This is the time between an asset’s potential failure and its functional predicted failure. The bread and butter of the P-F curve is the P-F interval. Read more The P-F interval in maintenance
Get free resources on how to use failure codes to improve maintenance. If you can detect the signs of failure and identify the amount of time you have before a functional failure, you can focus on making the P-F interval as long as possible with less frequent, but more accurate inspections. The method assumes that failure is a fairly random and unpredictable event, caused by the culmination of many factors. The P-F curve recognizes the complexity of this task, which is why it works so well. Source: Staving off failure with maintenance is often not as simple as doing the same inspection at a set interval. This will ensure that you catch a failure before it actually occurs. Therefore, you should be inspecting it within that interval (perhaps every two days). Continuing with the same example, you know that you typically have about four days between when the bearing’s temperature passes 60 degrees (P) and when it fails (F). To use an example, recording failures on a bearing could tell you that it typically fails after its temperature climbs above 60 degrees.Ĭonversely, the “F” refers to an asset’s functional failure (when the asset actually fails). The “P” in a P-F curve refers to potential failure (when a piece of equipment could fail based on historical data, or the first point where we can detect that a failure could be occurring).
In other words, it predicts the condition of an asset based on what usually causes it to fail and when. Set on an X-Y axis where X measures time and Y measures the condition of an asset, the P-F curve represents the behavior of an asset before it actually fails. What is a P-F curve?Įnter the most useful tool in RCM: The P-F curve. It requires careful analysis of each piece of equipment to identify all possible failure modes and determine the optimal time to carry out maintenance or inspections based on this data. RCM is built on the idea that failure is not always linear. It’s often cited as the most complex approach to maintenance, and for good reason. Recently, we considered reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) as one of four common maintenance types. But the more likely reason is that your car was a victim of the random and unpredictable failure that often plagues machines. At the time, you may have taken it to mean that your car mechanic was a hack. Raise your hand if this has happened to you: You brought your car in for maintenance right on schedule, and then something completely different caused a breakdown a week later.