Meet Russ

Welcome to Russ Parrish Consulting (RPC). My name is Russ Parrish, Principal at RPC, and I am excited to begin our monthly Newsletter and Blog. For the inaugural edition it was decided that an introduction was in order. So, let us start there and see where this takes us.

I am a maintenance and reliability junkie. I have worked in maintenance, reliability, and operations (MRO), as well as engineering, management, and leadership for over forty years. I began as a submarine electrician in the US Navy and progressed through manufacturing, technology, corporate real estate, consulting, and more. Each step developing and enhancing my knowledge, skills, and passion for the field. Through that forty plus years I have sought education (BSc, MA, MBA) and different certifications (Six Sigma, Reliability, Project Management, etc.). I can honestly say that I did not set out to be a maintenance and reliability professional (MRP). There was a reason for each academic pursuit and an urge to continue to develop my MRP skillset. I have been fortunate in my career to have great mentors, family, friends, and people around me who saw more in me than I saw in myself. All these factors have contributed to a unique and eclectic blend of skill, knowledge, intuition, and drive that has led to the creation of RPC.

All the experiences previously covered have driven my pursuit of reliability. I love the opportunity to identify and improve performance, optimize the process, and deliver results. I have experience and enjoy working with all levels and parts of the organization. The process of listening to what the want/need is; evaluating all the information available; determining perception vs. reality; identifying opportunities; creating an achievable and sustainable plan; driving communicating and the necessary change management; helping to instill the discipline to achieve the desired results; and putting the tools in place to sustain the objectives that we set out to accomplish is why I get up and go to work at this point in my career. Each opportunity to work with a customer is new and different. I also get to partner and work with some of the best professionals in the maintenance and reliability field. Couple all of this with getting to decide what projects I work on and resources I work with made creating RPC my priority.

RPC was envisioned over a decade ago but came to fruition in mid-2024. It then went live in early 2025. RPC’s mission is to provide superior performance and drive sustainable outcomes for our clients. Through exceptional service and integrity, RPC will align with our clients to achieve lasting success. We provide expertise in five areas: core services, maintenance services, reliability services, projects, and operations. Additional detail can be found at https://www.russpconsulting.com for the listed service areas. There are several ideas that allows RPC to deliver success for our clients. First, we are striving to deliver the right work, at the right time and cost, and with the appropriate (or acceptable)

amount of risk. Second, the Society of Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP) benchmarking has determined that reactive work takes up to three time longer and costs four to ten times as much as proactive work. The more reactive we are the more time and money we waste. Couple this waste with the fact that experience has shown that the average company is approximately 50 percent proactive and reactive and there is a great deal of opportunity in the marketplace. Lastly, the perfect MRO program does not exist, so there is something to still reach for.

As we strive for perfection, the playing field is constantly changing. We are working in an exciting time for MRO. There are many new and evolving aspects of our field. Where Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Digital Twins (DT), Technology, and others will take us is still to be defined. We need to be ready and take advantage of all the opportunities that are, and will be, available. Most importantly we want to build a solid foundation and echo two thoughts provided us by the Reliability Academy, this month’s exceptional highlighted partner. First, reliability has gotten too complicated. Second, keeping reliability as simple as it can be. Those may sound very similar, when in fact they are not. One is a cause and the other an effect. Both are important as we move forward. We at RPC are excited for what the future holds and are looking forward to working with you as we make every effort deliver that perfect maintenance and reliability program.