A State of Confusion

I'm beginning to have a love/hate relationship with the internet. The technology that allowed me to launch my business and build a brand name for RCM Blitz™ has in recent years become a place where there is so much information it has become difficult for people to find good information.

Add to this the bombardment of information and misinformation that comes from social media sites like linkedin, AMP and facebook and we now have a problem of making sure that the people who want information in regard to Reliability Centered Maintenance or Reliability Tools get good information.

As an example, just today I was reading through a discussion some folks were having in regard to a post in AMP titled; definition of Proactive Maintenance. As it turns out, it is quite clear that as an industry the field of maintenance and reliability has no standard definitions to terms we pass around like candy on Halloween. Looking at the ten or twelve people who made an attempt to define proactive maintenance it would seem that there are at least 6 different definitions. And, when I say different, we are talking really different.

Joe M. believes that Proactive Maintenance is work we do before something fails.

Steve P. thinks proactive maintenance is PdM.

Leslie M. says Proactive maintenance is using reliability tools like RCM and TPM to identify failures and eliminate them through precision maintenance or redesign.

Jared D. in firm in his stance that proactive maintenance includes everything listed so far.

Doug P. - the wise guy says I don't like the word proactive, it’s over used so he would prefer we just say he believes in a complete maintenance strategy based on failure modes. Big Help!

If the dialog wasn't confusing enough contribution number 14 comes in and states; "I have no idea why anyone would build a maintenance strategy around failure modes, after all a failure mode is a symptom or how we observe failure".

My blood pressure is rising because what Mr. 14 has described is a failure effect.

Where in the world would someone come up with such a definition for the word failure mode?

The answer to this question as simple, just Google search the term Failure Mode and look at the results!

Wikkipedia defines failure mode as "•Failure causes are defects in design, process, quality, or part application, which are the underlying cause of the failure or which initiate a process which leads to failure"

R.Black from Sqablogs.com uses this definition "•A particular way, in terms of symptoms, behaviors, or internal state changes, in which a failure manifests itself. For example, a heat dissipation problem in a CPU might cause a laptop case to melt or warp, or memory mismanagement might cause a core dump."

Bingo!

Hello??? Is anyone listening??? Where the heck did these definitions come from?

Let me make this clear, if you ever want the definition to a term that as used as part of RCM, please consult the original RCM document authored by F. Stanley Nowlan and Howard S. Heap.

Nowlan and Heap's definition of failure mode, "The specific manner of failure; the circumstances or sequence of events that lead to functional failure."

Does that sound like a failure effect to you?

Of course NOT!

Does the definition make sense?

Yes, and this might be because Stan Nowlan and Howard Heap knew a little about RCM before they began writing about it. When it comes the the world wide web, the only experience needed is you need to be able to open a site like wikkipedia and enter a definition. And, when it comes to a term that is seldom used and industry specific, you can pretty much define it anyway you want. No experience necessary!

When it comes to RCM I know from experience how important it is to get things right the first time; so, tonight I find myself once again paging through the web wondering how to calm the state of confusion!

RCM Blitz.com -----> Gearing up for Growth

I have to say I am excited about the future of RCM Blitz, we have just launched our new and improved RCM Blitz website www.rcmblitz.com where our customers and those still learning about RCM Blitz can click in and learn about what is new with our RCM Blitz and also communicate with our practitioners in regard to their ongoing RCM effort.

So what is new and exciting?

Let's start with the RCM Blitz Blog. In the past I have been blogging here at the RCM Blitz blogspot page, in the very near future the two sites will be linked, my library of blogs will available at the site and down eventually the blog will be located full time on the RCM Blitz site. One of the great things about the RCM Blitz blog is it allows me to communicate with our customers and practitioners in regard to process improvements, the wins we are having with our customers on a regular basis and most important it is a great venue to learn about good Reliability Centered Maintenance practices.

How about Public Training events?

