Peter Schurmann Nexus Global
In the 21st century, companies that only focus on design and operations get left behind. Intelligent, efficient and optimized systems must keep evolving; these need to be integrated into the ethos of how people work and think. This same framework must be supported by management and evolve based on proven intelligence, changing market demands and technology.
At a site, two new 300-megawatt steam turbines were commissioned using pulverized coal combustion technology. The objective was to set up an improvement-driven work culture during the development and implementation phases of the asset management strategy and provide the framework for that culture to continuously evolve. The new power plant contained 30,000 assets; there were 90 days allotted to complete the project. Timely implementation of smart systems and investing in capable people were identified as critical to achieve this.
During the commissioning phase, work began on the asset management strategy development and continuous improvement systems. The window to complete the work was narrow, and expectations were high. Consultants and engineers worked with operations and maintenance on the maintenance strategy development process.
The project manager had one rule: Complication creates confusion. Focus on fundamentals; give clear direction with simple instructions.
The process contained seven simple steps:
1. Training and education of engineers, maintenance and operations in the planned maintenance optimization processes.
2. Apply the methodology and construct a component library of tasks for each equipment variant via workshops.
3. Validate the component variant library with physical assets; tune library.
4. Clone component variant tasks onto the asset structure.
5. Group tasks into practical and achievable planned maintenance (PM) schedules.
6. Execute final equipment walkover.
7. Load PM schedules into maintenance management system.
During each step, recommendations for strategy improvement were made. While this was happening, tools and systems were developed and implemented to help validate the effectiveness of the PM strategy. Continuous improvement had begun.
All events, including breakdowns, PMs and planned outages that occurred during commissioning (and later) help tune the strategy. Each event was assessed as:
- Expected — No cost-effective action could be done to minimize or eliminate the event.
- Unexpected — Event consequences were preventable or could be mitigated with good installation, maintenance or operations practices. Unexpected events were not acceptable.
After an unexpected event, often due to equipment failures, the strategy for that component was reviewed, and all applicable variants were updated. This simple action formed the basis for the continuous improvement culture.
Improvement is about working smarter, not harder. The manager said, “I’ll always take a smart and lazy employee that gets the job done.” In this project, information management using a database that integrated continuous improvement systems was one of the smart, lazy guys on the team.
The asset management plan for 30,000 assets was implemented within the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). This included almost 5,000 PMs and 60,000 tasks and failure modes. The business was focused on continuous improvements. The project had many challenges, but with management support and an improvement drive, all were overcome.
And yes, the 90-day target was achieved with one day to spare, and the improvement-focused culture lives on.
For more information, contact Peter Schurmann at p.schurmann@nexusglobal.com, visit www.nexusglobal.com or call (855) 488-0068.
