TABLE OF CONTENTS Fundamentally, RCM identifies system functions, ranks functions into criticality importance categories (safety, operational, and cost [SOC]) based on functions, and develops complete, efficient scheduled maintenance and design improvement plans for implementation by identifying the equipment (components) providing important system functions. Implementing RCM requires system boundary, and functions concepts. Engineers grasp system inherently, with underlying utility. Indeed, systems are the fundamental design building block, so RCM begins at the system level ( see Fig. 2-1).
In its basic form, RCM involves three broad steps:
selecting components that matter
selecting appropriate PM tasks for those components
packaging the results to implement
In summary, RCM
partitions systems into components
selects scheduled maintenance tasks
implements results
These steps are intuitive at a fundamental level, so that almost anyone familiar with a system's equipment, operating risk, maintenance, and cost could draft a basic maintenance program. Learning maintenance passing through developmental stages people find they need to learn more about these decisions and their supporting requirements. How can the components that matter be known? Intrinsically, what determines scheduled maintenance task appropriateness? How does that appropriateness evolve over time as technology changes? How can failure-preventing tasks be efficiently performed? Performing RCM reduces to learning how to perform these steps quickly and efficiently.
