Implementation of the RCM Methodology on the Example of City Waterworks

Abstract

The paper presents the possibility of application of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) in infrastructure systems, such as waterworks. It introduces the RCM methodology which is adapted to such systems. The RCM methodology offers the best strategy for optimization of preventive maintenance. It covers a new understanding of the way in which the equipment may fail. Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) was first performed. The most suitable maintenance tasks have been defined for each failure and they belong to one of the four groups: Time-Directed (TD), Condition-Directed (CD), Failure-Finding (FF), Run-to-Failure (RTF). The analysis on the concrete example, a waterworks pumping station, has established that 61% of failures can be prevented by the application of preventive maintenance. The interdisciplinary procedure applied during analyses allows optimization of the existing preventive maintenance in the city waterworks.