reliability centered design

The SAE International standard for reliability-centered maintenance (RCM)¹ says an inspection² should be done if it is technically feasible and worth doing. The hard part is identifying when a task is technically feasible.

An interesting statistic reveals that 65 percent of the American population feels certain they are better at math than half the general population. While both ironic and funny, it is also quite telling of how people naturally tend to overestimate the likelihood of positive outcomes compared to less desirable results. It is simply human nature to hope for the best outcome. For the most part, there is no real harm in believing one’s math skills are better than they really are. But, when you overestimate the reliability of equipment that you count on every day to perform your various jobs, the results are not just surprising – they can be dangerous.