Fleet Maintenance - 45

» (Above) The Cetaris CMMS offers numerous
reliability key performance indicators to help
fleets monitor the progress of their RCM efforts.
Charts can provide a snapshot of things like
asset downtime caused by breakdowns, asset
availability, cost of breakdown repairs, and more.
Photo courtesy of Cetaris

» With the right implementation, RCM
can become a valuable tool for fleets.
Dreamstime

typically less expensive than emergency repair
work. A well-maintained vehicle also operates
more smoothly and suffers less wear and tear,
potentially resulting in fewer major repairs and
longer component life.
"There is also more of a spirit behind the maintenance effort because a real purpose has been
defined: increase asset reliability," Christiansen
adds. "Fleets begin to track failures [breakdowns]
and analyze the root cause of those failures. That
allows fleets to put actionable plans in place to
prevent future failures."

How fleets can implement RCM

Since RCM involves a very thorough, structured process, it can also be time-consuming.
Sometimes, some of the elements of RCM don't
even apply to fleets. However, the core philosophy

makes a lot of sense. With the right implementation, RCM can become a valuable tool for fleets.
Nonetheless, fleets should be cautious in their
pursuit of RCM.
"Some people really love initials because initials
make something sound really important," says
Joel Levitt, president of Springfield Resources, a
management consulting firm specializing in the
training of maintenance leaders. "A lot of times,
people don't understand the real meaning behind
those initials. In the case of RCM, some people
think it's simply about good maintenance. But
RCM is a lot more than that."
To that point, Levitt says formal RCM has little
or no place in a fleet maintenance operation. That
is because RCM states that if a failure results in
loss of life or environmental catastrophe, the
company (i.e. fleet) has an obligation to redesign
the system to virtually eliminate the possibility
of another failure.
"Not too many fleets have control over the engineering of their trucks and trailers," Levitt says.
What fleets can do is document their failures
and offer feedback to manufacturers to help the
OEMs bring safer and more reliable equipment
to market. But when it comes to RCM, the most
practical point of application for a fleet has to do
with predictive analytics: studying past failures
to determine causes, trends, and warning signs.
The Society of Automotive Engineers developed
SAE JA1011 as its standard on RCM in 1999. SAE
JA1011 presents seven questions that can help
fleets develop the necessary policies to better
manage failures:
Ü What are the functions of the asset (i.e. truck or
trailer) and desired standards of performance?
Ü How can the asset fail?
Ü What causes each failure mode?
Ü What happens when a failure occurs?
Ü What are the consequences of a failure?
Ü What can be done to predict and prevent
failure?
Ü What should be done if a suitable predictive/
preventive task can't be found in order to minimize the effects of a failure?

» The Cetaris CMMS offers a subset of tools to
help fleets achieve RCM goals. This parts failure
chart shows how failures have previously occurred
at different mileage levels. This type of data
helps fleets determine when to replace a part
before the possibility of failure becomes too risky.
Photo courtesy of Cetaris

"RCM helps determine which maintenance
[items] to do and which not to do," says JC
Leverette, chief operating officer of Andromeda
Systems, a technical services organization that
specializes in RCM analysis. "Many times, fleets
follow the OEMs' recommended intervals, which
are based on either average or 'worst-case scenario' situations. But that doesn't allow for any adjustments for things like application or operating
environment." Leverette is also chair of the SAE
G-11 Maintainability Committee and is one of the
original authors of the SAE JA1011 and JA1012
RCM standards.
Since RCM seeks to mitigate the consequences
of failure while also minimizing maintenance
costs, it is in a fleet's best interest to make preventive maintenance decisions based on its specific
situation. Fleets need historical data along with
what Leverette refers to as a rigorous application
of common sense.
"Take brakes, for example," Leverette says. "On
open-highway driving where there isn't much traffic, brakes will last a long time."
In this case, a fleet might not want to blindly
follow an OEM-recommended service interval.
Rather, the fleet should rely heavily on its own
inspections and historical data to determine when
brakes need to be serviced.
According to Levitt of Springfield Resources,
fleet maintenance professionals spend a lot of time
trying to avoid breakdowns.
"We don't spend enough time on the consequences of failure," he says. "If we did, we could
find new ways a failure could be dealt with."

October 2019 | VehicleServicePros.com

http://www.VehicleServicePros.com

Fleet Maintenance

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fleet Maintenance