Copyright <el IFAC Fault Detection.

Supervision and Safety for

Technical Processes. Espoo. Finland. 1994

APPLICATION OF RCM FOR INDUSTRIAL SME's IN

FOUNDRY SECTOR

D.RICHET*, N.COTAINA*, M.GAnRIEL** and K.O'REILLY***

• ADEPA· Agence de laproductique· 17. rue Perier 92120 MONJROUGE. FRANCE

··CRAN ESSTIN • Pare Robert BENZ· 54500 VANDOEUVRE LES NANCY, FRANCE
·"FORBAlRT· Glasvenin . DUBUN 9.1RELAND

Abstract. Reliability Centred Maintenance was introduced in USA during the sixties in the civil avia-
tion industry. This framework is known outside under thc acronym RCM . The use of RCM for more
classical production planlS is not yet dcveloped.
In order 10 obtain an generic and efficient 1001. 15 foundries very different in terms of type. size, level
of ~hnology. geographic I~ation. were chosen to sct up an adapted approach of RCM for this speci-
fic mdustry . The use of thiS "RCM method for smc's" has proved to be a particulary well adapted
approach for the organisation of maintenance in sme's whcre the lack of resources is a major brake.
In addition. ReM has permitted 10 analyse and capitalise trade knowledge concerning major machinery
of this industrial sector.

Key Woords. Maintenance engineering; reliability; safety ; computer maintenance; manufacturing

processes

1 - INTRODUCTION tional changes that should take place at middle or

Reliability Centred Maintenance was introduced in
USA during the sixties.
The fIrSt industry to confront these issues was the
international civil aviation industry according to the
development of several adapted standards (MSG 1 to
3). This framework is known oULSide under the
acronym RCM.
Nevenheless. the application in other field has been
held over the past ten years.
Under the acronym of OMF (Optimisation de la
Maintenance par la Fiabilite). EDF in France has
held recently the intensive use of this method for the
34 main technical pans of 900Mw nuclear power
stations.
As for the previous applications. safety implication
for the general public was the most important reason
for the choice of the system to be analysed through
this approach.
However, the use of RCM for more classical pro-
duction plants seemed to be interesting.
Further this. a BRITE EURAM II program has been
proposed 10 develop the application of ReM for
small size foundries in order to bring them a general
maintenance 1001 and to generate concrete organisa-
even short tenn despite of a generl lack of human
resources.
In order to obtain an generic and efficient approach.
IS foundries. very different in tenns of type, size,
level of technology. geographic localion. were
chosen to set up an adapted approach for this kind of
industry in adapting the general framework from
civil aviation.
These foundries are located in Ireland, Spain.
Belgium and France.
2 - RCM APPROACH
The "RCM method for SMEs" uses a criticality
matrix. a FMECA grid and a decision diagram. The
criticality matrix makes it possible 10 know the
impact of the failures of the production equipment
on safety. availability and quality. The FMECA grid
characterizes the importance of the failure and of iLS
cause from iLS gravity and frequence. The decision
diagram makes it possible to detennine how easy it
is la detect a failure, how to identify its repercussion
on the production equipment and how to specify the
level of the maintenance actions to take.

659
An analysis by the "RCM method for SMEs" con-
sists of or includes:
setting up working groups in which representati-
ves from the departments of Production. Quality
and Maintenance are involved.
listing the production machines and their sites in
the plant,
identifying the production machines to maintain
as a priority.
identifying the functions and associated failures
of the production equipment.
identifying the main failures as well as their
causes. effects and frequences.
determining the planning of the preventive
actions.
validating the maintenance programme by expe-
rience feedback.
Implementation of the "RCM method for SMEs"
requires a good knowledge of the production equip-
ment as well as of its failures and its failure conse-
quences. This is the reason why all operators. tech-
nicians and expens of an enterprise must be invol-
ved to reach the results that are wished and desirable
from reliability. safety and saving points of view.
3 - ELABORATION OF A PREVENTIVE
MAINTENANCE PROGRAM.
3.1 - Panicjpants and their \asks
As preventive maintenance is a resource shared
among many. a project cell must be set up when
implementing the "RCM method for SMEs".
RCl\ot M.n ...... nl
Par'idpanu
Inlernal
policy
&
Implicalion
"rthe
personnel
The executive officer of the enterprise sets out the
project objectives. the policy he intends to follow in
order to facilitate the involvement of the depart-
ments of Production. Quality and Maintenance. and
internal decisions specific to each sector.
The RCM coordination Group gathers together those
in charge of Production Quality and Maintenance ;
they are controlled by a pilot who conducts the pro-
ceedings and makes sure that the method is correctly
brought into operation. The work carried out by the
"RCM Groups on the field" includes the following
tasks :
determine the framework of the analyses
appoint those in charge of the work on the
equipment
validate the results reached by the "RCM
Pilot Group" and the "RCM Group in the
field" .
Practical information about the equipment behaviour
are collected by "RCM Group in the field" including
people from the departments of Production, Quality
and Maintenance who have a good knowledge of the
studied equipment.This group determines actions to
take and works out lists of actions accepted for each
workstation andlor operator.
Supervision of the "RCM Management Groups" and
of the "RCM Groups in the field" as well as liaisons
between them are the responsabilities of the "RCM
Pilot Groups" ; this laner consists of a pilot and of a
person in charge of maintenance who reports about
the work, remarks. aspirations and views of each
group. The "RCM Pilot Group" helps and keeps a
close eye on the participants and on the process of
the "RCM method for SMEs", which requires to pay
close attention to and be skillful at human contacts
and group leadership. The "RCM Pilot Group"is
also in charge of specifications and preparation of
the list of production equipment and the information
worksheets ; it must also see to reduce the number,
duration and costs of these meetings that are too

