Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM)

A structured process, originally developed in the airline industry, to determine the equipment maintenance strategies required for any physical asset to ensure that it continues to fulfill its intended functions in its present operating context. The assets are decomposed, extensively analyzed, and described, and with this information failure modes and effects analyses are made for the most critical components and the maintenance organization and processes are carefully (re)defined. RCM is particularly useful and feasible for maintenance of identical installations, like aircrafts. A certain level of maintenance maturity is required to ensure accurate and complete asset data.