RCM/PFM

The RCM/PFM Strategy

Utilities around the world have made a series of transitions from just serving customers, to serving customers reliably, to now serving customers in reliable, cost effective manner. This service transformation demonstrates not only an increased sophistication on the part of the utility but also emphasizes the increased value electric energy has to the customer. Customer changes are driven by many market and social elements and can take place quite rapidly. Utility changes are driven by the vision and wisdom of the top utility leaders and must strategically and thoughtfully be communicated to the utility as a whole if sustaining change is to take place. Both of these changes are normal in an evolving market.

The desire to increase the overall effectiveness of maintenance resources by optimizing the use of routine maintenance has resulted in many utilities turning to RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance). In particular, RCM techniques have been employed because of its successful track record in other competitive industries and because of its technical, unbiased, practical and logical approach to maintenance. A Utility's desire to emphasize the application of predictive maintenance techniques is fundamentally supported by RCM. The preventive actions directed by an RCM process are focused on preserving the fundamental functions of equipment and are based on the condition of equipment and predicting it's remaining life, not just merely on a schedule.

RCM embodies both the basic objectives highlighted above. First, overall maintenance resource expenditures will be optimized after the routine maintenance program is optimized. Second, RCM emphasizes the use of predictive techniques. Sometimes these techniques are referred to as condition monitoring or diagnostics tasks.

Performance Focused Maintenance
Over the past decades, utility maintenance has transformed from a quiet, “routine” and “behind-the-scene” activity to one of the most dynamic and high-interest segments of the utility today. Numerous approaches to maintenance have been developed and “publicized” as the most advance approach to maintenance today. While some of these new approaches have been more revolutionary than others, they have fueled a desire to identify a single “Best Practice” approach to maintenance. Because, there is no “one-size fits all” approach to maintenance, many times the benefits of these new approaches are either overstated or under-realized.

Performance Focused Maintenance (PFM) is an all-inclusive approach to maintenance. PFM brings together what previously appeared to be distinctly different approaches to maintenance under a single umbrella. PFM recognizes that maintenance is both a technical and business process that must be managed and should be very similar across the whole landscape of utilities. PFM acknowledges that the specific application of these process and approaches will differ due to the wide range of customer requirements, electric infrastructures and maintenance organizations. The adaptive approach of PFM allows utilities to meet their own specific maintenance and operational goals and at the same time be confident that they are effectively managing the process and following best industry practices.

PFM is a process for developing a comprehensive maintenance strategy for your utility. PFM is an all encompassing maintenance approach that is meant to:

Reduce the terminology confusion.

Provide a framework to effectively and appropriately apply these new maintenance concepts.

Incorporate risk-analysis.

Identify a “vertical” approach to managing and prioritizing maintenance and a “horizontal” approach to optimize asset and task performance.

Allow utilities to build their own individual maintenance strategies with assurance that they are incorporating “best practices” that fit their own specific corporate and customer service objectives.

Embrace business goals and customer service objectives by employing maintenance approaches that are both technical and economically effective; approaches including proper application of:

CM (corrective maintenance)
PM (preventive maintenance-renewal -condition directed)
Failure Finding
Run-to-Failure
PdM/CBM (predictive maintenance)
Age limits and planned replacement

Supply technical, reliability and economic feedback making continuous maintenance improvement a requirement of maintenance not an option.

Identify “best practice” building blocks.

Identify models that take greater advantage of data and underutilized native intelligence to trigger maintenance and replacement decisions.

A Pilot Program
The technical approach employed in the development of the optimal routine maintenance strategies requires the use of expert utility knowledge. This knowledge is found in abundance in the hearts and minds of the utility employee and is generally unleashed in the first RCM/PFM pilot project. In addition to active participation in pilot project activities, participants learn the basic steps of RCM/PFM. The practical experience gained with a real life RCM/PFM application will also promote understanding and acceptance of both methods and results of the project. The pilot project makes use of key maintenance and operations personnel that would be responsible for future RCM/PFM studies, and narrowly focuses the use of other utility personnel where it is believed their expertise and time is best utilized.

Choosing a Pilot
The pilot project can begin by choosing two high priority substations, transmission lines or distribution circuits. These "systems" will be reviewed using RCM/PFM methods. The technical approach and documentation of results will be such that future work can be based on the finished product of the first phase. Although the results cannot simply be copied, they can be effectively "migrated" to the remaining substation equipment, given sufficient similarities. If stations are sufficiently large or lines considerably complex, a subset of each may be the prudent RCM/PFM approach.

RCM/PFM Deliverables
The resultant programs will identify specific modes of failure for each equipment item and its relative criticality. Criticality (prioritization) will be assigned to each mode of failure. Only failure modes that fail important functions will be considered. The project will also identify dominant causes of critical failure modes so routine maintenance tasks can be specified.

The end result of RCM/PFM studies will be a listing of routine maintenance tasks that are the most technically correct and cost-effective to address the causes of critical modes of failure. In addition to these applicable and cost-effective routine tasks, other recommendations may be made. These recommendations include design modifications, design change outs, and changes in operation. Although these are less frequently recommended, in some cases they are necessary to ensure the cost-effectiveness of routine tasks. In other cases, they are used to eliminate the need for routine maintenance when it is found that routine maintenance tasks are not cost-effective in addressing the cause of equipment failure.

Where appropriate, consideration will be given to the use of online monitoring and other predictive maintenance tasks. Condition monitoring can be performed online or offline, continuous or periodic. When making determinations in the use of online monitoring equipment, the cost of acquiring and installing online monitoring will be to be weighed against the benefits that such monitoring provides. Typically, online monitoring is most desirable in cases where progression to failure is rapid, and where the cost of equipment replacement and repair is extreme. In addition, online monitoring is also useful in cases where equipment is located in remote areas, and periodic onsite monitoring is costly.

Maintenance Audits
Maintenance management is a dynamic process. The strategic objectives as well as technologies are continually changing making the need for a "living" maintenance program. Maintenance audits are an effective method of ensuring your present maintenance program is on track and using the latest techniques available. Even if you have completed an RCM/PFM development process, an unbiased review of your findings and implementation plan will yield ways to increase your maintenance program's effectiveness as well as providing unbiased support of your findings.