. Like many companies, these workers were stuck in traditional roles - operators run the machines, maintenance fixes the machines, and the two do not cross. As a result, productivity opportunities were missed.

When a piece of production machinery broke down at the Whirlpool plant in Findlay, Ohio, several years back, it was accepted practice for the machine operator to call maintenance and then sit back and wait for the problem to be fixed. Critical information and knowledge was not shared between the operator and maintenance technician. Like many companies, these workers were stuck in traditional roles - operators run the machines, maintenance fixes the machines, and the two do not cross. As a result, productivity opportunities were missed.

See More

Where Do Maintenance Professionals Come From?

Many managers are unaware that best-in-class companies routinely design-out maintenance at the inception of a project. That, clearly, is the first key to highest equipment reliability and plant profitability. Whenever maintenance events occur as time goes on, the real industry leaders see every one of these events as an opportunity to upgrade. Indeed, upgrading is the second key, and upgrading is the job of highly trained, well-organized, knowledgeable reliability professionals.

Many managers are unaware that best-in-class companies routinely design-out maintenance at the inception of a project. That, clearly, is the first key to highest equipment reliability and plant profitability. Whenever maintenance events occur as time goes on, the real industry leaders see every one of these events as an opportunity to upgrade. Indeed, upgrading is the second key, and upgrading is the job of highly trained, well-organized, knowledgeable reliability professionals.

See More

TPM and Tecate: The New Translation

The true translation — might it be proper to say a new and improved translation? — is being used today by Cervecería Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, one of the largest brewers of beer in Latin America. Known throughout this company as Mantenimiento Alto Desempeño (MAD), or translated as High-Performance Maintenance, the concept of TPM is alive and well at the company's six plants in Mexico. Perhaps the best example is at CCM's brewery in Tecate, located a short drive from the U.S.-Mexico border on the Baja California peninsula.

The true translation — might it be proper to say a new and improved translation? — is being used today by Cervecería Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, one of the largest brewers of beer in Latin America. Known throughout this company as Mantenimiento Alto Desempeño (MAD), or translated as High-Performance Maintenance, the concept of TPM is alive and well at the company's six plants in Mexico. Perhaps the best example is at CCM's brewery in Tecate, located a short drive from the U.S.-Mexico border on the Baja California peninsula.

See More