What does 'condition monitoring' entail in RCM?

Condition monitoring in Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) focuses on the regular assessment of equipment health to anticipate maintenance needs. This approach is pivotal because it helps organizations identify potential issues before they lead to equipment failure, thus improving the reliability and availability of the equipment. By monitoring critical parameters and using various techniques such as vibration analysis, thermography, or oil analysis, maintenance teams can evaluate the current state of machinery and make informed decisions regarding repairs or preventive maintenance.

Other options, while related to maintenance practices, do not capture the core essence of condition monitoring. Routine inspections of tools and equipment provide a general overview but lack the targeted approach of assessing equipment health. Periodic updates to maintenance logs offer a record-keeping function but do not relate to the proactive assessment of equipment conditions. Daily checks before equipment start-up can be part of operational procedures, but they do not replace the comprehensive monitoring and predictive maintenance strategy that condition monitoring represents.