Download - Royal Australian Navy

NAVY ENGINEERING BULLETIN MARCH 2003
41
Engineering Standard 45 and an
associated database and
maintenance management
software package (much like
AMPS). After completing a
functional model of the vessel,
around 15,000 failure modes
were run through the RCM
decision-making process using
teams comprising experienced
staff who had worked closely with
the systems in service and a
range of OEM representatives.
Of the 15,000 failure modes
examined, it was found that just
20% responded to some form of
condition-based maintenance,
whilst ‘traditional’ scheduled
restoration or discard was only
appropriate for just 6% of all
failure modes. A further 18% of
the failure modes required was
associated with protective
devices which required detective
maintenance or ‘failure finding’ as
this is known in RCM. Two thirds
of the failure modes did not
respond to any form of proactive
maintenance activity. These
findings lined up closely with the
experiences of the aviation
industry and reflected the
complexity of systems installed.
The first ship to go to sea with an
RCM-based programme was HMS
ATHERSTONE in April 1998
followed by BROCKLESBY,
LEDBURY and QUORN. All
MCMVs are expected to be
operating on RCM-based
maintenance programmes within
the next year to eighteen months.
Results from the trials can be
divided into three categories:
operational costs, availabilities
and impact on HQ and shorebased
support organisations.
• Operating costs for the RCM
control group showed a 19%
reduction over the period of the
trial amounting to £0.5M per
vessel per annum, despite a
stores supply problem which
pushed up spares cost for the
control group. Discounting this
effect, savings in maintenance
effort for the control group were
33% lower.
• Availabilities of the control group
and the non-RCM vessels were
comparable, although the control
group was negatively influenced
by the stores problem above.
Control group availabilities have
improved as stores processes
have been tackled.
• The most significant changes
have been a shift in maintenance
effort from non-Fleet to Fleet
time, and the removal of large
work packages associated with
‘Refits’. All this has required the
development of a more dynamic
relationship between ship and
shore. The associated review of
the Upkeep Cycle has
recommended slightly more
frequent, but shorter dockings –
with an associated increase in
availability to the extent that 9 of
the 10 MCMVs are likely to be
needed for current tasking levels.
Under the previous regime all 10
MCMVs would have been needed.
The potential impact on support
costs is clear if this were to be
followed through to the logical
conclusion.
FIGURE 6: TYPE 23 FRIGATE
Overall costs for running the RCM
programme on Hunt amounted to
£2M. Across the Class, savings
of around £5M per annum are
expected, providing a Return on
Investment measured in months.
The encouraging results of the
Hunt Class trial were sufficient to
harness support for an extensive
programme to apply RCM-based
maintenance regimes to a range
of other platforms, a process
which is now well and truly
underway.
Implementation to Type 23
Frigate
The RCM analysis and
implementation on HMS
Lancaster was completed in mid-
2002, providing confidence that
the RCM process can be applied
to a major warship. Over 31,000
failure modes had been
examined over 377 separate
systems with once again, a major
shift towards condition-based
maintenance with only 14% of
failure modes responding to
some form of scheduled
restoration or discard (overhaul)
activity. Benefits obtained so far
include:
• Removal of maintenance with no
value;
• Less overhaul and reduced
requirement for docking when
compared with the former
maintenance cycle. Reduction in
the time needed for maintenance
is flowing through to shorter
periods available for refit which in
turn is forecast to improve
contractor efficiency;