RCM (Reliability-Centred Maintenance)
Reliability-centred maintenance is a structured method for deciding the most effective maintenance strategy for each asset based on how it can fail and the consequences. It matches tactics — run-to-failure, preventive or predictive — to each failure mode.
RCM analyses each asset's functions, failure modes and consequences (safety, environmental, operational, cost), then selects the maintenance approach that best manages each one. The result is a rational mix: run-to-failure for cheap, low-consequence items; preventive or predictive maintenance where failure is costly or dangerous. FMEA is a common tool within RCM.
Related terms
FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) · Predictive Maintenance (PdM) · Preventive Maintenance