Which maintenance strategy aims at minimizing failure through expert assessments of necessary actions?

Reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) is a strategy designed specifically to assess the functions of systems and equipment, identifying potential failures and determining the most effective maintenance actions to minimize these failures. This method focuses on understanding the operational context and the criticality of each component, which allows for a thorough evaluation of what maintenance tasks are necessary to ensure reliability. By prioritizing expert assessments, RCM effectively targets maintenance efforts to where they are needed most, optimizing both resource utilization and system reliability.

While other strategies like predictive maintenance involve using data and analytics to anticipate future failures, RCM goes a step further by integrating expert judgment to create a tailored maintenance plan. Predictive maintenance, while effective in monitoring equipment health, relies heavily on data rather than an in-depth analysis of system functions and failure modes. Corrective maintenance reacts to failures as they occur, and scheduled maintenance entails performing tasks at predetermined intervals without necessarily addressing the underlying reliability issues. In contrast, RCM proactively seeks to minimize the chance of those failures happening in the first place through careful analysis and planned interventions based on expert insights.