Plant function deployment via RCM and QFD

PurposeThis paper aims to address the capability of reliability‐centered maintenance (RCM), which is a preventive maintenance design tool.Design/methodology/approachA model named Plant Function Deployment (PFD) is developed, in which the methodology of quality function deployment (QFD) is added to RCM to improve RCM capability in preserving the functions of the plants.FindingsThe objective of preserving the plant functions with least resources, in RCM, is attained more efficiently if the methodology of QFD is added to RCM.Practical implicationsPFD is a model for designing a preventive maintenance program which uses RCM and QFD methodologies. PFD organizes all the important data and information, gathered by RCM, in a matrix chart named The House of Quality. This chart gives a compact and detailed picture of all the relationships between the failure modes and functions of the plant, with logical numerical measures, for evaluating the degree of importance of the failure modes for receiving preventive maintenance tasks. In PFD the maintenance engineers use the information contained in the House of Quality to select preventive maintenance tasks and their frequencies. This causes the designed preventive maintenance program to approach more closely the optimal program with the objective of preserving the plant functions with least resources.Originality/valueIn comparison with RCM, PFD provides additional valuable information about failure modes, in a compact form, which can be used by the maintenance design engineers when they are trying to select the best preventive maintenance tasks for the plants.