Question: What is PCA's definition of asset reliability?

Answer: The ability to safely achieve the maximum rate of quality, product or service, at optimal cost.

Question: Is Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), a comprehensive asset reliability process?

Answer: We believe that RCM provides tools for asset reliability - a tool must be applied correctly and used in combination with other tools to achieve results. RCM will provide limited results, but if used alone can give the impression of "just another maintenance program." Asset reliability must be applied as a total comprehensive process to be truly effective.

Question: Question: What is the difference between A-PRO TM and B-PRO TM services?

Answer: A-PRO TM (Asset Performance Reliability & Optimization) uses three separate focuses to improve asset reliability:

Reliability Focused Maintenance (RFM), utilizes a combination of RCM and various analysis tools to identify and attack the leading contributors of unreliability at your facility. Throughout the entire process, PCA's RFM expert coaches, counsels, and assists in the development of a business case for the elimination of performance problems. The reliability team is guided and instructed, both in classroom and in-the-field settings.

The actual schedule will be based upon the progress of the assigned reliability team. Typically, the time required is distributed over an extended number of months. Follow-up is performed when not on site, via telephone, fax, and e-mail. Additionally, PCA provides supporting documentation and software to trigger, manage, and measure the process. Much of this documentation and software can be blended with the development of any work flow redesign documentation.

Preventive/Predictive Maintenance Optimization (PPM Optimization), focuses on current and needed asset care tasks and schedules. It is intended to optimize these activities to become "best practices" for the asset operators and caretakers. TPM fundamentals are always considered in PCA's approach. We also provide software to help identify and rate critical equipment and any reliability exposure to bottlenecks and leverage points. The key is to move away from non-value (and sometimes harmful intrusive tasks) and move toward condition based tasks were possible. Our PPM expert facilitates this process by optimizing your current tasks and schedules. He will then close any gaps by providing specific procedures from our vast database of industry best practices and his personal knowledge and experience. All areas of regulatory and/or quality compliance are considered.

Continuous (condition) Based Precision Maintenance, focuses on "intelligent systems" to acquire and analyze data in critical areas. We find that our clients often utilize these systems coupled with DCS to track and measure process parameters, with the exception of the actual asset condition. PCA will facilitate this data acquisition and will then identify and provide or recommend training in precision maintenance techniques of the critical equipment/components. These areas include lubrication, calibration, alignment, balancing, and bearing fit.

B-PRO TM focuses on work management systems, and their interaction with each other and with A-PRO TM . PCA has experience with virtually every CMMS and database management system currently in use. Our diverse and comprehensive experience in various industries will provide many (sometime unique), solutions for your problems.