1___ 1 10-. 1 I"'~-I

-
.....
P--...... - O.finhion
of lh.
analysis
(ramework
&
often useless and costly.

RC!\I ~'.n." ...... n' In the framework of the "RCM method for SMEs"
.-
.... Iid •• ion
Group or r.s,,'"
meetings are necessary for making sure that the
- whole enterprise participates and that the personnel
Analysil
l.)ulinilion
&
is involved to the upmost.
.·r.p ..... ion

, ----------+---, 3,2, Phases of the "RCM method for SMEs"

Analysi,
V.I.tot.l ion Implementation of a programme of planned mainte-
........ -' -
.. p'. . . . . - &
........... \\lurkin"
vu'r•• "h. nance comprises 7 indispensable phases.These steps
kC!\t Croup utilize a lot of information and supports refering to
in ,h.l1dd
Production. Quality and Maintenance. Through
fig. 1. ReM management these steps. involved groups can determine prioritary
objectives and validate the results of each phase in

660
order to go ahead without dissipating their effortS. maintenance costs of this site.

Then a policy of involvement of the whole enterpri-

se or part of it must be divised. The choice of the
Production SYSlcUT
first sites to study is made from
1 difficulties encountered in some sectors of
the enterprise. or
the implementation of a pilot site intended to
use the method or
objectives of the internal policy of the enter-
prise.
Afterwards production machines of each site are
listed . The criticality matrix drawn from each list
makes it possible to choose in what domain the
considered production machine is the more related
to safety. availability and quality.
4
As it is important to focus the study on the most cri-
5
tical production equipment. the less important
machines should be ignored; so the time necessary
for carrying out the study can be scheduled.
Experience •·.... db .. c.

Synthesis of data collected

and intervention report
3.4. Study of criticality of production systems
Up-dating

The study of criticality of production systems is

used for classifiying them with regard to the policy
fig.2. The RCM procedure of the enterprise
concerning
The first phase (1) aims at sUlting the process by safety. availabili-
determining the sites and machines to study firsL. ty. and quality. In
The following two steps (2.3) make it possible to priority these
analyse the functional failures from the point of three approaches
view of failures and their possible causes; they also should be consi-
complete and confirm the analyses. dered from the
point of view of
During phases 4 and 5. the type of action to take in their costs in case
order to increase the reliability of the production they should
equipment is determined. This results in the plann- fig.3. Exemple of RCM matrix
ing and personalization of the various actions.
not be reliable. The handling of the matrix is made
The above five steps are the basis of the "RCM easier by a good definition of the three states of clas-
procedure" and are used to implement the program- sification in an homogeneous and significant way.
me of preventive maintenance for the first time. An They can be regrouped in three generic states -
experience feedback (phases 6 and 7) towards phase "Inacceptable". "Check". "Disregard" - for both
4 - i.e. towards the analysis of functional failures - availability and quality.
improves and refines the programme.
3 5 Analysis of functional fajlures
3 3 Study of production systems
An analysis of functional failures is carried out for
Various pieces of information about the production each important part of the production equipment Its
system are necessary for starting work in the frame- purposes are :
work of the RCM procedure. Information about provide a description of each production
production systems have to be gathered. A descrip- machine.
tion of the various sections of the accounts depart- set up a list of all functions and interfaces
ment with a breakdown by activity areas and the with other production machines. and
pooling of various pieces of accounting information identify all possible functional failures.
about a given site make it easier to evaluate the including the failures of output interfaces.

