Overview

RCM is problematic for Lean practitioners, probably because of how RCM is thought of and implemented. RCM projects are very expensive and intensive. Sometimes, critical people are taken off the shop floor for days at a time to work on RCM projects. On the plus side, RCM is the most rigorous method we have to analyze a maintenance event and come up with definitive answers about tasking, frequency, and redesign. On the negative side, RCM is only justifiable when there are large amounts of money involved, or where it is thought that safety or an environmental catastrophe is at stake.

Still RCM offers Lean Maintenance efforts a level of rigor not available in other programs. It also offers mental models of maintenance beyond anything else. We can learn a great deal from a systematic study of RCM. Keep in mind, RCM is one of the most powerful ways to improve maintenance because it addresses the core of the customer need, that is, an increasingly reliable system. The technology is an outgrowth of deep investigations into reliability that were performed on behalf of aircraft manufacturers and airlines.

As mentioned, RCM developed out of the aircraft and airline industries. One of the first airplanes that used the techniques from design to delivery was the Boeing 747, the first of which was delivered in 1969. The 747 was the first jumbo jet and was designed to replace the smaller, older, intercontinental 707 jet-liner.

A great deal of behind-the-scenes maintenance is done on...