Reliability and risk-based maintenance methods

This article presents the principles and characteristics of the methods most commonly used to implement reliability and risk-based maintenance concepts in different industrial sectors.

Indeed, for all companies, equipment maintenance, which aims to prevent or correct equipment failures in order to optimize depreciation productivity, represents a strategic and economic challenge. In this context, many strategies have been developed to establish the most appropriate maintenance program for a given sector of activity. In the majority of industrial sectors, preference is increasingly being given to strategies based on the operational reliability of equipment, or aimed at reducing the risks induced by the consequences of technical failures.

Thus, in the 1960s, the concept of reliability-based maintenance was introduced under the acronym MBF or RCM (Reliability-Centered Maintenance) for aeronautical maintenance. Subsequently, numerous variants and adaptations of the initial concept were developed outside this sector.

At the same time, following major disasters in the oil and chemical industries, maintenance methods have been developed to minimize the risks associated with the consequences of failure. Risk-Based Inspection (RBI), Risk-Based Maintenance (RBM) and Risk-Based Inspection and Maintenance (RBIM) have emerged over the last three decades.

In the first section of this article, a brief history is given of the origins and successive developments of these methods. The general principles of reliability-based and risk-based maintenance policies are detailed. The contribution of the two founding fathers of MBF, Nowlan and Heap, in 1978, will be developed in particular. As these specific policies call for particular notions, the second section will provide the related terminology and definitions. MBF methods and standards will be presented in chronological order as they were developed. The third section will describe the MSG-3 standard used in the aeronautical industry, and will emphasize that most of the other methods developed subsequently use its fundamental principles. The fourth section will focus on the RCM2 method, developed by John Moubray from 1983 onwards, which transposes and adapts MSG-3 concepts to all other industrial sectors. The fifth section describes the JA1011 and JA1012 standards developed in 2001 by the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers). The compatibility of RCM2 with these standards will be highlighted. The sixth section will detail the IEC 60300 standard developed by the International Electrotechnical Committee in 2009 for industrial process equipment and structures. The seventh section describes the AP-913 methodology developed in 2001 by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) in the...