Part 2: Reactive and Run to Failure Strategies

The terms run to failure and reactive maintenance are often, incorrectly, used interchangeably. The concept of reactive maintenance is to run equipment until if fails and then figure out how to repair, replace or ignore it. This is the prevalent maintenance practice which has significant impact on business profitability. On the other hand, RTF is a strategy which, when performed correctly, can manage assets with a reduced impact. While not as extensive or cost effective as a PdM or CBM program, the philosophy still requires planning and thought.

With highly critical equipment, the plan may be to apply a combination of planned and condition maintenance to reduce the risk of failure. The remaining equipment is often left to fend for itself. This mistaken concept of twisting RCM and similar maintenance development tools has resulted in significant negative impact within industry. Less and non-critical equipment was not meant to be excluded from maintenance by these strategies, just a different level of application!

In an RTF program, the concept is to perform some methods of inspection, testing, maintaining, or other method that can identify that a problem is occurring such that action can be taken. This may be planning as part of an outage or staging parts and materials for when the failure occurs. The result is improved control of the repair related costs and improved inventory practices. In an environment where maintenance is being cut, or a full program for critical equipment does not exist, such a program can assist in assuring a higher state of readiness than just allowing equipment to fail. Who has not had the experience of going to find parts for equipment during a failure only to find the parts are obsolete?



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad