Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is a time-honored, proven process that helps organizations achieve their Maintenance and Reliability goals. But, it’s often misunderstood and misapplied. In “Everyday RCM,” Nancy Regan sets forth RCM’s principles and purpose in a straightforward (and often fun!) manner using “everyday” examples. (She even gets Elvis, Batman, Chewbacca, and Vegas showgirls involved to help debunk some of RCM’s biggest misconceptions.) Enjoy!
Do you have to apply Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) to every asset? Of course not! In this short video, I explain how RCM can be applied as broadly or as narrowly as you need, depending on your organization’s specific needs. Don’t worry about doing RCM for everything—just focus where it matters most!
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What Is SAE JA1011? The International Standard for Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)
In today’s video, I explain SAE JA1011, the internationally recognized standard that sets the minimum criteria for any process to be called Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). Published in 1999, this 12-page document was created to ensure that the term “RCM” is used correctly, following the original principles defined by Stanley Nowlan and Howard Heap. If you’re ever presented with a process claiming to be RCM, SAE JA1011 is your go-to reference to verify that the process is True RCM.
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Do You Need a Formal Criticality Analysis to Select Equipment for RCM? In today’s video, I answer a common question: is a formal criticality analysis required to determine what equipment should undergo Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)? While you can perform a formal criticality analysis, it’s not always necessary. One of the best ways to get started with RCM is to focus on equipment that causes chronic downtime or has the highest costs. Starting small with pilot projects on your highest pain points is a practical approach. Join me in beautiful Santiago, Chile, as I share how common sense can guide your RCM efforts, ensuring you get the reliability you need without overcomplicating the process.
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If you’re managing equipment that’s 10, 20, or even 40 years old, it may be time to revisit some of the maintenance tasks you’ve put in place. In today’s video, I explain why it’s essential to periodically review your proactive maintenance tasks and other strategies as your equipment ages and how Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) principles can help.
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Hi everyone, I’m Nancy Regan, coming to you from beautiful Key Largo, Florida! ☀️ In today’s video, I’m discussing who’s responsible for reliability in an organization. Just like the intricate root systems of mangroves, every part of your organization plays a role in creating a strong and effective Reliability Culture.
From operators and maintainers to engineers and management, everyone must be involved to achieve the reliability you need from your equipment. Watch the full video to learn why building an effective Reliability Culture is essential and learn how to do it!
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In this short video, I explain the key concept of Failure Modes—the specific causes of Functional Failures—and why they are the foundation of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM).
Just like not all dollar bills are created equal, Failure Modes vary in severity, and some can have a much greater impact on your equipment’s Reliability.
Learn why proactively identifying Failure Modes is critical to managing your assets effectively and how RCM can help you achieve the Reliability you need—without overpaying for it.
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Why Do Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Analyses Fail?
Hi everyone, I’m Nancy Regan, and in today’s video, I’m coming to you from the ancient ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico! Standing in front of the “ball game” court, I’m reminded of one of the biggest reasons why Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) analyses often fail.
Just like trying to learn everything about this historic site in a few minutes, many organizations attempt to implement RCM after reading a book or taking a quick course, without truly understanding the process. In this video, I explain why having a deep understanding of RCM is crucial to carrying out a successful analysis—and how going into too little or too much detail can cause problems.
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Hi everyone, I’m Nancy Regan, and in today’s video, I’m breaking down what makes Reliability Centered Maintenance truly “Centered.” Using a real-life example from my own vehicle—where my fan only works on level four, causing all sorts of noise issues—I explain how defining the function of an asset is the key to understanding its reliability needs.
I walk through how writing Functions is the foundation of the RCM process, ensuring assets are maintained to meet the specific needs of their operating context. From there, I explain how this noisy fan failure creates non-operational consequences in my case, and why, in this situation, it’s okay to run this particular Failure Mode to failure. What does the “Centered” in Reliability Centered Maintenance mean? Watch to find out!
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Hi everyone, I’m Nancy Regan, coming to you from the Watermelon Festival in Russellville, Alabama! In today’s video, I talk about how Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) can help you find the “sweet spot” when choosing proactive maintenance tasks for your equipment.
Just like every watermelon has a sweet spot, RCM helps you pinpoint the best maintenance task for each Failure Mode. Using a simple example like “oil degrades due to normal use,” I explain how RCM guides you to decide between different options, such as Scheduled Replacements or Condition Based Maintenance. By answering the RCM questions, you can figure out which task is the most cost-effective or reduces the risk of failure to an acceptable level.
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Hi everyone, I’m Nancy Regan, coming to you from The Watermelon Festival in Russellville, Alabama! In today’s video, I share one of the most common mistakes organizations make when it comes to Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)—and why this often leads to failed analyses.
Using a simple analogy of growing watermelons, I explain how RCM can go wrong when the right people aren’t involved. Just like watermelons need the right conditions to grow, RCM needs experienced facilitators and equipment experts to ensure the process succeeds.
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Hi everyone, I’m Nancy Regan, coming to you from Key Largo, Florida! In today’s video, I’m breaking down how to determine if a preventive maintenance task is the right action to take and how often it should be done, using the principles of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM).
I’ll walk you through a simple example—changing the engine oil in my 2014 Subaru Forester—and explain how preventive maintenance task intervals are assigned based on the Useful Life. You’ll learn how to assess the useful life of your assets and decide when to perform a scheduled replacement or a scheduled restoration task. I also demonstrate this using failure pattern B, showing you the conditional probability of failure.
[Read more…]In today’s video, I’m at Lover’s Leap in Chattanooga, Tennessee, exploring how to build an effective Reliability Culture using Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). A common challenge in many organizations is the disconnect between teams — Maintenance, Operations, and upper management aren’t always on the same page, which can lead to costly downtime, safety issues, and inefficiencies.
But there’s hope. By adopting a Facilitated working group approach to RCM, you can bring your teams together with a shared goal — good Reliability. In this video, I share how RCM can foster understanding amongst team members, break down silos, and create an effective Reliability Culture that leads to better performance and a solid Return on Investment (ROI).
Key Points Covered:
Watch the full video to see how RCM can help transform your organization over time.
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In this short video, I explain the concept of the P-F Interval and its crucial role in Condition Based Maintenance (CBM). Understanding the P-F Interval is essential for determining how often to perform CBM tasks (and Predictive Maintenance task intervals) to catch Potential Failures before they become full-blown failures. Learn how the time between detecting a Potential Failure Condition and the point of failure — known as the P-F Interval — guides your inspection intervals and helps ensure reliability.
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The real cost is not doing it. I have a free RCM Overview course on my channel. There is a playlist with 11 units.
Find the course at Start Here: Free RCM Course by Nancy Regan, “RCM in a Nutshell”.
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Ever wondered how often you should perform preventive maintenance tasks? In just 31 seconds, learn the key concept of Useful Life and how it determines the intervals for Scheduled Replacement and Scheduled Restoration tasks. And learn that Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) does not govern how often you do them.
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