Ÿ	the overall environment and background conditions in which you are using your equipment (i.e. its “operating context”)

Ÿ	what you want your equipment to do for you in respect of safety, the environment, output, product quality and customer service (i.e. its functions)

Ÿ	how much it matters when your equipment fails (i.e. the failure consequences).

Ÿ	undesirable consequences of failure are either eliminated, avoided or reduced (i.e. equipment failures are much less likely to be “show stoppers”)

Ÿ	the equipment breaks down far less often (ie MTBF increases)

Ÿ	when a failure does occur, the operator and maintainers are much more likely to be able to deal with it (i.e. downtime is reduced).

Ÿ	there are far fewer maintenance man-hours - RCM removes any “tradition & practice” and “excess baggage” from the

old schedule which are a common feature in supplier-based maintenance recommendations

Ÿ	tasks are focused on monitoring equipment performance - you’re now predicting failures rather than waiting for them to happen

Ÿ	there are far fewer overhaul type tasks - avoiding strip-downs and the resulting struggle to get the equipment working again afterwards

Ÿ	spare part consumption is likely to reduce.

Ÿ	maintenance and operating staff now work enthusiastically together - no more “them and us”

Ÿ	all the scheduled maintenance is actually done - not just signed off as done

Ÿ	everyone involved in the RCM process knows and understands more about the equipment

Ÿ	you now have a valuable technical document for the equipment listing what it should do, all likely failures, all maintenance tasks with full justification for each of them and an easy-to-use fault-finding guide - this information is often used to support a safety case

Ÿ	the maintenance schedule can be readily revised in the future as the operating context changes.