The fluctuating energy market continues to remind the processing industry that in order to sustain effective business performance we must have a long-term strategy of continuous improvement in our reliability and maintenance programs to compete. It is becoming more prevalent that contracting companies offer the latest technologies in predictive maintenance, diagnostic tools, inspection programs and data management programs to assist operators in performing advanced maintenance services.
Total productive maintenance (TPM) is becoming a more applied concept among industry processing operators to achieve top-quartile performance. TPM is a management system approach aimed at improving the integrity of plant assets through diagnostic techniques, maintenance work processes and world-class employees. Application of these principles is expected to achieve top-quartile operational performance.
The eight pillars of TPM are primarily focused on proactive and preventive techniques for improving equipment reliability:
- Focused improvement
- Autonomous maintenance
- Planned maintenance
- Quality maintenance
- Cost deployment
- Early equipment management
- Training and education
- Safety, health and environment.
To experienced maintenance and reliability professionals in both the operating ownership and contract services business, it has become clear that the most impactful means to achieve and sustain the lowest cost of operations is by improving the performance of the equipment. However, achieving such goals becomes difficult and often unachievable if the core maintenance and operational processes are overlooked and not performed at a high level. Many operators seldom move into what are considered Stages 3 and 4 in Figure 1. Organizations tend to struggle perfecting daily maintenance execution and proactive maintenance due to poor work execution processes and personnel. This is where your contract provider can be leveraged to:
- Develop a performance-based contract strategy that's key performance indicator (KPI)-driven and reliability-centric.
- Select a partner that has a proven track record of providing single-source capability.
- Empower your contract staff to execute an aligned strategy with innovative solutions to high-cost, inefficient execution of maintenance.
Figure 1 below illustrates an industry model of a hierarchy of management systems required to achieve maintenance excellence.
Many owner companies are seeking more capability from their contract maintenance providers to partner with them on the journey to total operational success above and beyond the expectation of qualified craftsmen. In today's environment, contract companies are expected to be capable of providing advanced services, such as:
- Inspection services, NDE.
- Infrared technology.
- Vibration monitoring.
- Planning and scheduling.
- Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) data management.
- Reliability analysis.
- Warehouse management.
- Lubrication system management.
- Tool-time studies.
- Preventive maintenance (PM) optimization.
Why do owners have to rely more on contractors?
- Higher levels of complexity and specialization required in the delivery of operations and maintenance work processes
- Increased demand on plant personnel to manage compliance and regulatory projects
- Reduced operating budgets for support personnel:
-Maintenance engineers focused on turnaround and reliability improvement projects
-Technicians
-Data support
- Increased demand for qualified engineering personnel
- Inexperienced operator workforce requires training to perform more minor maintenance tasks
- Reduced maintenance craft workforce availability
Contractors are able to optimize the costs of highly specialized resources by providing them on an as-needed basis. A contractor can amortize the costs of the resources over a large client base. In many cases, this can reduce the full-time-equivalent (FTE) headcount by 3-5 percent annually for a mid-size chemical processing facility.
Training programs are a necessity within such arrangements to ensure that quality craftsmen are capable of performing quality work, in addition to achieving multicraft certifications to perform various forms of maintenance in the facility. Targeting 30-40 percent of the appropriate mix of multicraft resources can reduce backlog and overtime by 5 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
Data management is a tremendously expensive task to achieve. In the past, admin technicians or clerks were direct-employed for data download, but in today's work environment, the data is more complex and requires analysis in real time to offer value to operations.
Owners can leverage their contractors to capture and track work history such as KPIs, work order management, data input (SAP codes), PM reports, bad actor identification and product data management (PdM) data.
Improving overall operational effectiveness can be achieved by partnering with your contractor in a total productive maintenance approach. Processing and manufacturing is a competitive business, continuously seeking a means to lowest total cost of operations; therefore, a long-term strategic plan between the owner and contract staff is vital. Each needs to have a clear set of accountabilities to provide to the business. When effectively applied, this approach can result in industry-leading results.
For more information, visit www.austinindustrial.com or call (713) 641-3400.
So how do you get started?
1. Develop detailed work processes.
- This can be constructed with an experienced plant staff partnered with contract leaders who have insight and experience of industry best practices. This is an opportunity to leverage the large experience base of your contract maintenance supplier.
- Define tasks for each critical role within your work process. Your contract maintenance staff positions should have accountabilities that are well defined in your KPIs (below).
2. Establish a balanced scorecard.
- KPIs should be developed for various stages of the process and balanced across various groups within the organization (operations, maintenance, contractors, etc.).
- The site maintenance steering team should lead in accordance with these measures.
- Benchmark at initiation to measure progress.
3. Design your equipment reliability program.
- Create your equipment PM strategy based on a proven failure mode effects analysis (FMEA) methodology.
- Complete equipment risk ranking assignment (critical vs. non-critical).
- Employ your contractor subject matter experts for input.
4. Validate your equipment master data in CMMS.
- Inaccurate equipment IDs can be largely detrimental to work order management.
5. Don't forget the storeroom.
- Verify a valid catalog exists and is integrated with your CMMS.
6. Operations minor maintenance.
- Develop a clear scope of routine maintenance work that operations will perform.
- Provide the tools and training required to ensure safe execution.
7. Establish a value-adding multicraft strategy.
