Excellence in asset management through reliability centered maintenance (RCM)

This study presents an approach to the excellence of physical asset management through reliability-centered maintenance (RCM). The goal of this study was to simultaneously minimize the failure risk index and cost. For each of the selected failure modes, the frequency, severity of consequences, and difficulty of failure identification were estimated according to the failure analysis method and its consequences. Strategies to prevent these failures and their effects on the frequency, severity, and difficulty of detecting each failure mode (FM) were specified. A mathematical programming model was developed to determine the annual implementation plan for preventive measures (PM) according to the cost and their effect on the failure modes. The program also considered human resources and budget constraints. This program was solved using the exact solution method for a hypothetical example using GAMS software, and the results were discussed and analyzed for sensitivity. This analysis studies the effect of changing important parameters on the optimal solution. The approach of solving the problem in large dimensions using the genetic algorithm (GA) method was presented, the problem was solved in different dimensions, and its results were examined. The proposed approach can be used as a RCM planning method in strategic industries.