Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)

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A properly implemented and managed RCM program can save millions in unscheduled maintenance and breakdowns. However, many have found the process daunting. Written by an expert with over 30 years of experience, this book introduces innovative approaches to simplify the RCM process such as: single vs. multiple failure analysis, hidden failures analysis, potentially critical components analysis, run-to-failure and the difference between redundant, standby, and backup functions. Included are real life examples of flawed preventive maintenance programs and how they led to disasters that could have easily been avoided. Also illustrated in detail, with real-life examples, is the step-by-step process for developing, implementing, and maintaining a premier classical RCM program. Senior management, middle management, supervisors, and craftsmen/technicians responsible for plant safety and reliability will find this book to be invaluable as a means for establishing a first class preventive maintenance program.

Neil Bloom received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Miami, where he also minored in economics. He has a unique depth of experience as a practitioner of RCM and preventive maintenance programs having worked in close association for over 30 years with the two leading-edge federal agencies most responsible for reliability and safety, namely the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). His RCM experience in commercial aviation and nuclear power has been in both Engineering and Maintenance, where the RCM process meets its most formidable challenges for successful implementation. RCM can be a powerful reliability tool but unfortunately, and unjustly, it has become what is greatly perceived as a complex, difficult, and costly undertaking. As a result, the author has introduced innovative concepts allowing the classical RCM process to reach a new plateau for the average layperson, thusly making the entire process less daunting, more straightforward and simpler. He explains what can and what cannot be done - what works and what doesn’t work - he understands where the pitfalls are and how to avoid them. Mr. Bloom has been a guest speaker on RCM at national and international conferences including the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Nuclear Society (ANS), the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) which is operated by the University of Chicago for the Department of Energy (DOE), the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria.