Elevator description of LRCM

Someone asked for a LRCM description that is easy to grasp in a short sales oriented narrative? In other words what is elevator pitch?

Here it is. This might be a longer than average elevator ride, though:

For many decades now, maintenance engineers have tried to harvest data to improve the reliability and cost of operating the physical assets in their operations. They have gathered, manipulated, displayed, and stored data in great quantities. Today, limitless data emanates from the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) as well as from Condition Monitoring programs such as vibration monitoring ,oil analysis, and equipment embedded sensors. Operational and control data from control systems and real time databases add more complexity to the problem of achieving reliability from fact. Despite concerted efforts a simplistic cost/benefit relationship between the human energy exerted in data centered activities on the one hand and asset reliability, availability, and profitability on the other, has eluded vendors, engineers, and managers.

Enter the missing link, living Reliability Centered Maintenance (LRCM), a logical process by which to expose, track, and extract bottom line benefits from each maintenance initiative undertaken over the years. LRCM binds reliability centered knowledge to the maintenance work order system. Each significant work order will, as a result of that relationship, contribute a usable data point to the analysis of reliability. Why analyze reliability? There can be no measurable improvement in maintenance performance without first having conducted Reliability Analysis (RA). Further, there can be no RA without having acquired samples of data points (called histories or life cycles) at the granularity of the “Failure Mode”. Well tried conventional “failure codes” have not providec the data needed for RA. This explains the paucity of evidence based decision making in maintenance today. LRCM addresses this gap by empowering maintenance staff to surmount three challenges that obstruct the achievement of reliability from data.

1. Management of the relationship between the work order system and the RCM knowledge base.
2. Sample generation.
3. Reliability analysis.

LRCM applies fundamental RCM thinking to each challenge by combining technology solutions that encourage vital human participation and control over the entire process. Key information needed from the CMMS is “age” or “life” or “event” data. Simply, LRCM enables the referencing and growth of knowledge. Each significant work order becomes, through LRCM, both an instance of a Failure Mode and a point in a sample essential for conducting a Reliability Analysis and developing practical, verifiable day-to-day work selection decision models  that optimize maintenance activities.

There it is in a nutshell. Fifteenth floor.

© 2011 – 2014, Murray Wiseman. All rights reserved.