Maintenance process and planning are at the heart of industrial occupations. Processes and equipments require controls and strategies to reduce costs and yield loss. Risk Based Maintenance (RBM) helps in reducing machinery failure rate and managing actions priorities. This paper proposes a method using FMECA as an operational tool which unveils productivity improvement areas. it demonstrates that it is possible to use FMECA method in a more dynamic environment, continuously updated by operational events. The article proposes a risk based maintenance method, which relies on the regular and automatic update of equipments risk analyses including equipment failure history. The method gives up-to-date information about equipments' risks. The article is structured in four parts. After a risk management domain literature overview, the paper presents a new risk based maintenance method. A case study in semiconductor industry shows that FMECA can be employed in a dynamic way for managing maintenance activities. The proposed model simplifies and makes more reliable risks identification and estimation. Results and a brief discussion conclude the article. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.