How to achieve reliability at work?

Every entrepreneur would like their business to run smoothly and all its departments, components and machinery to be reliable. Fortunately, it is possible to achieve something like this with RCM – Reliability Centered Maintenance. RCM consists of four essential features of the system, but seven necessary steps must be followed to implement them.

What stages are needed to gather the relevant information?

Start by selecting a system and getting the essential data. Later, the boundaries that will define the framework of the programme to be analysed need to be determined. The third stage is to draw up a description of the system together with a functional diagram. The fourth stage is the expression of the system function and the definition of the faults that cause system vulnerabilities. Stage five is to reflect on the cause-and-effect process concerning the damage mentioned earlier. On the other hand, the sixth stage is assigning all faults a logical place in the symbolic tree structure. The seventh and final stage is to choose the right actions and put them into practice.

What are the things to bear in mind?

RCM is about rationalising and justifying actions for maintenance and throwing out-of-circulation decisions based on assumptions or once top-down, typical tasks or responsibilities. The second important thing is the staff’s experience – this is very important throughout the RCM process and used appropriately at each stage mentioned. The third thing is the cooperation of the whole team, not just its superiors, which directly impacts the outcome of such activities.

What is also important are the four categories on which the service activities are based. These are activities based on a time schedule, diagnostics, search for hidden faults, or operation of a particular machine.

The advantage of using RCM is that it aims to collect and use information simultaneously. RCM is an action based on logic, getting to the real causes of a problem, not a repair for the sake of repair. The RCM strives for the most effective actions based on discussion and action by employees exchanging valuable experiences with each other. The system focuses on the selection of specific activities and the validation of those choices.

The key to getting the process right is to select the right people for the analysis group and arrange a timetable by which their work will be most effective. All of this, individually and together, dramatically enhances the quality of the work.

Working with RCM demonstrates the importance of creating a proper problem-solving process. Taking a practical approach to a task that is solved, not to tick it off the to-do list, but eliminating the problem and learning how not to make the mistakes that led to the fault again, is highly edifying. If you add to this the fact that the system not only takes into account the opinion of employees but relies on it, it can be said with certainty that RCM is not only effective but also plays the role of improving the ‘morale’ of employees, which should be one of the priorities of every employer these days.