If you want to drastically reduce maintenance costs, stop lost production, eradicate unplanned outages and equipment breakdowns, you need to stop the continual introduction of defects and errors into your operation.

You do that by using quality management practices to drive continuous improvement of your management systems and so continuously improve the business processes, and your peoples’ knowledge.

Abstract:

To reduce maintenance costs and production downtime it is necessary to reduce the causes of the maintenance and downtime. Both maintenance and downtime are an effect and not a cause. The causes can be traced back to defects and errors from a variety of sources. Knowing that defects eventually lead to future equipment failures, production downtime and lost profits, it is necessary put strategies into place to purposely prevent them occurring in the first place and to eliminate them if they are present.

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by Nancy Regan Leave a Comment

RCM Success: What You Can’t Afford to Overlook

True or False? Reading a book or taking an introductory course on Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) enables an organization to successfully implement RCM.

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by André-Michel Ferrari Leave a Comment

Failure free? How come?

Parameter Definition in Statistics

In statistics, parameters are numerical characteristics that describe a population or distribution. They summarize important aspects of the population. For example, in a normal distribution, the mean and variance are key parameters that define the distribution. Parameters are often denoted by Greek letters (e.g., μ for mean) and are used to create a parametric family, which consists of all distributions defined by the same parameters.

There is typically at least one parameter in every distribution. Some distributions can have different multiples of parameters. The exponential can have up to two, the lognormal have up to 3. This article deals with the Weibull distribution which can have 2 or 3 parameters.

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by Mike Sondalini Leave a Comment

Never, Never, Never Use FRACAS Like This

The article was written to cause people to question traditional approaches to FRACAS. In time senior managers in companies will come to realise that FRACAS has little chance of successfully improving their company. They then can instead look for what does work to move their operations to world class production performance.

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by James Reyes-Picknell Leave a Comment

“Uptime”, will There be a Fourth Edition?

Uptime is now in its 3rd edition

My book, “Uptime – Strategies for Excellence in Maintenance Management”, now in its 3^rd edition includes a chapter on “Evidence Based Asset Management”. It emphasizes the use of historical data, enhanced (substantially in most cases) by “evidence” from experts obtained through a structured interview process of “knowledge elicitation.”

The questions asked are not leading, they are designed to get at reliability related information from the experiences of those who generally do not understand the mathematics of reliability. That process is painstakingly accurate and tedious. Projects that I was involved in, involved highly educated reliability and data science experts, and took upwards of 6 months to produce analytical results that could be used.

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by George Williams Leave a Comment

Empowerment

True empowerment isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a crucial element in effective leadership. In this video, George Williams, Founder and CEO of Reliability X, breaks down the last building block of the Leadership domain within the Maintenance and Reliability Best Practices (MRBP) framework.

Empowerment requires more than a simple declaration—it takes confidence, knowledge, training, and the right organizational culture to truly make a difference. Learn how leaders can create an environment where empowerment thrives, fostering innovation and driving success.

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by Nancy Regan Leave a Comment

5 Essential Skills Every RCM Facilitator Needs

In today’s video, we’ll outline the educational background and work experience required for an RCM Facilitator, as well as the essential skills and abilities necessary for effective RCM Facilitation.

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by Mike Sondalini Leave a Comment

31 Best Practice Maintenance Management Tips

Here is a simple checklist of 31 maintenance management tips that you can use to improve your reliability and maintenance results.

Use it as a guide to start you thinking which maintenance management improvement strategies to use to lower your maintenance and operational costs.

The 31 maintenance management tips list below takes the form of a bullet-point list so it can be quickly reviewed. Should you wish more information in detail on any of the 31 maintenance management tips, then please read the PDF article 31 Sure Ways to Lower Operating Assets Maintenance Costs and Improve Reliability. If you have any questions from the article please contact us on the email address shown in the Contact Us page.

