Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) analysis determines the likelihood of plant failure and the time necessary to return the plant to an operational state.
Reliability, Availability and Maintainability allows the operator to optimize the design including its configuration, level of redundancy, component selection and supporting maintenance strategy.
As well as suggesting tangible improvements, a Reliability, Availability and Maintainability analysis provides confidence that the system will meet its operational targets and support the through-life viability of a project.
By applying Reliability, Availability and Maintainability techniques in the early phases of the project lifecycle, organizations identify any shortfalls against targets and proposes practical solutions which yield significant improvements in reliability, availability and maintainability.
For some, the benefit of using RAM analysis during all design phases of physical security systems may seem an unnecessary design and implementation cost.
However, RAM analysis and evaluation is important to ensure the design provides security at minimum risk with no costly rework and provides predictive failure rates for operations and maintenance planning.
By understanding RAM goals throughout the design, sources of failure can be identified and planned for more effective sustainment management. Of course, components will fail eventually, but with effective analysis and planning, the system sustainment can manage system failures and effectively decrease operational downtime.
RAM analysis in the conceptual design phase ensures site-specific requirements evolve from the performance-based requirements.
Reliability, Availability and Maintainability analysis during conceptual design provides a mechanism for designing security into the system by implementing aspects of Security by Design.
Experts in this field say that because there may be more than one way to meet performance-based requirements, early understanding of the options for the design allows for all stakeholders to understand compliance options and trade space.
RAM analysis is particularly important when resolving safety (fail safe) and security (fail secure) design conflicts. This results in providing a basis for the Competent Authority to make informed decisions when evaluating the options with respect to risk.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers Reliability, Availability and Maintainability Crash Course, a 4-day program that provides comprehensive training on the fundamental concepts of Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) and processes and techniques necessary to use RAM in practice.
Reliability, Availability and Maintainability Crash Course focuses on RAM management actions in order to help attendees to ultimately enhance the performance of materiel systems.
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