2nd International Conference on Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (ICRSET’2014), March 21-22, 2014 Dubai (UAE)

Study Reliability Centered Maintenance

(RCM) of Rotating Equipment through
Predictive Maintenance
Mariam Altaf Tarar

industries usually preventive maintenance strategy or

Abstract----Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is the scheduled maintenance is followed. According to Herbaty, to
structured framework of preserving equipment functions, rather than prevent equipment from breakdownsperiodic actions
preserving physical asset.RCM is used to formulate planned areperformed at predetermined time interval in preventive
maintenance program that will ensure availability of equipment with
maintenance or, to keep it in proper working condition these
both reliability and maintainability. This paper presents XYZ
Company case, where maintenance can be properly planned while periodic actions performed after the specified extent of
focusing mainly reliability factor of equipment function. It is possible equipment usage (Herbaty, 1990).In 1960s, a new concept
with implementation of Reliability Centered Maintenance, which ofReliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) developed. In the
enables to take maintenance action on basis of decision made with beginning RCM was used in aircraft industries, and it was
evidence and reduce maintenance staff unnecessary actions. adapted towards jets maintenance (Dekker, 1996). RCM is a
The XYZ Company maintenance strategy is preventive framework and a logical methodof optimizingresources of
maintenance. This preventive maintenance may supported by
manually collected data of any parameter to trace machine health and maintenance not only for physical asset’s maintenancebut also
condition. Usually this data indicates abnormality after appearance of in its operating context to preserve function. RCM examines
failure. This paper evaluates effectiveness of existing maintenance the equipment functions, potential failures, risk associated with
strategy with improvement proposals. It shows RCM process and a the failure and itsseven-review step philosophy is helpful to
case studyof paint booth fans process. evaluate “inherent reliability”. With help of RCM it is possible
The paper reveals that the successful RCM implementation in any to select an effective maintenance strategy that will offer
industry can ensure better performance to take competitive advantage
“inherent reliability” of equipment (Samantaet al., 2001).
in global market.

Keywords— RCM, Rotating Equipment. II. OBJECTIVE

The main objective of this research is to study Reliability
I. BACKGROUND Centered Maintenance strategy and the benefits of its
implementation for the equipment atXYZ Company. This
M AINTENANCE is routine recurring effort, which is
needed to preserve equipment in a state in which
equipment can perform its intended function. In order to
paper evaluates pitfalls ofXYZ Company existing maintenance
strategy, and its improvement proposal through RCM
compete in global market, industries must focus all framework. So, the RCM analysis will provide the optimum
performance disciplines and to ensure machine availability maintenance strategy and proper time to plan and perform
maintenance department got importance and enhancing maintenance action before failure occurs. It will facilitate
capabilities and strategy. Like all other management maintenance staff in decision making by providing evidence.
disciplines, maintenance has also entirely changed during the
past twenty years. In early ages, the breakdown maintenance III. METHODOLOGY
was commonly practiced, because there was no downtime The research methodology is qualitative andto collect data
awareness. But complexity of machines led to the prevention primary data sources are used. The method of data collection
maintenance in second generation, and then objectives and is observation which is non-participant and structured
strategies of maintenance have rapidly changed from interviewing of maintenance staff of XYZ Company. The case
preventive maintenance to predictive maintenance.In recent study primarily describes existing situation and problems
era, the significance of effectiveness of operational equipment facing with this existing preventive maintenance strategy
raised, which is related to plant capacity (Raouf, 2004). So, the because of the different opinions of people about an issue and
concluded maintenance strategy requires balance between having different observations based on individuals experience
reliability of plant and cost of maintenance. In Pakistan and skill, and usually have variation. So the data is collected,
and analyzed to improve this situation.
Mariam Altaf Tarar, Institute of Quality and Technology
Management, Pakistan.

