Increasing of equipment reliability by RCM application

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, maintenance has changed, perhaps more than any other management discipline. Managers seek new methods that can be implemented in their current maintenance systems or they strive for radical change of the maintenance system. In recent years, TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) and RCM (Reliability Centred Maintenance) have been recommended as appropriate methods to improve maintenance. While the TPM method has already been described in the literature and some examples of its practical applications can be found, the second method (RCM) has not been sufficiently clarified even in theory and so far it has not been fully implemented in any of the Czech companies. It therefore seems helpful to state benefits of RCM by way of the example of the selected maintenance system and to outline the basic principles that should be observed in its application.