Reliability-centered maintenance in space!
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).
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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