First Cost-Savings Step: Critical Equipment Selection

The typical plant Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) holds several thousand components tags, although nuclear units may exceed 100,000. “Critical equipment” simplifies equipment selection for PM assessment and prioritizes corrective maintenance. However, critical equipment holds subtle meaning. Complex equipment, multiple failure modes, and multiple systems functional failure effects, can diminish critical equipment value. Applied to failure-preventing tasks, critical terminology should support performance-based preventive maintenance plans. Identifying critical equipment is only the start.