Maintaining a machine will help in increasing the useful service life of the machine. Also, it would help in meeting the customer's demand as per the established production schedule. However, the budget available for the maintenance of equipment is usually limited. In this context, it is necessary to identify critical parts of the machine. By doing so, would result in a reduction in the maintenance cost of equipment.

       Peyman et.al. studied the maintenance of Gas distribution system. They have proposed a new method, for solving the maintenance problem of the gas distribution system. Birnbaum studied the importance of each of the components in a system and thereby provided a scheme for identifying the critical components. When a critical component fails during operation, it will have severe consequences concerning meeting the demand of the customer.

    For selecting critical components, Saaty proposed a new scheme known as the Analytic network process (ANP). ANP has been used by many researchers as a decision-making tool. Tang et al. proposed a scheme for identifying critical components in a system. The method uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques. Moslemi et al. proposed a new technique for solving maintenance problems. The method is known as CSABPSO. The method is used in arriving at an optimum maintenance schedule. Chu et al. and Li et al. have proposed decision-taking techniques regarding maintenance activities. Verma et al. explored different techniques for performing maintenance activities. They proposed a new framework for improving the safety of networks.

Hamzeh et al. and Marton et al. studied the aging effects of distribution systems and also did their reliability assessment. They have shown what is the strategy to be followed in dealing with the aging distribution system. Carnero et al. studied about selecting maintenance strategies in the case of an electric power distribution system. Silvestri et al. explored the means of improving safety in a production company. Wang et al. designed the reliability assessment method in designing a CNC lathe. Carrot et al. did the sensitivity analysis of the components of the system. They analyzed non-repairable components. They measured the relative importance of components in a complex system.

As can be seen from the literature survey, not many researchers and practitioners have applied reliability centered maintenance in the textile industry in general and circular loom in particular. In this context, the proposed research work assumes special significance.

The circular loom has several components. As the maintenance budget is limited, it is not possible to maintain all the components of the circular loom. Hence, in this research, an effort was made to identify critical parts, by failure mode and criticality analysis. Right maintenance policy for a given component, is then arrived at based on the criticality of the component. The research also demonstrates how RCM helps in reducing the total maintenance cost at the same time increasing safety and reliability. Thus, the research finding, of the proposed research work, will be useful for both practitioners and researchers.