Ricky Smith, CMRP, CMRT
Ricky Smith, CMRP, CMRT is the Vice President of World Class Maintenance and a leading Maintenance Reliability Consultant with over 35 years of experience. He holds certifications such as Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional (CMRP) and Certified Maintenance and Reliability Technician (CMRT). Ricky has worked with global companies like Coca-Cola, Honda, and Georgia Pacific, delivering expert maintenance solutions across 30 countries. His career began in the U.S. Army, advancing to leadership roles, including a position at the Pentagon as Facility Investigator for the Secretary of Defense. Ricky is also the co-author of Rules of Thumb for Maintenance and Reliability Engineers and Lean Maintenance: Reduce Costs, Improve Quality, and Increase Market Share.
Posts by Ricky Smith, CMRP, CMRT
The Cost of Lost Plant Knowledge: What Walks Out When Your Experts Retire
The Real Cost of Poor Quality: Scrap, Rework, and Returns (2026 data)
How to Kill a Bad PM Without Getting Blamed for the Next Failure
The Dangerous Gap Between Maintenance Standards and Daily Execution
The Reliability Culture Myth: You Can’t Train Your Way Out of Bad Leadership
The Maintenance Manager Trap Nobody Warns You About Until It’s Late
How to Measure and Improve Wrench Time Without Alienating Your Crews
Asset Criticality Ranking: How to Prioritize What Actually Matters
Why Your Reliability Program Failed Before It Even Got Started
Why Your PM Program Is Creating the Failures It’s Supposed to Prevent
The Maintenance Storeroom Nobody Wants to Talk About
The Reliability Engineer Role Most Plants Get Wrong
Maintenance Planning and Scheduling: Boost Efficiency and Cut Downtime
5 Whys Root Cause Analysis: When to Stop Asking Why in Maintenance
Seven Causes of Bad Work Order Data That Distort Maintenance Metrics
Spare Parts Management: How to Optimize Inventory and Availability
Maintenance Management Best Practices for Long-Term Asset Health
How Detailed, Repeatable Procedures Cut Failures and Improve Asset Life
Unlocking Vibration Analysis Methods for Effective Diagnostics: Techniques, Tools, and Benefits
How Three Basic Maintenance Practices Boost Reliability and Uptime
Why Visual Inspections Still Matter in Predictive Maintenance Programs
RCM in Action: The Method That Extends Asset Life Dramatically
Why Maintenance Goals Are Critical to Success in Any Organization
How Smart Plants Use Weekly Work Schedules to Improve Performance