RCM Blitz™ differs from other Reliability Centered Maintenance Services or methodologies as it was not only designed to address equipment reliability but health, safety and environmental incidents, along with accidents in a manufacturing setting. The original RCM Solutions designed by Stan Nowlan and Howard Heap for the US Department of Defense and Untied Airlines was designed to address reliability and safety as it related to commercial aircraft and while the concept is very similar, the airline industry uses much more redundant equipment and typically there is a huge difference in consequences of equipment failures. This being said, when RCM Blitz™ was first introduced, it was met with great skepticism, mainly from the creators of other RCM Services or methodologies as the RCM Blitz™ methodology was designed to convince manufacturing companies that traditional RCM can be very expensive and time consuming therefore we should concentrate our efforts on critical manufacturing assets only. This was the first big difference people first experienced when it came to RCM Blitz™ and other methodologies. We knew that if we could focus our efforts on improving the reliability of our critical assets this would have a direct impact on reducing the cost of maintenance as well as the unit cost of the product our critical assets manufacture. If we could do this we knew that once the first RCM was completed implemented and proven, these companies would want more RCM.

To make RCM Blitz™ even more attractive, it was necessary to make it as quick and efficient as possible while maintaining the standard set for traditional RCM methodologies (i.e. The 7 questions of RCM – SAEJ1011). This is where the term RCM Blitz™ came from, the decision was made that if a RCM were to be executed, a schedule would be set that started the analysis and continued on with the same team until the analysis portion was complete. In doing this, the development of a methodology that delivers results faster than any other traditional RCM methodology was realized. Interestingly, those skeptics cited that this approach would burn RCM teams out; while in reality, it was found that this made people become more excited about RCM, thus driving stronger results.

How Does RCM Blitz™ save companies time compared to other traditional methodologies?

1. The RCM Blitz™ process was put together to allow companies to complete a traditional RCM analysis on a major critical asset by defining the envelope, completing the upfront tasks and then setting up your meeting to complete the analysis in less than 5 days. The process removes much of the repetition and review that is caused by stopping and starting meetings (e.g. Where did we leave off last time, what have we covered, did we discuss this already?).
2. The RCM Blitz™ process is quicker and more precise in the way we identify our Main Function Statement and discuss support functions at the component level in terms whether the component is active or passive (identifies hidden function components).
3. The process flow of RCM Blitz ™ is much quicker; once functions and functional failures have been identified we move on to discuss failure modes, effects, consequences and decisions. Other methodologies break each step up and force the team to each step separately. There is no value in separating these steps and doing so forces the team to discuss the failure modes and effects of each failure twice before making task decisions.
4. The RCM Blitz™ decision logic is more clearly written and to the point and always leads the team to the correct task.
5. Let’s drive these points on efficiency gains a bit further. The RCM Blitz™ user interface screens in the database tool are optimized for facilitation flow and co-facilitator activity, the "system of 85-125 components" can be completed in one (1) week instead of two (2) weeks

The Result? Approximately 40% reduction in total Team time

Other elements that differentiates RCM Blitz™:

• RCM Blitz™ may be the only methodology that addresses spare parts as part of the maintenance strategy, and it is the only methodology that develops consequence reduction tasks for run to failure decisions – looking to reduce the mean time to restore for further cost savings and increased reliability.
• The “stick factor” – the stick factor is considered the success rate for RCM Blitz™ implementation. A company will have a successful RCM effort when they have a culture that uses RCM and understands how to apply the process. These are companies who are either trained, mentored and certify facilitators or have GPAllied come in to facilitate their RCM analyses. We are proud to say that every company that has completed a RCM Blitz™ and implemented the resulting tasks has seen the benefits of this process and continue to use the tool creating a RCM culture in their business. Note: The only failures we have ever had are companies who train or perform RCM analyses and don’t implement the resulting tasks.