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reliability strategy development

Mechanical Integrity Simplified

It’s horrific to read about fires in refineries. Granted, process safety management (PSM) principles, with a greater emphasis on mechanical integrity (MI), have been embraced across the globe, greatly reducing the number of incidents. However, citations remain high, with the U.S. having the highest number of them. What’s the problem? A consistent implementation and application of MI. This article attempts to simplify the MI program, with the hope that organizations can achieve 100 percent mastery in avoiding incidents.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

Reliability Centered Operations: Lessons Learned from In-House Implementation

TRC-2018 Learning Zone 31:18
by Paul Hughes and Walter Sanford, PinnacleART

Facilities that are not prepared to perform full Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) analysis can still benefit by employing reliability methodologies to Operations and Maintenance (O&M) tasks. Operating costs for water and wastewater treatment plants can run between 50 and 75 percent of the total lifecycle cost of the facility. When operating costs, maintenance supplies, labor, energy, and downtime are included, O&M costs over the lifetime of a facility can reach up to 85 percent of total lifecycle costs. Optimizing O&M practices can dramatically impact the lifecycle costs associated with a facility. Apparently minor increases in efficiency will aggregate over time to make a significant difference in lifecycle costs. This presentation describes a two-stage O&M improvement initiative at two wastewater facilities experiencing significant operational problems and early asset failures. These facilities were heavily staffed to be able to manage issues, yet staff were underutilized for much of the time. These issues resulted in continually increasing costs for owners, and increasing challenges to meeting facility requirements. In the first stage of improvement, using the principles of RCM, O&M management was focused more on reliability-based and proactive tasks rather than reactive maintenance and “firefighting” failures and other issues. In the second stage, a full, risk-based RCM analysis was performed and implemented, along with further improvements in O&M management. By focusing on reliability, and risk-based Asset Management, these facilities experienced rapid, significant, and sustained improvement in availability, regulatory compliance, and cost performance.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

How RCM Helps to Change the Maintenance Culture

TRC-2018 Learning Zone 41:46
by Nick Jize, JMS Software

We will discuss the classical RCM methodology and its role in teaching the maintenance department how to critically evaluate Maintenance PM tasks, achieve buy-in for recommended changes, and to effectively implement new Job Plans.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

Continuous Monitoring of Critical Valves, Leading to Predictive Maintenance

TRC-2018 Learning Zone 39:16
by David Anderson, Score Diagnostics Limited

100% Valve Reliability (optimisation of valve performance over time, for minimum investment, with no surprises) is our vision for your valves. Since the year 2000, Score have been working with valve diagnostics equipment and systems to improve valves’ operating performance and reliability, dependent upon their criticality to the process. This track record has allowed us as a valve management company, to identify and develop strategies which optimise process operations and reliability. Being exposed to all of the failure modes in all of the valve designs and types commonly found in process plants throughout the world has shown us what to look for in terms of performance indicators that lead to in-service failures. Consequently, the ability to identify any/all emerging failure modes as early as possible delivers an operational reliability advantage. So, what we are interested in is, can we see and quantify any developing failure mode at any time, through a continuous condition and performance monitoring approach? What is that failure mode going to do to your process? And at what point do we want to make an intervention in terms of our valve management strategy? The most commonly deployed maintenance strategies lead to calendar-based interventions, so we are going to demonstrate new ways of working, to achieve better outcomes. We shall challenge the audience’s thinking on commonly applied maintenance management strategies and focus their attention on maximizing efficiency through an evidence-based approach to reliability centered maintenance. To support this, we shall present a real-life case study where the evidence from condition and performance monitoring of valves can be used to safely extend the MTBMI (Mean Time Between Maintenance Interventions) for critical valves in a gas distribution network. The results of course are minimised production downtime, minimised risks to process and personnel and greater efficiencies in operations.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

3 Techniques for Optimizing Preventive Maintenance

When Benjamin Franklin wrote, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” he was referring to fire safety. But, as you may know from experience, this saying holds true with regard to preventive maintenance (PM). Simply stated, preventive maintenance is an activity performed at a set interval to maintain an asset, regardless of its current condition. It’s a properly planned activity, where materials and parts are on hand and labor is scheduled ahead of time.The goal of any PM program is not only to extend the life of an asset or maintain it to its existing capabilities, but to also identify potential failures that could cause an unexpected event in the future. Properly planned corrective maintenance is typically several times less expensive than performing unplanned work. But, are the typical frequencies that PMs occur actually correct?

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

How Far Has Reliability Evolved?

IMC-2017 Focused Forum - 21:05
by Henry Ellmann, Ellmann, Sueiro y Asociados

The concepts and content of Physical Asset Management have evolved dramatically over the last few decades. From Nowlan and Heap’s RCM-Reliability Centered Maintenance in Aviation in the late 70’s, through John Moubray’s RCM2 in the last decade of the XX Century, NOW, “Maintenance” has evolved into Asset Management aligned with the Corporate Goals, contemplating Whole Life Cycle and Risk Based Strategies addressed to ambitious and welcome progress necessary to describe, understand and follow within the Corporate environment.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

How to Optimize Big Data in Factory Maintenance

If you work in any aspect of manufacturing today, there is no doubt you are aware of a significant revolution underway. It is a new era for the industry, dramatically evident when you take a look around any reasonably maintained and updated manufacturing facility. It no longer reflects the “gritty side” of the industry: dark, dirty and dangerous oversized rust belt garages that are dreary to visit, let alone work in. Instead, most forward-thinking facilities today are clean, bright and efficient workplaces that use, or are starting to use, some of the most cutting-edge technological advances available today in order to get ahead of the competition.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

Cost Reductions Without Losses to Equipment Effectiveness and Asset Integrity

Maintenance and reliability teams, programs and practices seem to be a constant target for cost reductions, but this brings up an important question: How can it be accomplished without losses to equipment effectiveness and asset integrity?

When companies implement overarching programs to reduce equipment failure, it isn’t always apparent where the problems and root causes exist because the programs often attempt to address everything at once. Some immediate returns and benefits are realized, however, these programs often do much more than is actually required. An example includes following the original equipment manufacturer’s guidelines without taking into account or adjusting for site specifications and equipment layouts.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

Mechanical Seal Flush API Plan 53B: What Can Plant Operators Do to Help?

Mechanical seals are a great cause of concern and failures in many operating plants. This is especially true of systems that are pumping or compressing dirty fluids. Some examples include bottoms pumps, sulfur pumps, or equipment that is handling abrasive or challenging process media. Mechanical seals are often redesigned, replaced and repaired simply because of the challenging conditions these seals face during operation. This has continually led to excessive costs in terms of repair or redesign, not to mention production loss and cost associated on a critical unspared asset.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

Optimizing Proactive Maintenance Using RCM

A major challenge currently confronting plant staff and management is how to deliver cost-effective and sustainable business practices based on plant performance requirements over the lifecycle of the assets. This can be especially challenging when it comes to recruiting and retaining skilled technicians who can operate and maintain an industrial complex. While it is recognized that a primary cause for this challenge is a shrinking pool of newly qualified technicians to replace the retiring workforce, a second and substantial cause is the inefficient allocation of resources that are here TODAY. What can be done to address this inefficiency? This article suggests a ready solution exists when you stop to recognize that not everything in your plants is of equal importance to achieving your objectives. Think return on investment (ROI). How can you identify those systems and equipment that are most responsible (think critical) for the loss of ROI? In the operations and maintenance (O&M) world, the selective application of reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) to your plants can optimize the use of available resources. This article describes a real-world application of RCM to focus the optimal use of your available resources.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

Hydraulic System FMEA Made Easy

In the not too distant past, most senior level managers would cringe when someone said a failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) needed to be performed on the hydraulic system. What immediately came to mind is a bunch of highly paid people sitting around a table dreaming up ways to eliminate things that may or may not happen to their hydraulically operated equipment.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

Asset Strategy Management: The Missing Link in Reliability Programs

While the process of reliability-centered maintenance has not changed much over the past 20 years, technology has certainly changed. You are now able to be more efficient in the way you go about reviewing maintenance tasks and you can improve how you use the increasing data available to you. However, even with new technologies, more data and a strong approach to maintenance strategy development, many asset managers are still leaving millions of dollars of their organization’s money on the table. It’s money that can be easily saved if you know why it’s disappearing and how to save it.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

Even Data Centers Need PM Optimization

PM optimization is a systematic process to get the best equipment reliability. This is done by identifying and improving on weaknesses in maintenance performance and frequencies. PM optimization is a process, a series of questions or a guiding decision matrix, that helps make your preventive maintenance (PM) more efficient and effective. It enables the optimization of resources, while instilling best practices.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

Optimizing Your PM Program

The RELIABILITY Conference - 33:38
by Steve Turner, Nexus Global

In this session we will present two PM Optimization case studies in detail and results from several other asset intensive industries. One case study will be from a green field power generation station and the other from a water utility that had a mix of new and very old assets. In both cases it was found that the vendor recommendations needed significant adjustment to suit site and operational conditions. Remembering that “not one size fits all” is the same line of logic required when rationalizing your asset strategies. PM Optimization is the process to achieve the highest potential asset uptime and the most cost effective with a result delivered to the bottom line in 1/6 of the time.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

Bigfoot CMMS

Bigfoot maintenance software, produced by Smartware Group, is a powerful, yet easy-to-use solution that is quick to learn to give you quick results.

Reliability Engineering for Maintenance

The Impossible Is Possible: 30,000 Assets in 90 Days - A PMO Success Story

In the 21st century, companies that focus on just design and operations will be left behind. Intelligent, efficient and optimized systems must keep evolving and need to be integrated into the ethos of how people work and think. This same thinking must be supported by management and designed to evolve based on proven intelligence, changing market demands and with the adoption of new equipment and technology. To achieve this, companies must initiate a proper asset performance management (APM) program to assess the operational performance and define a path to success.

To develop a sustainable APM program requires a level of understanding and expertise. This article explores a case study that uses elements of the strategy management domain from one MSAT provider’s APM sustainability model to show the importance of preventive maintenance (PM) optimization in the development of a successful APM program. This company, Nexus Global, supports the Uptime Elements Framework to map the key areas of improvement within their five APM domains: leadership, work management, strategy management, investigation management and data management.

reliability strategy development

You are invited to participate in the RELIABILITY Conference

Mechanical Integrity Simplified

Reliability Centered Operations: Lessons Learned from In-House Implementation

How RCM Helps to Change the Maintenance Culture

Continuous Monitoring of Critical Valves, Leading to Predictive Maintenance

3 Techniques for Optimizing Preventive Maintenance

How Far Has Reliability Evolved?

How to Optimize Big Data in Factory Maintenance

Cost Reductions Without Losses to Equipment Effectiveness and Asset Integrity

Mechanical Seal Flush API Plan 53B: What Can Plant Operators Do to Help?

Optimizing Proactive Maintenance Using RCM

Hydraulic System FMEA Made Easy

Asset Strategy Management: The Missing Link in Reliability Programs

The Reliability Impact Within the P-F Curve

Even Data Centers Need PM Optimization

Optimizing Your PM Program

Bigfoot CMMS

Isograph Inc.

The Impossible Is Possible: 30,000 Assets in 90 Days - A PMO Success Story

Nexus Global Business Solutions Acquires OMCS International of Australia