661
This analysis must also clearly detennine hidden of a failure) only partly removes the risk of many
functions (stand-by functions) and the hidden func- other failures. Failures regarded as hidden (often
tional failures that might be critically influential called "failures not detected" by the operator) must
over the safety of the production equipment and be kept under review very carefully because they
over some economical parameters. often imply other failures.

That is why a simplified method of analysis of func- 3.7. Maintenance Tasks and Experience Feedback
tional failures is used for each machine. Elimination
of what seems the less critical to the various deci- The approach used for identifying of effective and
sion groups is useful for getting acquainted with the applicable actions of preventive maintenance provi-
method and assess the results of a very targeued des a logic procedure to take account of each compo-
scheme. However a global method is desirable in nent of the production equipment, its functional fai-
order to eliminate all risks of oversight which could lures, its modes and causes. The decision diagram
lead to think that the RCM method is misfit. consists of a sequence of YES / NO questions that
will result in the classification or characterization of
each functional failure as above mentioned. YES /

i
a.ui(jed Clauir.cd I,i" C.... uiricd 11"
lin 01 ruftcLio ... or r.ilut~ NO answers help classify the degree of criticality of
oI.acAlu.a cau5e$
the functional failure of a part of the production
M2 .IT~ fO.
'1'.15"- --"; FF2 t"CI ....... .:. pIP equipment, they also help determine whether an
MS ~ FF7 ... Inmhold · applicable action of effective maintenance can be
Ml \ , ............. r~.':'!~.~~ld . . : ..............
....F.r.. i............ . devised and can control the degree of criticality .
Resulting actions and intervals make up the start of
the programme of planned maintenance.

lOI : DI!XlmN DlAcaAlI

MI - ....... ..... .......... .......... ........

FigA . Principle of analyse limitation

Disregarding some less important failures can leave

aside one or several failure causes which may be
critical; but doing so makes it possible to detennine
a reduced maintenance programme lhat is adapted
and applicable.

3.6. Associated FunClions and Failures analysis

Functional failures are associaled lo each production Fig.5. ReM simplified decision sheet
machine.
Joint use of the FMECA sheels and of the first part
of the RCM decision works he et makes il possible to Actions concerning the five categories of effects are
characterize the global criticality of functional failu- chosen in a same way. When determining action,
res in order to simultaneously grade by safelY, non- one must study the causes of failures concerning the
detection and criticality. It also makes il possible to functional failure at the second level of the logical
decide which failure to disregard. diagram .
Product "Frequency x Gravity " provides the critical Causes of the functional failure are evaluated against
mark of a classical FMECA approach . the progressive list of questions about the category
The criticality provided by the RCM decision of applicable actions (this list is related to the second
worksheet stems from questions about influence on level of the logical diagram) and leads to the deter-
safety and obviousness of a failure or of its non- mination of recommended appropriate actions.
detection. There are six possible questions leading to actions
These questions imply some phenomena lhat should within each category of effects.
not be disregarded. Any failure that may be the
cause of many other failures undermines safety. The Selection criteria related with the five types of main-
presence of a safety device (stoppage of the produc- tenance / verification actions lead to the first five
tion equipment or information about the occurcnce questions; the sixth question leads to a combination

