Reliability Centered Maintenance Approach Research Articles

A systematic reliability-centred maintenance framework with fuzzy computational integration – a case study of manufacturing process machinery

PurposeThis study presents a systematic framework for maintenance strategy development of manufacturing process machinery. The framework is developed based on the reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) approach to minimise the high downtime of a production line, thus increasing its reliability and availability. A case study of a production line from the ghee and soap manufacturing industry in Taiz, Yemen, is presented for framework validation purposes. The framework provides a systematic process to identify the critical system(s) and guide further investigation for functional significant items (FSIs) based on quantitative and qualitative analyses before recommending appropriate maintenance strategies and specific tasks.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed framework integrates conventional RCM procedure with the fuzzy computational process to improve FSIs criticality estimation, which is the main part of failure mode effect criticality analysis (FMECA) applications. The framework consists of four main implementation stages: identification of the critical system(s), technical analysis, Fuzzy-FMECA application for FSIs criticality estimation and maintenance strategy selection. Each stage has its objective(s) and related scientific techniques that are applied to systematically guide the framework implementation.FindingsThe proposed framework validation is summarised as follows. The first stage results demonstrate that the seaming system (top and bottom systems) caused 50% of the total production line downtime, indicating it is a critical system that requires further analysis. The outcomes of the second stage provide significant technical information on the subject (seaming system), helping team members to identify and understand the structure and functional complexities of the seaming system. This stage also provides a better understanding of how the seaming system functions and how it can fail. In stage 3, the application of FMECA with the fuzzy computation integration process presents a systematic way to analyse the failure mode, effect and cause of items (components of the seaming system). This stage also includes items’ criticality estimation and ranking assessment. Finally, stage four guides team members in recommending the appropriate countermeasures (maintenance strategies and task selection) based on their priority level.Originality/valueThis paper proposes an original maintenance strategies development framework based on the RCM approach for production system equipment. Specifically, it considers a fuzzy computational process based on the Gaussian function in the third stage of the proposed framework. Adopting the fuzzy computational process improves the risk priority number (RPN) estimation, resulting in better criticality ranking determination. Another significant contribution is introducing an extended item criticality ranking assessment process to provide maximum levels of criticality item ranking. Finally, the proposed RCM framework also provides detailed guidance on maintenance strategy selection based on criticality levels, unique functionality and failure characteristics of each FSI.

Quantifying the impact of risk mitigation measures using SPAR-H and RCM Approaches: Case study based on VVER-1000 systems

Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) provides a systematic and quantitative approach to assess the risk associated with different components and systems within a nuclear power plant. By quantifying the impact of risk mitigation measures, decision-makers can prioritize and implement solutions that have the most significant impact on reducing risk. Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) is employed as a systematic method within PSA, encompassing all modes of failure across equipment and associated support systems, including unavailability due to maintenance (UDM), human errors (HEs), and common cause failures (CCFs). In the present research, the Extra Borating System (EBS) and the Chilled Water Operating Circuit System (CWOCS) of essential loads are modeled in the SAPHIRE code using VVER-1000 design data. Through importance analysis employing the Fussell-Vesley criterion, the most significant basic events for these two systems are identified. Subsequently, the outcomes of the importance analysis are examined using diversity, SPAR-H, and Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) techniques. Recommendations such as the enhancement of diversity, increasing staff training, promoting Human Machine Interface (HMI), reduction of maintenance time, and improvement of power supply reliability are proposed for the most crucial basic events. The ensuing impact of these measures on the reliability of the EBS and CWOCS is subsequently assessed. Through a comparison between the new failure probability and the previous, it is determined that improvements in CCFs contribute a 30% effect; HEs have a 14% effect and UDMs have a 5% effect, with a cumulative impact of 35% on the failure probability of the EBS system. Similarly, for the CWOCS system, enhancements in CCFs contribute 20%, UDMs 17%, and improved power supply reliability 19%, with a cumulative impact of 29%.

Application of Reliability Centred Maintenance in Improving Aircraft Availability with Preventive Maintenance Intervention

Aircraft are intricate flying machines equipped with advanced technologies and state-of-the-art information and communication systems. Maintaining these aircraft to ensure maximum availability and minimal downtime is a critical and challenging task. Therefore, aircraft maintenance, repair, and servicing are of utmost importance. This research work aims to develop a methodology for reliability centred maintenance (RCM) to enhance aircraft availability. An RCM approach with the Multi attribute decision making (MADM) technique for assigning criticality of systems was implemented to improve aircraft availability. Failure mode and effects analysis (FMECA) was utilized for the failure investigation in the aircraft systems. However, instead of the Risk priority number (RPN) due to its inherent flaws, the Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was utilized to evaluate the criticality of systems. The remedial measures to minimize the failure frequency and downtime were proposed. The improvement in availability, post implementation of proposed preventive maintenance was validated with positive results. An improvement of approximately 6.62% in availability and a reduction of about 15.71% in the total downtime was observed on the implementation of proposed preventive measures. The availability analysis was carried out for aircraft systems; however, the model could also be used for other repairable systems following a similar maintenance philosophy.