In the past we have provided public RCM Blitz training events on a as needed basis. The new site will allow our company and our customers to plan and schedule RCM Blitz public training events around the world months in advance. Finding a RCM Blitz public event will no longer involve searching on-line for locations or contacts, simply click on the public events link at the bottom of the home page and the information you need to locate and register will be available on-line.

Learn about our Facilitators

Training a good RCM Facilitator takes time, training a RCM Blitz facilitator takes time, leadership, patience, discipline and experience. Look through and read about the experience of GPAllied's RCM facilitators and you will find a crew of people with years of actual hands on experience in, maintenance, engineering, management, reliability, safety, quality, lean manufacturing and leadership. A group of people who challenge one another on a regular basis, a group trained to expect and accept nothing but the best when it comes to RCM facilitations. Each person in this group has had extensive training and mentoring in the RCM Blitz process and each has achieved and sustained certification as RCM Blitz Facilitators.

Case Studies

At the time of launch we are showing just one case study on the site as we are waiting on signatures from several others to share the stories of success. I look forward to sharing our success stories on a regular basis!

So today I am asking you all if you would, take some time and look at the new and improved RCMBlitz.com!

The Two Faces of RCM - Getting Things Started With RCM Blitz

I had a conference call this morning with some potential clients in regard to rolling out a RCM Blitz™ effort. The sad thing about Reliability Centered Maintenance is the reputation the tool has acquired over the last 40 years has one of two faces.

The sad, tragic and more popular face is that if the Resource Consuming Monster. The reputation that RCM is too detailed, that it takes too long, and that by the time you finish your analysis there are no recourses and there is no money left for implementation. According to a survey conducted on ReliabilityWeb.com nearly 70% of all RCM implementations fail, with statistics like this, it is a wonder the tool still exists.

The second face of RCM is one of success. This is the Reliability Centered Maintenance that F. Stanley Nowlan and Howard S. Heap introduced the world to in 1978. The RCM process that improves equipment and process reliability while reducing health, safety and environmental incidents and accidents.

This is also the face of Reliability Centered Maintenance we introduce our customers to when they commit to training RCM Blitz™ facilitators or invite one of our facilitators in to perform a RCM analysis. Our customers know the real face of RCM because we take the time to share experience in what it takes to be successful in Reliability Centered Maintenance.

The First Key Step to Successful RCM

1) We start with a plan. While most companies begin by selling their training or services, we know every successful RCM effort starts with a plan because every one of our customers is different. Just look at the following different scenarios;

- Company A needs a quick win to get some buy-in from upper management.

- Company B believes they would like to train their own internal RCM facilitators.

- Company C has support to start a RCM effort and they believe they would like to have our facilitators lead each analysis.

- Company D has had three major incidents on a critical piece of equipment in the last year and they would like to perform a RCM on that asset as soon as possible.

- Company E has tried to make RCM a part of their culture in the past, they now have a new manager who again wants to use RCM to develop their maintenance strategies.

- Company F would like to get started with a RCM program but they only have support from the maintenance side of the business. The operations manager has stated that he will not supply people from his part of the business for the analysis.

- Company G has made contact and their new reliability manager attended a conference and wants them to learn about RCM. They have no idea what reliability centered maintenance is and why he thinks they need it.

While the 7 scenarios listed above might be a bit confusing, for the RCM leaders at GPAllied this is a normal part of the RCM Blitz cycle.

Determine Customer Needs - Work with the customer to determine their needs and continue to work with the customer to develop a plan for success that fits their present work culture. This plan will include full disclosure in regard to the people, time and resources required to ensure a successful effort. A plan that details from day 1 how we will select assets for analysis, how we estimate the time it takes to complete each analysis, individuals, priorities and due dates for implementation and most important, a plan that clearly shows how we plan to measure and prove return on investment.

If you RCM effort doesn't start with a plan, you can plan on it being included in the 70% of RCM efforts that fail!

To learn about RCM Blitz™ and the key steps for RCM success contact Doug Plucknette at plucknetted@alliedreliability.com or call 585-329-7040