662
of actions.
A Lubrication I Maintenance
B Visual check of the machine in operation
C Check of the way the machine works
D Repair
E Scrapping
F More effective tasks
...A new design of the machine is desirable or man·
datory.
Planning of actions and rPM orientation.
Results from the decision·making analysis are set
out as personalized specific details which make up
the mainten ance plannin g; then they are processed
into a proced ure from which a program me of
planned maintenance can be set up.
The first set up program me is followed by anolher
one, evolutive and dynamic.
The different steps include the following elements :
identification of actions and intervals required by
the maintenance programme,
actions related to safety and savings
Practic al maintenance programmes are divided into
two independant plannings :
On site TPM tasks for production staff.
Preven tive tasks for maintenance staff (repair
men, mechanic, electrician).
An useful and complementary work is obtained fol·
lowing the RCM approach.
All A, B and C actions (coming from the RCM deci·
sion sheet can be progressively transfered to produc·
tion staff and be combined with cleaning actions.
This new repartition of rcsponsabilities make possi·
ble new methods and follow up activilies despile a
lack of human resources in most of the sme's invol·
ved.
Experience feedback
The main caracteristic of this RCM adaptation is its
voluntary lack of exhaustivity.
In operation, the production equipment will require
a dynamic maintenance programme and an operative
organisation that can collect and analyze operation
data all along its operational life. Experience can be
used for improving the maintenance programme by
checkin g the effectiveness of each action and esti·
mating its cost comparatively to the failure it avoids.
663
4. RCM APPROACH FOR MAINTENANCE
ORGANISATION
In spite of their disparity (machi nery, work force,
attitude of mind) foundries of the consortium have
commo n weaknesses and needs. The 3 following
points are very likely \he most importa nt ones :
control and cut in costs
improvement of internal and external
communications
implementation of indicators and procedure
streamlining
4.1. Cost control and reduction
.Labour costs
Labour is one of the main expens e item. Maintenance
departments are usually charact erized by a lot of
overtime work done every week due to the lack of
streamlined policy of preven tive maintenance. One
of the first evolution to contem plate in order to
reduce overtime work - it is one of the middle term
aim of the TOM AS project - consist s in reducing
corrective activities by increasing preventive ones.
The RCM check lists convey this evolution.
. Non-production and non-quality
Several foundries of the TOMA S consortium conte-
mplate a noticeable future increase of their activity,
which will require a truly improved reliability of the
machinery and quality level. A comple te implemen-
tation of the RCM method and the homogenization of
the production flow seem to be the first actions to
take in order to achieve this objective.
4 2. Communication improv ement
Improv ements of inhouse commu nicatio n can be
reached through a new sharing out of tasks and re-
organisation (RCM approa ch is dealing with this
target), but also through indicat ors that can be
quickl y understood. Report s on interve ntions are
essential to review failures and they can be possibly
used through a CMMS (Computer aidedMaintenance
Management System).
5 - RCM DATABASE AND FU1UR E CMMS
DEVELOPMENT.
A CMMS package represents an adapted solution to
implement the necessary organisation to improve the
analyse obtained through "RCM methcxl for sme's".
Nevertheless, this possibility risks to add other diffi-
cullies in tenns of time and efforts needed to imple-
ment such a system.
Experiences of CMMS projects in sme's has shown,
in France nowbly, that the input of all the specific
data is not enough easy and takes a long pcriod to
obtain an full operational system .
To allow TOMAS foundries to benefit from CMMS,
a major pan of the approac h develop ed for the
project is dealing with the development of a tolai
maintenance dawbase for foundry machinery.
This dawbase will include all RCM results and thus
all mainten ance plans dedicat cd to major equipe-
ments analysed.
The objective is to develop from an existing softwa-
re, a sectoria l packag e for curope an foundries
including this technical knowledge built up with the
actual consonium.
This system will allow a maintcnancc rcsponsible to
launch very quickly a new programme for preventi-
ve maintenance without the weight of a long and
expensive analyse.
This dawbase will be trade slrw.: turcd . The objective
is to make possible to identify an "cquivalcnt equip-
ment" by an assembly of gcncrical compon cnts or
machine functions and to extract from this selection
a proposal for a first preventive maintcnace plan to
be improve after feedback of experience.
better working of production equipment
better estimate of actual maintenance costs
extended life of expensive equipment
greater motiva tion and effectiveness of the
personnel.
Through the participation of the personnel in setting
up a planned maintenance programme and its invol-
vement in the manage ment of the equipm ent. the
RCM method is the first step toward s Total
Productive Maintenance (TPM).
7. REFERENCES
GABRIEL, M; RICHET, D and Kenneth
O'REILL Y (1993), "Methode MBF pour les PME, 1 -
Application au secteur de la fonderie en Europe",
4eme congres international de Genie Industriel,
Marseille.
MOUBRAY, JM (1991), "RC M n, Reliability
Centred Maintenance".
GARCIN, L; DURAND, J (1991), "Optimisation de
la maintenance par etudes previsionneUes de faabili-
te- Application au Transmanche Super train", ~e
forum international de la maintenance, Paris.

MERCIER, JP (1991), Centrales nucleaires,OMF

Maintenance 2000, 2eme forum international de la
maintenance, Paris.
6 - CONCL USION
MIL - STD - 785B, "Reliability Program for
Systems and Equipement Development and
Production".
The simplified or global approach provided by the
~CM method is pan of a short or long term process
)f a fast study of a produc tion equipm cnt which
)oses problem s; it can also be used for a selective
)r gencral analysis of production equipment, its fai-
ures and the causes of its failures .

~xpccLCd results of the analysis arc of four types:

knowledge functions utilized ,

bCllcr knowledge of failures and their causes,
detenni nation of a programmc of preventive
maintenance for each mnchinc,
awaren ess of the personn el as rcgards its
responsabilities.

,enefits from such a programme are the following :

greater watchfulness of safety

664