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by Nancy Regan Leave a Comment

The Truth About RCM Facilitators: Responsibilities Revealed

True or False? The RCM Facilitator is responsible for checking the technical validity of the RCM Working Group’s answers to the RCM questions.

False! In this video, we explore the true role of the RCM Facilitator, highlighting their responsibilities and why they should not be an expert on the equipment being analyzed.

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by Mike Sondalini Leave a Comment

Contents of a Reliability Improvement Policy

That drive a reliability growth and improvement.

A RELIABILITY IMPROVEMENT POLICY IS A DOCUMENT CONTAINING A SET OF PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE DECISION MAKING AND ACTIONS. IT TELLS HOW RELIABILITY WILL BE ACHIEVED IN AN OPERATION. IT COVERS THE WHOLE ASSET LIFE CYCLE AND SAYS WHAT WILL BE DONE AT EACH PHASE TO DELIVER RELIABILITY.

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Unfortunately, we have been operating in a crisis manner without a reliability improvement policy. Have you samples of a Reliability Improvement Policy that I can use as a basis of crafting one for my organization — do you have anything to share?
As I have stated in the past, the materials you post have been a big blessing to my work. You have definitely empowered me with great information that I see changing the way people work.

Hello Friend,

Industries using machines require them to run reliably (no failures or unplanned stoppages) with high availability (ready for immediate use) and high utilization (continuously in use) all their working life.

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by James Reyes-Picknell Leave a Comment

Getting the Right Parts

Getting the right parts for your maintenance isn’t quite as easy as you might think. To begin with they must be included in your spares inventory and stocked on your site. If not, they must be purchased when needed. If you are reacting to a breakdown, you will need them in a hurry, and you may find yourself short. Why does that happen? And, what can you do about it? Missing parts can cost you time – time that the equipment is down and not producing. Your operators are idled and your supply chain folks are scrambling to help you. That increases maintenance and operating costs, reduces production output and reduces available working capital. Those parts are like gold to your operation!

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by Nancy Regan 2 Comments

The Biggest FMEA Mistake You Can’t Afford to Make!

In this video, I reveal one of the most common mistakes people make when writing Failure Modes in a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA).

Too often, people confuse Failure Modes with Failure Effects, leading to wasted time and ineffective results. But don’t worry! I’ll show you how to avoid this by asking one simple question: “What specifically causes…?” This technique helps ensure you develop proactive strategies that improve equipment reliability, avoid unexpected downtime, and strengthen your overall maintenance plan

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by Joe Anderson Leave a Comment

Team Building: Strengthening Connections for Success

The power of a strong team cannot be overstated. Teams drive innovation, solve complex problems, and deliver results that no individual could achieve alone. Yet, successful teamwork doesn’t happen by chance—it requires intentional effort through team building.

Team building is the art and science of creating connections, fostering collaboration, and aligning individuals toward a common goal. While it’s often associated with trust falls and icebreaker games, effective team building goes far beyond these surface-level activities. It focuses on strengthening relationships, improving communication, and establishing a shared sense of purpose.

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by Mike Sondalini Leave a Comment

Contents of a Reliability Improvement Plan

Unfortunately, we have been operating in a crisis manner without a reliability improvement policy. Have you samples of a Reliability Improvement Policy that I can use as a basis of crafting one for my organization — do you have anything to share?
As I have stated in the past, the materials you post have been a big blessing to my work. You have definitely empowered me with great information that I see changing the way people work.
[Read more…]

by Nancy Regan Leave a Comment

Do We Analyze Every Failure Mode?

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Myths

True or False? Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) seeks to analyze every Failure Mode.

False! In this short video, I clarify that RCM provides specific criteria for selecting which Failure Modes to include in the analysis. Discover the four criteria that guide this selection process. They include those that:

Have happened before
Have not happened, but are a real possibility.
Have not happened, are unlikely to occur, but have severe consequences.
Are currently managed via proactive maintenance.

Join me, Nancy Regan, as we break down these criteria and enhance your understanding of RCM!

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