The science of reliability centered maintenance (RCM) is understood by many companies today. However, culture change and implementation of sustainable processes is still a roadblock for most. Changing from reactive to proactive maintenance practices is a long-term strategy because of culture (leadership, engagement, accountability and incentives), and supporting processes (such as planning and scheduling, materials management, proper technology implementation and root-cause analysis) that need to work interactively to achieve excellence. Klaus Blanche will discuss how Reliability and maintainability (R&M) best practice maturity provides companies with a competitive advantage.