Question

A power generation plant is looking to appoint a suitable RCM facilitator to oversee the successful implementation of the RCM process in their facility. You need to put together a proposal to the organisation proving that you are what the organisation needs to drive their RCM program. Include the following:

• Explain in detail what RCM means and state the objective of the RCM program.

• Select a suitable approach to implementing the program and motivate why you selected that approach over others.

• Explain who will participate as part of the RCM review team and what is the role of each group within the RCM process.

• Outline your role in the RCM implementation process and show that you have the required skill set to facilitate an RCM process.

• Explain what are the expected benefits of the RCM that the organisation can expect in implementing the RCM program.

• Explain how you would measure the efficiency and the effectiveness of the maintenance program.

Answer 1

As per regulations, only the first four subparts are answered as it is not specified otherwise.

• RCM or Reliability Centred Maintenance is an advantageous process which plays a major role in terms of detecting failures and performing efficient maintenance work in order to remove those anomalies. During the beginning stages of its implementation, RCM was largely applied to the aeronautics and automobile industry in order to balance the high costs of production with substantial profit while spending a significant amount on maintenance. It is implemented to optimize the levels of maintenance in the organization. A specific maintenance strategy is adopted for each layer and function of the organization, thereby reducing costs and maximizing profits.

The objective of the RCM is as follows:

i) It helps in the analysis of failure points in the system and helps to identify those areas for further prevention and elimination in the future.

ii) It helps in deducing a number of steps to ensure high availability of the power plant at all times.

• RCM approach can be implemented by designating some teams which will perform specialized work and will coordinate amongst each other to ensure the smooth running of this approach. These teams will all have reporting heads who would coordinate with the facilitator.

Apart from the aforementioned objectives, some of the advantages of RCM are as follows:

i) It enhances the availability of a power plant.

ii) It significantly reduces maintenance costs.

iii) It provides a comprehensive insight into the working of operations.

Hence I selected this program.

• There will be four main teams under RCM.

i) There will be a Failure Identification Team which work in terms of identifying and locating the various failure points in the whole system arising either due to machine or man.

ii) Based on the input provided by the Failure Identification Team, there will be a separate Failure Removal team which will facilitate the elimination of all those errors by eliminating those errors and/or minimizing them.

iii) An Optimization Team will ensure that all the different processes of the system are coordinated and that they are performing at their optimized levels.

iv) There will be a Maintenance Team which will ensure that all maintenance tasks are performed as per plan.

v) An Operations Team will ensure that there is little to no lack in the system so that all the processes are performing at their optimized best.

• As the RCM Facilitator, it is my responsibility that:

i) I will ensure that all the teams are in sync and coordinated.

ii) There is no bottleneck in the system whereby a huge amount of maintenance work is still pending.

iii) All systems are well-equipped and well-maintained up to date.

iv) There is no excess cost borne by the organization due to improper maintenance.

v) Minimum operational cost due to maintenance is generated.

vi) Maximized profits are ensured due to low maintenance costs.

Aside from operational skills, my teamwork skills, coordination skills, motivational skills and leadership skills along with basic skills like communication and domain knowledge will ensure that I am a perfect fit for this role.