What is Conscious Reliability® all about?

How it all got started

About two years ago Jesus Sifonte, CMMI, invited James Reyes-Picknell to be a speaker at a congress that he was holding in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They did not know each other, nor did they even know much about each other. They were recommended to each other by a mutual friend. At the congress, they presented their respective topics and in the evenings shared a few drinks and spoke about maintenance, reliability and asset management. They realized that they both had a shared passion for excellence and we learned about each-others’ experience.

Jesus had been running two businesses – PdMTech USA and CMMI (the Condition Monitoring and Maintenance Institute). PdMTech delivered predictive maintenance and related services. CMMI delivered training.  Jim r an one business – Conscious Asset, delivering consulting and training services. They realized that they had one area of overlap in our services offerings – Reliability Centered Maintenance. Jesus’ training covered topics of interest in the field to technicians and engineers – very tactical. Jim’s training covered management topics – more strategic.  They met in the middle with RCM.

Jesus had been very successful in Latin America with his brand of RCM. He developed it from research and experimentation he did while working on his Master’s degree in Reliability Engineering. His training was entirely his own and his business model was both novel in our industry and unique. He had enhanced RCM, aligning it closely with international standards and emphasizing the correct use of failure history and in evidence based decision making.

Jim had been working with various RCM methods beginning with Military Standards in the 1980’s. He had the benefit of being mentored by a couple of giants in our industry, and had worked for years in a major RCM network but felt that its delivery methods, developed in the 1990’s, were now out of synch with technology and demographics.  Upon leaving, he developed his own materials and delivery methods – it was working well. The emphasis was on the implementation and continuous improvement of RCM outputs.

Even within RCM, Jesus and Jim complimented each other. The men realized that they had a lot to share. Jesus had enhanced the method itself, bringing RCM into the realm of evidence based decision making. James had enhanced the training delivery, implementation and sustaining activities, aligning it with today’s lean industry expectations. It struck the men that they had the kernel of a new book on RCM and it was already long overdue.

The collaboration began in writing that book, “Reliability Centered Maintenance – Reengineered”. It was published in April 2017.

As the book’s writing progressed, they talked and shared more. They mused that since they had so much in common, a new book about to be published, and businesses that were highly complementary – why not join forces? The idea of Conscious Reliability® was born. In addition to writing a book, they were now starting a new business.

Jim and Jesus decided to keep their respective consulting and field services businesses as they were and to pool their intellectual property into the new business and offer training. The Conscious Reliability® training now covers the spectrum from Asset Management (i.e.: ISO 55001) through to field level work such as precision balancing and alignment.

Jim and Jesus welcome you to Conscious Reliability®.  Jim says, “This blog entry marks the first of many to come. We cover training in Asset Management, Maintenance Management (Uptime), RCM-R® – RCM Reengineered, Vibration analysis, ultrasonics, infra-red thermographics, oil analysis, precision lubrication, precision maintenance, alignment, balancing, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Root Cause Analysis (RCA).  We work through a network of sales, training and consulting licensees. Our standards are high and we look forward to serving you.”