Hello All,

RCM have its own FMEA which is the information worksheet data, how will you integrate RCFA with RCM, or simply what is the role of RCFA in RCMand can they be integrated into one canned concept ??? Or where does RCFA Fit into the system.

My understanding is the rcm analysis will dictate what failures modes that can be controlled and for those failures modes that cannot be controlled this is where RCFA fits in.

Is it right to say that the outcome of the analysis on RCM will dictate as to what failure modes will undergo a thorough Root Cause Failure Analysis ???


My Warm Regards,


Rolly Angeles

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rolly12,

Rolly,
In doing an RCM, we need to know the underlying physical cause of failure as well as its statistical distribution parameters, and the consequences of failure. Only then can we detrmine what task to apply to mitigate the consequences. So FMEA and very simple RCA steps are already there. However, it does not go any deeper into cause analysis.
When we do RCM, we are working with a clean sheet of paper; in theory, no maintenance task exists and we design it during the RCM. Once we implement the tasks into the cMMS and 'go live', reality takes over. Various human and system interfaces result in some failures. At this stage, in a reactive mode we study the cause using the RCA process. That will dig out the underlying human and latent causes and stop these and similar failures happening again.
They are complementary processes and both are necessary for world-class results.

Is it safe to say RCM only looks at the physical cause level whereas RCA will dig deeper to human and latent cause levels?

Josh,
No that is not correct. For any given crediblefailure mode,RCM anaalysts will try to assess the real causes, be they physical, human or latent. In an RCM study we may look at a 100 or more failure modes, so there is a limit to the depth to which one can go. In an RCA study, we are looking at a specific event, so one can delve a lot deeper.
In an RCM study, no failure has taken place yet, we are merely postulating what could and probably will happen. In an RCA study we are examining what did happen, for which there is hard evidence somewhere. One looks at the item broadly, while the other looks at it deeply.

An RCM based maintenance program certainly looks at human causes of failure. While it does not dig deep into all of the possiblities as Vee point out, it is useful during the life of the program when the analysis is revisited to refine the output of the program which are maintenance tasks and intervals. Quite often we find that the underlying assumptions for including a task in an analysis are overcome by change and the task needs to be modified.

Conducting a Root Cause Analysis is focused on an individual occurance that may or may not be unique. If it is not unique, then it should lead to either a modified design or maintenance action (or both), as appropriate.

Ken Culverson

Rolly:

In answer to your original question - in simple terms:
RCM is the generation of your maintenance strategy - what you do with what could be called routine/daily maintenance tasks. PM's, PdM routes, inspections, taking care of break-ins, scheduled maintenance.

RCM looks at what could go wrong. It looks at all the failure modes (FMEA), and gauges the Consequence (C), Occurence (O) and Detection (D) of the failure mode. Quite simply you then look at the highest factored number (RPN=C*O*D) to generate tasks to perform for PM's, PdM and inspections, overhauls, etc... IT looks to the future on what you should do in the future.

RCFA looks to the past, at what happened and finds out where you went wrong with your strategy, the human causes, other influences (weather, etc.) that effected your failure mode becoming so severe. You then go back to your RCM and update your maintenance strategy with the information you just gathered. Modify your strategy, and move on!

Again, with the solutions you generate out of an RCFA, you could actually be creating another environment (Consequence, Occurrence or Detectibilitiy) for that same equipment to fail differently than your original plan. Keep that in mind. If I fix this problem over here, how does it effect other things. Remember it is a balancing game. Your problems always move somewhere else.

I hope that helps!

James

RCM also determines what failure finding or detective tasks or functional checks are required.

quote:

Originally posted by Josh:
Is it safe to say RCM only looks at the physical cause level whereas RCA will dig deeper to human and latent cause levels?

Josh,
As you can see some people list human errors in RCM. We only do this if the human failures are likely to cause hazards. To do otherwise would be a monumental task. When it comes to doing the wrong thing, humans are infinite in thier capabilities!!
Regards
Steve
www.reliabilityassurance.com