Development of Optimized Maintenance Program for a Steam Boiler System Using Reliability-Centered Maintenance Approach

Reliability centered maintenance (RCM) is a new strategic framework for evaluating system maintenance requirements in its operating conditions. Some industries employ predictive maintenance strategies in addition to preventive maintenance (PM) strategies, which increase production costs. As the breakdown maintenance (BDM) technique is used, the maintenance cost increases. The RCM approach is a mixture of these maintenance strategies that can be used to optimize the maintenance costs and to ensure the availability of the system. The RCM method was applied to the steam boiler system used in the textile industries for the research work reported in this paper. The RCM methodology stated in the literature cannot be implemented, as it is in Indian textile industries due to the lack of knowledge of RCM principles, a labor-oriented nature, the use of partially computerized information systems, an inadequate maintenance database, and information about maintenance costs and production loss. To resolve these issues, a modified RCM approach involving a large number of experts is developed. To apply this RCM methodology, critical components are identified through reliability and failure mode effect and criticality analysis (FMECA). Finally, scheduled maintenance strategies and their intervals are recommended to ensure that the system continues to operate properly. According to this study, implementing the RCM technique effectively will increase boiler system reliability and availability by 28.15 percent and 0.16 percent, respectively. Additionally, up to 20.32 percent of the maintenance cost can be saved annually by applying these scheduled maintenance programs.

Mission reliability–centered maintenance approach based on quality stochastic flow network for multistate manufacturing systems

Previous studies of reliability centered maintenance (RCM) rarely consider the maintenance quality for the operation condition monitoring of manufacturing system. Therefore, a quality-oriented maintenance approach for the multistate manufacturing system with the aid of mission reliability is proposed. First, connotations of the mission reliability and maintenance quality of the multistate manufacturing system are expounded on the basis of the operational mechanism. Second, a quality stochastic flow network (QSFN) model of the multistate manufacturing system is established, and a novel mission reliability model is presented. Third, a quality-oriented mission reliability–centered maintenance framework for multistate manufacturing systems is proposed, and the optimal integrated maintenance strategy is obtained by minimizing the total cost. Finally, an industrial example of subway flow receiver is presented to verify the proposed method. Results show that the proposed method can simultaneously balance the maintenance cost and maintenance quality of the multistate manufacturing system.

A budget allocation and programming-based RCM approach to improve the reliability of power distribution networks

Reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) has recently emerged as a powerful tool to reasonably cut the operation and maintenance cost of power destruction systems, whilst meeting both power quality and reliability requirements. This study introduces a new RMC approach that allocates maintenance budgets based on component criticality and importance. A new diagnostic importance factor, implemented based on the criticality and importance of each component, is introduced as a new index for prioritizing components for maintenance activities and budget allocation. The process of budget allocation is carried out without using any optimization method and just by multiplying the maintenance budget by this newly designed factor. A multi-attribute decision-making technique (MAXIMAX) is considered to find the appropriate weighting coefficient of failure causes to reduce the effect of human dependency in the modeling failure rate of each component. Based on the priority and amount of budget allocated, a reliability-centered maintenance program for the sample distribution system is designed and implemented. The proposed RMC framework was implemented to a part of a distribution network in Iran to highlight its effectiveness and practicality. The obtained results showed an improvement in reliability indexes, which in turn confirms that prioritizing component criticality in budget allocation and maintenance programming enables reaching the reliability goals. Improvement in reliability indexes leads to maintenance cost reduction in future time intervals and efficient management of limited resources. A further comparison analysis with other approaches have shown that the proposed framework outperforms these methods in terms of speed, accuracy and budget allocation.

Optimization of maintenance strategies for steam boiler system using reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) model – A case study from Indian textile industries

PurposeThis study focuses on the application of reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) to a textile industry steam boiler. The study aims to demonstrate the development and application of RCM to a steam boiler used in the textile industry.Design/methodology/approachRCM is a structured process that develops maintenance activities needed on physical resources in their operational environment to realize their inherent reliability by logically incorporating an appropriate mixture of reactive, preventive, condition-based and proactive maintenance methods. A detailed analysis of the RCM approach is presented to develop preventive maintenance (PM) program and improve the reliability and availability of the steam boiler system.FindingsThe research reveals that the identification of PM tasks is a good indicator of the PM program's efficiency and can serve as an important maintenance-related downtime source. It is also discovered that the majority of maintenance programs that claim to be proactive are, in fact, reactive. This article also shows how RCM may be successfully implemented to any system, resulting in increased system reliability.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper focuses on a pilot study of the development and implementation of the RCM technique to a textile industry steam boiler. It is suggested that the developed RCM model can be applied to the entire plant.Originality/valueThe paper presents a comprehensive RCM model framework as well as an RCM decision framework, providing maintenance managers and engineers with a step-by-step approach to RCM implementation. The proposed framework is significant in that it may be utilized for both qualitative and quantitative analysis at the same time.

An RCM approach for assessing reliability challenges and maintenance needs of unmanned cargo ships

Unmanned autonomous cargo ships may change the maritime industry, but there are issues regarding reliability and maintenance of machinery equipment that are yet to be solved. This article examines the applicability of the Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) method for assessing maintenance needs and reliability issues on unmanned cargo ships. The analysis shows that the RCM method is generally applicable to the examination of reliability and maintenance issues on unmanned ships, but there are also important limitations. The RCM method lacks a systematic process for evaluating the effects of preventive versus corrective maintenance measures. The method also lacks a procedure to ensure that the effect of the length of the unmanned voyage in the development of potential failures in machinery systems is included. Amendments to the RCM method are proposed to address these limitations, and the amended method is used to analyse a machinery system for two operational situations: one where the vessel is conventionally manned and one where it is unmanned. There are minor differences in the probability of failures between manned and unmanned operation, but the major challenge relating to risk and reliability of unmanned cargo ships is the severely restricted possibilities for performing corrective maintenance actions at sea.

Optimal inspection and replacement strategy for 145 kV gas-insulated switchgear

We deal with an optimization problem of planning a maintenance strategy for 145 kV gas-insulated switchgear and apply reliability-centered maintenance approach to find an efficient and effective strategy. In a three-step sequential process, we use failure mode effects and criticality analysis to define the critical failure modes that cause the major failures of 145 kV gas-insulated switchgear, select the maintenance significant items to remove the major failure modes, and finally apply logic tree analysis to assign the appropriate maintenance task to each critical failure modes in the system. We then compare the assigned maintenance tasks with existing tasks in the installation, operation, and maintenance manuals developed in the system design and development phase. The assigned maintenance tasks in this study are compared with those in the system design and development phase by simulation, and a simple heuristic method is proposed to find optimal solutions.

Criticality-based reliability-centered maintenance for healthcare

PurposeMedical technologies and assets are one of the main drivers of increasing healthcare cost. The rising number and complexity of medical equipment have forced hospitals to set up and regulate medical equipment management programs to ensure critical devices are safe and reliable. The purpose of this paper is to gain insights into maintenance management-related activities for medical equipment. The paper proposes applying a tailored reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) approach for maintenance activities selection for medical equipment. Such approach will support assets management teams in enhancing operation, decrease risk and cost, and ultimately improve health of patients served by these equipment.Design/methodology/approachThe traditional RCM approach will be used with a focus on criticality reduction. By criticality, the authors refer to the severity of failures and occurrence. The proposed method relies on the use of reliability growth analysis for opportunity identification followed by a thorough failure mode and effect analysis to investigate major failure modes and propose ways to reduce criticality. The effectiveness of the proposed method will be demonstrated using a case of one of the leading obstetric and gynecological hospitals in United Arab Emirates and in the Gulf Cooperation Council region.FindingsThe case examines the relationship between the current practice of planned preventive maintenance and the failure rates of the equipment during its life span. Although a rigorous preventive maintenance program is implemented in the hospital under study, some critical equipment show an increasing failure rates. The analysis highlights the inability of traditional time-driven preventive maintenance alone in preventing failures. Thus, a systematic RCM approach focused on criticality is more beneficial and more time and cost effective than traditional time-driven preventive maintenance practices.Practical implicationsThe study highlights the need for utilizing RCM approach with criticality as the most important prioritization criterion in healthcare. A proper RCM implementation will decrease criticality and minimize the risk of failure, accidents and possible loss of life. In addition to that, it will increase the availability of equipment, and reduce cost and time.Originality/valueThis paper proposes a maintenance methodology that can help healthcare management to improve availability and decrease the risk of critical medical equipment failures. Current practices in healthcare facilities have difficulty identifying the optimal maintenance strategy. Literature focused on medical maintenance approach selection is rather limited, and this paper will help in this discussion. In addition to that, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation supports the initiative of adopting RCM on a large scale in healthcare. Therefore, this paper address the gap in the literature for medical equipment maintenance and the work is in line with the recommendation of leading healthcare association. The paper also presents statistical review of the total number of received maintenance work orders during one full year in the hospital under study. The analysis supports the need for more research to examine current practice and propose more effective maintenance approaches.

