IN-HOUSE RELIABILITY CENTERED MAINTENANCE (RCM) TRAINING SEMINARS
ANNOUNCEMENT!
I will be presenting
my 3-day seminar / workshop at the following locations and dates:
- University of California at San Diego (UCSD)- April 8, 9, and 10, 2010. Call Tony Babaian at
(858) 622-5740 to register.
- University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)- May 19, 20, and 21, 2010. Call Bill Goodin
at (310) 825-5010 to register.
A FEW OF MY CLIENTS:
- THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND
SPACE ADMINISTRATION
(NASA),
- THE
NEW YORK POWER
AUTHORITY (NYPA),
- THE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
ENERGY (DOE)......
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you. I am the author of
"Reliability Centered Maintenance - Implementation Made Simple" which was
published by McGraw-Hill. I also serve as an Instructor of RCM and Preventive Maintenance Programs at UCLA, UCSD, UCI,
and the University of Kansas.
Let me state a well known proven fact:
The actual success
rate for implementing an RCM program is in the 5-10% range. Putting it another way, over 90% of all RCM programs
result in failure!
This lack of success does not have to become your experience.
Let me state another LESS-KNOWN fact:
RCM was never intended to have a 90%
failure rate. Quite the contrary, RCM was intended to be a simple process that should result in a virtual
success rate 100% of the time!
I began my RCM journey over 35 years ago in
the commercial aviation industry where RCM first originated.
RCM TODAY DOES NOT RESEMBLE IT'S ORIGIN
RCM can be a powerful reliability tool but unfortunately, it has morphed and transformed into what it has unjustly
become today.... that being a process perceived as a complex, difficult, and costly undertaking. That is NOT how RCM
was intended to be. As a result, I have re-introduced the basic grassroots fundamental concepts of the RCM process in
the manner it was always intended to be by its founders Nowlan and Heap, so that RCM can reach a new plateau of understanding
by the average layperson, thusly making the entire process less daunting, more straightforward, and simpler.
MY GOAL
My goal is not to bring in a group of people to perform your RCM analysis
for you. Instead, my goal is to teach, train, and empower YOU and your team with the requisite skill sets, knowledge,
and understanding of how RCM was always intended to be so that you and your team can develop your own RCM-based
preventive maintenance program without the need for any continuous outside assistance. You and your team of
technical laypersons will learn how to develop and implement an RCM program without having to spend an inordinate amount
of time and money and without wasting other of your valuable resources.
IT'S MONTHS NOT YEARS!
While most of today's renditions of RCM are measured in the number of years it takes to complete
the process,.... for virtually all facilities, other than perhaps, a nuclear plant or a commercial
jetliner, the time to complete a COMPREHENSIVE RCM ANALYSIS FOR ALL COMPONENTS IN A PLANT OR FACILITY SHOULD NOT
EXCEED THREE OR FOUR MONTHS AT MOST!
HOW SUCCESS IS ACHIEVED
I can achieve
this goal because I know how to make RCM simple to understand and implement. I consider myself to be fortunate
in that the "lessons I learned" in over 35 years of being responsible for implementing RCM and preventive maintenance
programs, both as a practitioner and as a member of Engineering and Maintenance Senior Management, afford me the unique opportunity
and the know-how to be able to provide this knowledge to you and your team.
You and your folks will learn
RCM in a straightforward, simple, and easy to understand manner. Whether you and your team are RCM novice's or
more advanced in your RCM efforts, you will find my training to be a revelation in your comprehension and understanding of
the process and how to implement it in a simple manner.
My approach is to train your own people in only 3 days. You
will learn RCM the way it was intended to be learned by it founders, Stanley Nowlan and Howard Heap. Your team will
be able to successfully implement a premier RCM-based preventive maintenance program for your plant or facility, on their
own, without having to depend on the continuous need for any outside expertise. All of my training is in total accord
with SAE Document JA1011. In fact, JA1011 includes some of the very specific ideas and methodologies I developed almost
10 years prior to 1999 when JA1011 was first issued.
RCM'S MYTHS
Some of the greatest myths about RCM are as follows:
...
RCM should not be attempted by the layman.
... RCM requires a specialized facilitator regimen.
... RCM
is a very difficult process to implement.
... RCM is by definition an expensive process.
... RCM can only be accomplished
by experts.
Obviously, all of these above myths, like all myths, are untrue.
