A typical Review RCM programme for a medium-sized plant usually takes weeks rather than months to complete .
An example is electrical tests on small motors ( e . g . less than 20kW ). Their MTBF is likely to be in excess of 20 years . Electrical tests , other than safety checks , will almost certainly not be economic and these tests will not guarantee that there will be no failures . A more cost-effective approach is to keep a spare on the shelf
PMs which take several hours to complete , yet production windows are insufficient . As a result , the PMs either do not get scheduled or are only part completed
Inadequate PM work instructions where there are no clear procedures , no tolerances , no photographs , no guidance on specialist tools and spare parts that might be required and nothing on PPE requirements . This can result in PMs being carried out differently by different team members .
An industry that has a history of coupling a painstaking maintenance environment with a rigorous cost-cutting culture is the civil airlines . Despite the focus on costs , the industry has an outstanding safety record . Why do the airlines succeed when so much of industry struggles ?
The development of Reliability Centred Maintenance ( RCM ) is the foundation of their maintenance strategy . Although it is very airlines-orientated and time consuming , many of its principles apply to the food and drink sector . These have been incorporated into an approach called Review RCM .
Review RCM is used to review a company ’ s existing PMs . It is undertaken by a small team of technicians , after a one-day training course , working under the guidance of an experienced RCM facilitator .
The team works through the current PMs , asking a series of questions which include : What is the probable failure pattern of the failure mode which the PM is there to prevent ? Does the PM meet both the RCM technical and worthwhile criteria ? Are the best techniques being used ? Is the task frequency correct ? Has anything been missed , e . g . the testing of protective systems ? Is the right person carrying out the task ? Are the correct spares being held ? Is the level of documentation adequate and are the P & IDs up-to-date ?
The PMs are then modified , replaced or deleted as appropriate .
Review RCM has been used by a wide range of companies in the food and drink sector including brewing , cider , spirits , soft drinks , dairy , yoghurt , chocolate manufacture , desserts , frozen food , canned vegetables and soups , biscuits and bakeries . It frequently leads to 20-30 % reductions in PM workload and significant improvements in plant performance due to the reductions in intrusive maintenance – a ‘ win-win ’ scenario .
A typical Review RCM programme for a medium-sized plant usually takes weeks rather than months to complete .
CONCLUSIONS
Without good preventive maintenance routines , companies will not achieve high plant efficiencies . Review RCM provides a quick and cost-effective method of ensuring that PM routines are appropriate , relevant and worthwhile .
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