Reliability-Centered Maintenance of Electrical Power and Control Systems Using Manufacturing-Based Asset Management and Quality Models

Abstract

This study tackles a practical reliability problem in enterprise electrical power and control systems: many reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) programs remain uneven in execution, so plants experience repeat failures, nuisance trips, and slow restoration despite having documented maintenance intentions. The purpose was to quantify whether governance and process discipline predict stronger RCM execution and, in turn, better reliability performance by testing a capability chain where Asset Management Discipline (X1) and Quality-Model Discipline (X2) predict RCM Execution Maturity (M), which predicts Reliability Outcomes (Y). A quantitative, cross-sectional, case-based design was applied in an enterprise case setting using a structured Likert-scale instrument and a multi-role sample of N = 162 respondents (42.6% electrical maintenance, 24.1% automation/control, 18.5% reliability/engineering, 14.8% operations/supervision). Key variables were X1, X2, M, and Y; construct reliability was strong (α = 0.88 for X1, α = 0.86 for X2, α = 0.90 for M, α = 0.84 for Y). Analysis followed (1) descriptive profiling (X1 M = 3.74, X2 M = 3.58, M = 3.49, Y M = 3.61), (2) Pearson correlations, and (3) multiple regression for hypothesis testing. Correlations supported the proposed linkages (X1–M r = 0.62; X2–M r = 0.55; M–Y r = 0.66; all p < .001). The headline finding was a well-fitting regression model predicting reliability outcomes, explaining 54% of the variance (R² = 0.54; adjusted R² = 0.53; F(3,158) = 62.10, p < .001), with the strongest effect from RCM Execution Maturity (β = 0.43, p < .001), followed by Asset Management Discipline (β = 0.28, p < .001) and Quality-Model Discipline (β = 0.19, p = .004). Practical triangulation reinforced these results: compared with the low-maturity tertile, the high-maturity tertile reported lower downtime frequency (2.41 vs 3.26) and repeat failure frequency (2.58 vs 3.33), and higher restoration speed (3.94 vs 3.10). Implications are that reliability gains are most likely when plants prioritize execution maturity as a managed capability and reinforce it with governance traceability and audit-driven standard work, rather than relying on RCM analysis alone.