We all know that reliability-centered maintenance is essential to improving plant productivity and reducing downtime. But have you considered the implications of RCM on space travel? NASA has a downloadable manual called "NASA reliability-centered maintenance guide for facilities and collateral equipment," which is "offered as a tool to assist NASA facility organizations in implementing and institutionalizing an RCM approach to achieve and maintain the world-class facilities required to support the inherent reliability goals at any NASA Center and component facility."
Here is an excerpt from the manual. "National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) holds a policy to continuously improve the institutional management of capital assets by maintaining the NASA-owned and NASA-operated facilities in safe, environmentally sound, and affordable condition. Facilities and equipment owned by NASA shall be maintained in the most cost efficient fashion to create a hazard-free working environment while protecting and preserving capital investments and their capability.
Since the NASA RCM Guide for Facilities and Collateral Equipment was implemented in 1996, the uses and capabilities of RCM principles and techniques have increased significantly. NASA applies the NASA-created Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) Guide to successfully employ diverse asset maintenance strategies, varying from “run to failure” to streamlined failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), combined with Predictive Testing and Inspection (PT&I).