MAKING RCM UNCOMPLICATED
My 3-day RCM course includes...... thoroughly understanding the
straightforward and uncomplicated approach to RCM ....... understanding the simplified RCM concepts and methodology and
the principles of RCM (some of which have never before been known) .... knowing how to avoid the pitfalls of an RCM program.....
how to establish the necessary RCM decision logic delineated in my book..... understanding functional failures and the different failure
mode strategies.... developing PM task strategies.... learning how to develop a "Living RCM Program"..... how to
"Monitor and Trend" the progress of your RCM program.... RCM for instruments.... learning about the 7 questions
contained in SAE RCM Document JA1011 and their limitations, RCM as a corporate culture, etc.
RCM AND EAM/CMMS SYSTEMS
My training has also been specifically
developed to facilitate, with ease, the transition of my straightforward approach to RCM into current, or proposed, Enterprise
Asset Management (EAM) and Computerized Maintenance Management (CMMS) systems.
ABOUT
THE TRAINING SEMINAR
My comprehensive 3-day RCM course can be provided at your own site or
it can be coordinated off-site. For those companies that wish only an overview of RCM without actual hands-on, how-to
training, I can provide that training in a one or 2-day course. For those companies opting for the comprehensive 3-day
course, toward the end of the 3rd day, your team will commence a pilot RCM program on a system of your choice
to ensure that your personnel have thoroughly comprehended the training session, that all pertinent questions have been answered,
and that your own people are confidently on their way toward implementing your own successful RCM program.
YOUR SUCCESS IS DEMONSTRATED
Before I leave your facility, your own people will be able to
demonstrate, through the pilot study of your choosing that they can successfully implement your own program. Your results
will be immediate. You will be able to implement your actual results immediately, before I leave. After 3
days, you won't need me anymore and that's exactly my goal. However, I will always remain available via E-Mail or phone
should there be any subsequent questions.
MY TECHNICAL
BACKGROUND (Also refer to the "Preface" of my book below)
As for my technical background,
I am a degreed Mechanical Engineer, having received my Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of
Miami. I am also an Instructor of RCM and Preventive Maintenance Programs at UCLA, UCSD, UCI, and the University
of Kansas. I have been fortunate to have worked in close association for over 35 years, both as a practitioner and a
member of senior management, with the two most leading-edge federal agencies responsible for reliability and safety, namely
the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In fact, NRC representatives have
said that the program I developed was the best RCM program they had ever seen. I can be reached as follows:
neilbb@cox.net or neilbloom@rcmauthor.com
I recommend reading
the "PREFACE" of my book which contains additional information about my background and experience and the reasons
I wrote this book.....
Please click here to view my book;
The "Preface" is included below....
PREFACE
of BOOK TITLED
"RELIABILITY CENTERED MAINTENANCE (RCM) IMPLEMENTATION MADE SIMPLE"
PUBLISHED BY MCGRAW-HILL,
DEC 2005:
Author: Neil B. Bloom
"PREFACE"
Reliability Centered Maintenance, or RCM as it is called, WAS difficult. RCM WAS an albatross. It WAS cumbersome,
expensive, and almost impossible to implement. Note the common theme is how RCM was in the past! Implementing an RCM program
has for the most part been shrouded in confusion and its image has taken on an aura of perceived complexity. I plan to change
that.
I wrote this book because I found that most of the others are very
difficult to understand and even more difficult to use as a tool for implementation. RCM is a very powerful reliability tool
but as long as it remains non-user friendly, its full potential is limited. It is my belief that Classical RCM has been made
much more complicated than it needs to be. I will explain Classical RCM (not streamlined RCM) in simple terms and introduce
some new concepts that have never been identified before. You will learn how to readily implement an affordable premier reliability
program for your plant or facility, on your own, without the need for any outside expertise, and without the need for any
special training of any kind. I truly believe that this book has the potential to set a new standard for preventive maintenance
and reliability via the Classical RCM process.
You are probably asking yourself…
“Who is this author and how can he explain how to implement Classical RCM in a simple, straight-forward manner, easily
understandable to non technical as well as technical personnel the world over?”
I have been responsible for developing and managing what is perhaps, even today, one of the most comprehensive Classical
RCM programs ever implemented. The program analyzed every system covering over 125,000 individual components at one of the
country’s largest nuclear generating facilities. Some of the ideas and concepts that I developed in 1991 are now specifically
documented in the latest SAE Standard for RCM published in September, 1999.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Neil Bloom has been a guest speaker on RCM at some of the most prestigious
National and International Conferences. These include: The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME), Edison Electric Institute (EEI), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), the American Nuclear Society (ANS),
and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria. The Canadian Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB) also
requested that Neil personally meet with some of their members to discuss the RCM program that he had developed.
His Engineering and Maintenance career of almost forty years has been devoted to the Commercial Aviation and Commercial
Nuclear Power industries. Both of these require the highest standards of safety and reliability as evidenced by their highly
stringent regulation by the federal government via the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC). He has been fortunate to have worked closely with both of these entities. It is within the Engineering and Maintenance
organizations that RCM meets its most formidable challenges for successful implementation. Neil knows what works and
what doesn't work. He knows what the pitfalls are and how to avoid them.
