Quantified Rams Based Infrastructure Asset Management

Abstract

For any organization, a cost effective and sustainable infrastructure is feasible only through lifecycle asset management policy fulfilling reliability, availability and maintainability and safety for safety related systems (RAMS). The activities are based on evidence-based procurement, installation and maintenance policy decision making procedures. Documented and audited Quantified RAMS (QRAMS) based maintenance techniques reduce the likelihood of frequent failures, downtime duration and capital investment, maintaining proper alignment of maintenance resources. These help in fault prevention, fault tolerance, fault removal and fault forecasting. Specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-bound asset management policy must consider the physical deterioration, obsolescence, operation, and maintenance of the system. Human skill and aptitude management is vital component for success. A properly designed, scheduled, managed, executed and audited sustainable QRAMS based maintenance policy and expert judgement, provides optimal reliability and availability. Maintenance management must be treated as an investment rather than a cost. Unplanned downtime leads to a spike in lost revenue or complete breakdowns of systems. All the tasks associated with QRAMS based asset management, right from preparing system specifications, allocations of subsystem reliabilities, procurement policy, maintenance policy and reliability growth monitoring after installation, are presented in this paper by using calculations from practical field experiences. This concept was presented in International Railway Safety Conference, shared in IEEE Reliability Society interaction with Indian Railways and in special courses on Railway RAMS in IIT Kharagpur. Author as the current chair of IEEE Reliability Society Hyderabad, is spreading this concept to Engineering students and industries.