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IV. EXISTING PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE AND ANALYSIS The car paint process is important not only in aesthetic
The critical equipment in existing situation is monitored on aspects of car but also it has direct impact on the business. Car
basis of manual observation of staff on duty and data collected Paint quality cannot be compromised because it is an integral
feature of a business to generate repeated sales. The purpose of
by them on daily basis.With this method of monitoring
paint is to get smooth, uniform and shiny coats which can
parameters, it is very difficult to predict failure accurately on
withstand extreme conditions of sunlight, rain or dust and
the basis of manual data collected by hearing or visualizing
tends to last long. So the paint booth process plays vital role to
equipment. The pitfalls of this method are given below; fulfill all requirements of finishing process,as given below.
1. This observation based data is not indicating any • Shiny and glamorous look,
boundary limit of eachparameter. • corrosion and rust prevention,
2. This method identifies abnormality when actually failure • Resistant to fading due to sun and ultraviolet rays,
occurs and left marks of failures.
3. It enables to alarm imminent failure and reduce the In process of Painting and Drying Spray boothplays an
chances to take remedial action before failure occurs. important role where the selected critical components are fans.
4. The daily monitoring every 3hours that requires extra In Painting and Drying Spray booth the vehicle is painted
manpower to check and handle this manually collected through a spray gun with air channel, which works under low
inappropriate data, which is on the basis of senses of sight, pressure, followed by drying. The ceiling filter system derives
smell, touch and hearing. air from outside of the facility, into the booth. Paint stop filters
5. Unneeded preventive maintenance task performed to just hold paint particles which are decomposed from air. Spray
fulfill schedule requirement. No proper health monitoring of booth contains diesel burner and fan-motor units. A channel
equipment. connection to units for air circulation is executed and installed
on the facility floor.
Proposed Maintenance Action Plan: The most important and critical functionof a spray booth is
• Classify and selecting equipment for maintenance, managing its airflow maintaininguniform velocity in
unidirectional layers. The managed airflow results in two
• RCM Process Seven Questions & Answers,
advantages,
• Select RCM strategy.
• Maximum efficiency of the paint sprayed in the Paint
Classify equipment for maintenance booth,
• And improved finish quality through directing
First of all it is required to classify all equipment for overspray away from the painted finish.
selectingappropriate maintenance type according to Air supply house supplies air to the booth after conditioning
requirement. The two methods used to select equipment are and filtering, minimizingtemperature variations and removing
Criticality Analysis and Selection Question method that is particulates that compromise finish quality.
usually employed. Intake air moving across the painting operation conveys the
overspray into the water curtain and the water wash apparatus,
which then works to move the water in such a way as to trap
and separate the particulate from the recycling water.
Process flow of paint booth is shown in fig 5, with sequence
of operation and sequence of equipment.

Fig. 1 Classifying Equipment for maintenance

There are four components of RCM program which are,

1. Reactive Maintenance
2. Preventive Maintenance
3. Predictive Maintenance
4. Proactive Maintenance

Step # 1 Equipment Selection

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Step # 2 RCM Process Seven Questions & Answers:

1. What are the functions and associated desired standards of
performance of the asset in its present operating context
(functions)?

Delivery of air into the booth or circulation of it is

provided by fans, having the capacity of 360 m³ / min. In
this unit air is delivered to the booth after being filtered by
a pre-filter. Additionallyoutput air is controlled by a
damper in the output air channel.

1. In what ways can it fail to fulfill its functions

(functional failures)?
TABLE III
FUNCTIONAL FAILURES
Function Function Failure

Delivery of the air into the booth 1. Unable to rotate at 1460 rpm
or circulation of it is provided by
fans while meeting all quality, 2. Unable to meet quality
health, safety, and environmental standards
standards.
3. Unable to meet health,
safety, and environmental
standards.

2. What causes each functional failure (failure modes)?

Vibration is due to the repeating forces in machines which are

mostly due to the rotation of imbalanced and misaligned parts
and may be due to the following,
• Looseness
• Contamination
• Oil condition
• Wear and tear
• Defective bearing
3. What happens when each failure occurs (failure
effects)?

Failure may have following effects;

• Broken, deformed, corroded or dirty fan blades.
• Fan may trip
• Machine unavailability
• Unnecessary maintenance at predetermined schedules
to adjust and replace parts regardless of whether or
not the machines are malfunctioning
• Quality problems when machine is running, which
apparently seem functioning normally, but actually
running into trouble and may have yielded losses
rework costs, or worse still, warranty returns by
customers.
4. In what way does each failure matter (failure
consequences)?