Data-Based Maintenance Strategy Analysis using Operational Excellence Approach in Engineering Asset Management

Traditionally, selecting maintenance strategy is based on reliability or cost. In this paper, a further discussion of redesigning the maintenance strategy is presented. The process of redesigning the maintenance strategy applies reliability centered maintenance approach and the result is analyzed further with the approach of operational excellence as presented in the structure of operational excellence. The output from the reliability centered analysis is three recommendations related to maintenance strategy. Then, the recommendations are aligned with the structure of operational excellence. The main conclusion of this study is the operational excellence approach is capable to assist the process to redesign the maintenance strategy by providing the decision maker with a guidance to improve productivity.

Reliability-based preventive maintenance strategies of road junction systems

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a study of reliability-centred maintenance (RCM), which is conducted on the key sub-assets of a newly constructed road junction infrastructure in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachThe classical RCM methodology, a type of RCM, which has a top down, zero-based approach for maintenance analysis, is implemented in this study.FindingsThe implementation of the classical RCM is successful in its application of various PM policies assigned to the assets and it shows that its application in the highway industry could reduce excessive maintenance backlog and frequent reactive maintenance by effective optimisation of its preventive maintenance (PM) intervals.Practical implicationsRoad junctions are originators of more than 70 per cent of road traffic congestion and account for high accident rate. The traditional methods of reliability assurance used in the highway industry such as reactive maintenance and routine maintenance are often inadequate to meet the round the clock usage demands of these assets, thus the consideration for the application of a systematic RCM process for maintaining the system function by selecting and applying effective PM tasks.Originality/valueIt uses an approach that critically develops and analyses thoroughly preventive and continuous maintenance strategy in a new circumstance with environment of uncertainty and limited operating data. The case-based reasoning cycle has been applied in the RCM approach with real-time data obtained from a UK-based network maintenance management system for highway infrastructures.

Reliability Centered Maintenance Practices in Food Industry

The discipline of maintenance in industries has changed more than other management disciplines. This change due to the increase in the number and variety of physical assets, the development of technology, the emergence of new maintenance techniques, and the change in the perspective of maintenance. Maintenance teams in the enterprise generally apply time-based methods to maintain of the physical assets. However, maintenance practices do not always provide the overall equipment efficiency (OEE) expected from the equipment. Reliability centered maintenance (RCM) is an approach that determines what the equipment is able to fully perform its tasks in the present process. In this study, the application of RCM approach on packaging machines and its effect on OEE are explained.

A reliability centred maintenance approach for assessing the impact of maintenance for availability improvement of carding machine

A reliability centred maintenance approach for assessing the impact of maintenance for availability improvement of carding machine

A reliability centred maintenance approach for assessing the impact of maintenance for availability improvement of carding machine

The complex nature of modern equipment and systems often leads to failures and, as a consequence, an increase in machine downtime, thus affecting production. The failures of machines cause disruptions in production, resulting in the loss of availability of the system and increase the cost of maintenance. This paper presents a reliability centred maintenance (RCM) methodology to improve the availability of carding machine in textile industry. The main objective of this paper is to present a RCM approach for improving the availability of the carding machine and thus maximise the production output. Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is used for analysing the failures in the machine. The preventive measure to reduce the failure frequency and its impact are proposed. The proposed preventive measures result in reduction of about 26% of the total downtime and availability improvement of approximately 1.7%, as compared with the availability due to current maintenance practices.

