ABSTRACT

RCM systems are revolutionary e-systems that make use of contemporary advances in information technology solutions (Jonsson et al., 2010) to enable a shift in the maintenance of industrial equipment from mainly corrective (after failure) and preventive maintenance (maintenance performed on fixed schedule regardless of the condition of the asset) to predictive maintenance (maintenance in advance of failure) (Koochaki and Bouwhuis, 2008). Despite the obvious benefits that these systems can bring to the maintenance regime and although there is an increase in reported success stories in literature (Koochaki and Bouwhuis, 2008) many of the programmes that seek to introduce a maintenance regime based on asset condition monitoring, fail to achieve their objective (Mobley, 2002; Mitchell, 2007; Koochaki and Bouwhuis, 2008).