Patent ID: 6968293

Claim:
A method of optimizing equipment maintenance procedures comprising the steps of: analyzing the equipment; improving the equipment based upon the equipment analysis; modularizing the maintenance procedures into maintenance modules; and for maintaining system functionality and for preventing functional failures, using a control system for determining when maintenance standards deviate from predetermined objectives, and using a feedback system which is responsive to determination of said deviation for causing a systematic analysis of the situation to be performed and the causes for the deviation to be identified, then based on the results of said analysis and identification, implementing modification of the maintenance strategy and the maintenance methods to achieve improvements and initiate equipment optimization; wherein the step of analyzing the equipment comprises the steps of: analyzing the failure modes of the equipment; selecting equipment using an ABC analysis technique based upon the failure modes of the equipment; generating component and function models for the selected equipment; performing a failure mode and effects analysis to generate severity, occurrence and detection classification using the component and function models; calculating a risk priority number for each cause of failure based upon the classification in each of the severity, occurrence and detection classifications; and classifying each cause of failure into a damage classification based upon the severity, occurrence and detection classifications.