Fig. 5 Process flow of paint booth Failure may have following effects;

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 2nd International Conference on Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (ICRSET’2014), March 21-22, 2014 Dubai (UAE)

• High Power Consumption, as machine that is vibrating 6. What should be done if a suitable proactive task cannot
consumes more power. be found (default actions)?
• Cost of lost production Default actions are may be routine preventive maintenance
• Cost of emergency spares procurement at predetermined schedules and cleaning of fan blades or
• Cost of maintenance and additional overheads allowed to breakdown.
• Delayed Shipment resulting in customer dissatisfaction This RCM seven Question process helps to determine the
• Accumulation of unfinished goods or WIP(work in causes of system failures and develop activities targeted to
process) prevent them. The questions are designed to focus on
• Bad company image will be associated with shipment maintaining the required functions of the system and help to
delays and poor quality conclude proactive maintenance strategy.
• Occupational hazards and human discomfort The answers of first four questions, which are related to
5. What should be done to predict or prevent each failure functional failure, causes and effects, are recorded in RCM
(proactive tasks and task intervals)? information sheet as shown in table 4.
In table 5 answers of remaining question is recorded which
Monitoring the vibration characteristics of a machine gives is decision worksheet. Decision worksheet is recorded with the
us an understanding of the ‘health’ condition of the machine. help of answering question in RCM decision diagram related
We can use this information to detect problems that might be to failure consequences, preventive tasks and default actions as
developing. Operating a machine until it breaks down might be shown in Fig 6.
acceptable if the machine was a ‘disposable’ one. Most
machines, however, are not ‘disposable’ due to their cost.
TABLE IV
RCM INFORMATION WORKSHEET
RCM information Worksheet Unit: Paint Booth
Sr. Function
Component: Fans
no
Functional failure Failure mode Failure effect
1) Delivery of the air A) Unable to rotate a) Looseness Broken, deformed, corroded or dirty fan blades.
into the booth or at 1460 rpm Fan may trip
circulation of it is b) Contamination Machine. Unavailability.
provided by fans Unable to meet Unnecessary maintenance at predetermined schedules to adjust and
while meeting all quality standards replace parts regardless of whether or not the machines are
quality, health, c) Oil condition malfunctioning.
safety, and Quality problems when machine is running, it appears to be
environmental Unable to meet d) Wear and tear functioning normally, but into trouble and may have yielded losses,
standards. health, safety, and rework costs, or worse still, warranty returns by customers.
environmental
standards. e) Defective bearing

TABLE V
RCM DECISION WORKSHEET
RCM decision Worksheet Unit: Paint Booth
Component: Fans
H1 H2 H3 Proposed Task
Consequence
Information reference S1 S2 S3 Default action
evaluation
O1 O2 O3

F FF FM H S E O N1 N2 N3 H4 H5 S4
1 A
(a) Y N N Y N Y - - - - Schedule restoration

(b) N N N Y Y - - - - - Schedule On condition

(c) N N N Y Y - - - - - Schedule On condition

(d) N N N Y Y - - - - - Schedule On condition

(e) N N N Y N N Y - - - Schedule discard

maximum efficiency of the paint sprayed while directing
Step # 3 Selecting RCM Strategy: overspray away from the painted finish. Predictive
In process of paint booth, unscheduled breakdown of critical maintenance through vibration monitoring is selected to keep
components like fans can cause production and other the function preserved. The parameter of velocity is selected to
consequential losses. One of the selected critical components monitor such that must it be evenly maintained and balanced at
is fans, in which buff deposit may cause other defects like 0.5mm/sec to perform proper function.
wear, imbalance, etc.Its managed airflow enables to get

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The data collected (Table 6 and Fig 9) is plotted in given selected on basis of RCM analysis instead of preventive
below graph, and analysis performed on these reading revealed maintenance to identify causes of imminent damage. So, it
operation at alarm level. benefits in two ways by repairing equipment before failure and
increase reliability by eliminating root causes. In this way,
RCM helps to plan scheduled maintenance when required, and
scarce economic resources on critical equipment having high
risk of failure.The paper reveals that the XYZ Company can
achieve enhanced production and quality leading to
competitive advantage with successful RCM implementation
through selecting appropriate maintenance strategy.
Due to limited resources and time, the paper showed only
test case of fan of paint booth, but in case it will implemented
on all critical equipment then it will further clarify the
differences and benefits of RCM. So, it is strongly
Fig 9 Equipment Vibration Monitoring Trend report before repair recommended to implement this proposal and analyze the
After trend analysis for default detection, it is found that; situation differences to explore effective Reliability Centered
Maintenance.
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