Life cycle costing considerations in reliability centered maintenance: An application to maritime equipment

Abstract

This paper covers a brief survey of both reliability centered maintenance (RCM) and life cycle cost (LCC). The integration of these two concepts is demonstrated with reference to a 75-ton chiller unit (CU)_on board a destroyer. The CU consists of six subsystems and is considered by experienced naval personnel to be a highly reliable equipment. The objective of the analysis is to determine if the CU requires preventive maintenance (PM) (inspection, adjustments, etc.) and if so to find the optimal PM interval between CU major overhauls (called refits). The optimal interval is that which minimizes the expected maintenance manpower cost over the refit period. The optimal inspection interval has been obtained and this results in reducing the maintenance cost and keeping the equipment safe. The Weibull analysis of the CU using both failure and censored observations is considered. Many difficulties encountered in data collection from a ship maintenance management information system (SMMIS) and interpretation are also addressed in this paper.