Overview of the Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Module

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is a process to establish the safe minimum levels of maintenance while ensuring an equipment continues to perform to its design function within the current operating context. It achieves this by providing a means for determining optimal maintenance and operational strategies based on the probability and consequence of the analyzed failure modes.

The GE Digital APM RCM implementation utilizes the following seven basic questions that are outlined in SAE Standard JA1012, "Evaluation Criteria for Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) Processes":

Functions: What are the functions and desired performance of the (asset or system) in its present operating context?
Functional Failures: In what ways can it fail to fulfill its functions?
Failure Mode: What causes each functional failure?
Failure Effect: What happens when each failure occurs?
Failure Consequences: In what way does each failure matter?
Recommended Actions: What should be done to predict or prevent each failure?
Default Actions: What should be done if a suitable RCM task cannot be found?