Neil
began his Engineering career in aviation in 1966 as a Systems Engineer at one of the nation’s largest airlines that
had over 30,000 employees and a fleet of several hundred aircraft. He progressed to Superintendent of Intermediate Aircraft
Maintenance and became the Administrative Assistant to the Vice President of Maintenance.
His experience included Maintenance Steering Group (MSG-2 and MSG-3) reliability studies whereby MSG Logic was the
forerunner to RCM. He worked closely with aircraft manufacturers and their suppliers to enhance safety and reliability objectives.
He was instrumental in establishing aircraft maintenance strategies, initiating aircraft design changes, and FAA liaison.
Neil developed aircraft preventive maintenance programs spanning from the Douglas DC-8 / DC-9 and Boeing B707 / B727 to the
Airbus A300, Lockheed L1011, and the Boeing B757. He was also a member of the Maintenance Review Board (MRB) for the Lockheed
L1011. Commercial aviation is where RCM was first introduced. It made its way to the nuclear power industry in the mid 1980’s.
Since early 1983, Neil has worked for one of the nation’s largest electric utilities at their nuclear generating
facility. He has been involved with NRC regulatory issues, Maintenance Engineering activities, Maintenance procedures, policies,
and practices, Outage Management, and from 1991 until his retirement in 2004, he was the Program Manager responsible for RCM
and Preventive Maintenance Programs.
Because commercial aviation and nuclear
power are paramount in the hierarchy of safety and reliability, relative to most other industries, it affords Neil the special
practical experience and expertise to know what can and cannot be done with Classical RCM. He knows what works and what doesn’t
work, what the pitfalls are, and how to circumvent the roadblocks. He knows what changes can be made to maintain the same,
or even more, robustness of the process while minimizing the administrative burdens. He knows what information is absolutely
necessary to implement a successful program, and how to do this with ease. He also knows what parts of the process are not
necessary and do not need to be included.
Everything Neil will be explaining
is in total accord with the original airline MSG and RCM methodology and the latest SAE Standard governing RCM (designated
as JA1011) which he discusses in great detail in Chapters 3 and 5. In fact, some of the very specific ideas in the RCM program
Neil developed in 1991 are now included in the new JA1011 SAE RCM Standard titled Evaluation Criteria for RCM Processes.
SOME ADDITIONAL INSIGHT FROM THE AUTHOR
I would like to mention the
work of a colleague of mine, John Moubray who recently passed away. I had first met John when he came to visit me in California
in early 1991 after becoming aware of my work on RCM in the nuclear industry. He has been an outstanding advocate of RCM and
his efforts have helped to bring it the visibility it justly deserves. Like John, I too, am an advocate of Classical RCM vs.
the other shortcut versions but I believe Classical RCM can be achieved with a much more simplified approach.
Lastly, it was from comments I received after having given a presentation at the Southern California Plant Engineering
and Facilities Maintenance Conference that re-invigorated my reasons for writing this book. I had many people from relatively
smaller and mid-sized industries and facilities come up to me afterward and tell me they wanted to implement a Classical RCM
program but their companies’ did not have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on the program, and certainly not
millions of dollars, like the nuclear industry does. They wanted the same rigorous analysis but they did not believe they
had the knowledge or the financial resources to implement it. They wanted a book that could guide them through the RCM process
without having to spend large sums of money for consulting expertise and without having the luxury of hundreds of engineering
and other technical personnel available to them.
Since my retirement in 2004,
I have devoted my full efforts to writing this book which has been almost 14 years in the making. My goal is to enable and
empower you to implement a premier Classical RCM program at your facility without having to spend an inordinate amount of
time and money and without the need for any expensive outside consulting services, specialized facilitator training, or any
other support. I have embraced a straight-forward easy to understand logic, an objective rather than subjective decision making
process, and have given great importance to maintaining the conceptual clarity of the process to marquee its simplicity. These
were all designed specifically to enhance the understanding, implementability, and cost effectiveness of RCM. When you have
finished reading this book you will be able to establish an affordable and robust premier reliability program that will make
your facility safer, more reliable, and more cost efficient.
This could be the
RCM breakthrough that you have been looking for and I hope that you will find each of the following chapters to be a revelation.
It is my belief that industry, universally, has the potential for attaining even greater levels of safety and reliability
if the RCM process was more user friendly as it was intended to be by its Pioneers, Stanley Nowlan and Howard Heap.
Neil Bloom
I can be reached via E-Mail at:
neilbb@cox.net
or
neilbloom@rcmauthor.com