Investigating reliability centered maintenance (RCM) for public road mass transportation vehicles

Presently public road mass transportation organisations maintain their vehicles using scheduled corrective maintenance which is carried out at the discretion of the organisation. Operating a corrective maintenance policy means that equipment are allowed to operate to failure and are only repaired or replaced when it fails. Corrective maintenance is generally recognised as an inefficient approach to maintaining equipment as the costs in terms of finance and time can be excessive. In many industries, from aerospace to oil production, a system of reliability centered maintenance (RCM) is utilised. RCM estimates when equipment failure can be expected to occur and ensures that maintenance is performed before it does. Using the RCM approach usually results in assets being more reliable, with low equipment failure rates within its mechanical systems. This often results in significant financial benefit to the organisation as operating equipment become more reliable allowing the vehicles to be in service for longer and achieving higher safety standards. This investigation has predicted that potential equipment failure could take place between the vehicle mileage of 6000 -12000 miles. Using the consecutive reading /sampling method together with a set oil spray diameter size alert value of 130 mm, it was possible to further narrow down the potential equipment failure to a vehicle mileage of 10000 miles.

Combining Reliability-Centered Maintenance with Planning Methodology and Applications in Hard Chrome Plating Plants

This article explains the application of the Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) approach to developing maintenance planning in Hard Chrome Plating plants. The key to the RCM purpose is an effectual maintenance planning of plant components inherent in their reliability value. Also, this research aims to reduce machine downtime maintenance that stems from machine breakdown and to select preventive maintenance activities based on the engineering reliability for the machine parts. The first step of the research involves setting a priority for critical parts of the Hard Chrome Plating machine. After that, we analyze the damage and risk level data by using Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) for calculating a suitable reliability parameter. The final step is to select the preventive maintenance task. As a result of this research, the failure rate of the plant can be reduced 9.22% and the machine availability rate of the plant is increased to 80.34% accordingly. Following this theme, a maintenance plan for the plant is conducted with respect to this RCM concept. Application of the RCM approach revealed that the key time between plant equipment failures and the likelihood of abrupt equipment failures are reduced.

A Multicriteria Decision Model for Assessment of Failure Consequences in the RCM Approach

This paper proposes a multicriteria decision model based on MAUT (Multiattribute Utility Theory) incorporated into an RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance) approach in order to provide a better assessment of the consequences of failure, allowing a more effective maintenance planning. MAUT provides an evaluation of probability distributions on each attribute as well as trade-offs involving lotteries. The model proposed takes advantage of such evaluations and it also restructures consequence groups established in an RCM approach into new five dimensions. As a result, overall indices of utility are computed for each failure mode analyzed. With these values, the ranking of the alternatives is established. The decision-maker’s preferences are taken into account so that the final result for each failure mode incorporates subjective aspects based on the decision-maker’s perceptions and behavior.

Arc detection in pantograph‐catenary systems by the use of support vector machines‐based classification

Predictive Maintenance, Prognostics and Reliability Centered Maintenance approach are becoming more and more important in the railway sector to reduce costs of operation and to increase reliability and safety. In fact, these are fundamental to optimize the maintenance process, to define new measures and algorithms which locate faults, to monitor health conditions of subsystems and to estimate residual life of components. In some cases it's possible to use existing sensors and existing processing hardware to extract new information from the existing available data. It's clear that this is usually the best option because the benefit can be achieved with little or no cost at all. This paper describes the result of a study performed with the aim of detecting arcing events without the need of additional equipment mounted on board the train. A set of data relative to voltage and current collected on high speed trains along with a set of measurements coming from photosensors are available. The data are processed by the use of an advanced classification technique, Support Vector Machines, with the aim of extracting important information such as the time coordinate related to anomalies in the overhead contact line and the status of the pantograph contact strip.

An integer linear programming approach to maintenance strategies selection

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a reliability centered maintenance (RCM) embedded integer linear programming approach (suited to the budget monetary resources allocation task) to the maintenance strategies mix selection for an industrial plant equipment. Design/methodology/approach – The developed approach allows to determine the optimal maintenance strategies mix for a set of equipment in a more quantitative way than the classic RCM approach. The proposed model takes into account, for each potential failure determined using the FMECA and for each admissible strategy, the costs and the potential risk priority number (RPN) reduction. Finally, an industrial case concerning an Italian paper-mill plant is reported to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach presented. Findings – The paper finds that the application of the proposed approach allows to optimally allocate the budget monetary resources, determining which suitable maintenance practice apply to each failure, taking into account the costs of each strategy and the potential reduction of the RPN. Practical implications – The proposed model permits to assign (during the budget monetary resources allocation task) to each failure the optimal strategy, among a set of suitable maintenance practices, considering the costs and the estimated RPN reduction. Originality/value – The paper proposes a completely new RCM embedded approach to the maintenance strategies selection, in order to optimally allocate the budget monetary resources. This model overcomes the limits of the traditional RCM approach, taking into account quantitative aspects, i.e. the compatibility constraint between failures and policies, the maintenance strategies costs, and the RPN estimated reduction.