Beyond RAMS Design: Towards an Integral Asset and Process Approach

The lifespan to which assets can be efficiently maintained, upgraded or disposed, heavily depends on the characteristics designed into the asset in the design phase. RAMS analysis is a well-established approach often used to reach this target. This approach is however not adequate for handling the complexity of changes and demands placed on nowadays assets. This can lead to reduced performance and unnecessary risk taking. There is a need for a more integral RAMS(SHEEP) perspective including Supportability, Health, Environment, Economics and Politics. Additionally there is often only focused on the asset itself and not on processes supporting the maintenance of an asset. Therefore this chapter does not only give a historic overview on RAMS evolvement, but also aims at answering how the supporting processes can be designed from an integral RAMSSHEEP perspective. We illustrate this by analysing the functional requirements for the Toilet System (TS) of the Sprinter Light Train (SLT).