Human error causes 80% of plant and equipment failures. It is the single factor, which if controlled, makes the most difference to achieving world class equipment reliability and operational success. With the introduction of low cost communication and visual devices it is now possible to assist maintenance workers proactively prevent human error. By using interactive audio-visual devices workers can be coached through a job error-free to get right-first-time quality every time.
Life Cycle Asset Management
This Life Cycle Asset Management article series introduces and discusses life cycle asset management strategies, systems and processes for optimizing operating asset economics, reliability, performance, and return on investment.
Life Cycle Asset Management, Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Engineering Asset Management, and Physical Asset Management (and their linguistic variations) are considered to be synonymous names. Life Cycle Asset Management is used to title this series, as it has the correct connotation of what is intended when the applicable strategies are adopted by organisations.
‘ISO 55001 Asset Management  – Management systems – Requirements’ is an international standard for certification of life cycle asset management systems and posts about the ISO 55000 asset management suite of documents are included in this series.
The purpose of this Life Cycle Asset Management series is to provide reputed, useful content that brings value and improves asset performance when used in operations and organisations.
The Life Cycle Asset Management series of articles are provided with permission of Plant Wellness Way EAM and Lifetime Reliability Solutions.
NOTE: The series does not include coverage of related commercial or vendor software or database management applications.
How Big Fortunes Are Made with the Plant Wellness WayÂ
Let a Plant Wellness Way EAM System-of-Reliability halve your Annual Maintenance Costs
A Plant Wellness Way enterprise asset management system is a powerful solution for world class enterprise asset management (EAM) success. There are three scenarios when it is justifiable for a business to adopt PWW EAM as your company’s EAM methodology.
[Read more…]Setting Project Commissioning Spares Cost Allowance
Estimating the money for commissioning spares allowance of a capital project using the maintenance cost in the RAV ratio is probably wrong, but it is often done. The allowance also depends on the life cycle asset management processes and practices in use.
Unique Insights and Thoughts Behind the Plant Wellness Way
UNLIKE LEAN AND SIX SIGMA, THE PLANT WELLNESS WAY DIFFERENCE IS IT PREVENTS OPERATING RISKS FROM STARTING WITH A SYSTEM THAT IS BUSINESS-WIDE AND GOES END-TO-END OF THE WHOLE ASSET LIFE CYCLE
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Lean and Six Sigma are point-in-time problem focused methodologies, where as PWW EAM System-of-Reliability uses the whole life cycle to build business and operational systems with processes that continually optimize productivity, minimize risk, and generate maximum operating profits.
[Read more…]Physics of Failure
First parts fail, then machines stop! If its parts don’t break your machines and equipment will always be reliable
Physics-of-Failure microstructure science explains why components fail, and why they get failed during service life. Understanding Physics-of-Failure is foundational to the Plant Wellness Way EAM methodology
[Read more…]What is a Business Management System?
Why Build a Quality Management System?
A business management system needs a quality management system built to make customers happy.
Every company already has a business management system they use to deliver products or services. If you want to be a more profitable business, you need to continually create a better management system.
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It took a long time to understand why a business in the same market did better than other businesses. Every one thought it was due to better marketing, or access to more capital. But it was not. It was simply that one business had products that better suited customer needs. The best product always gains most market share and makes the biggest profits. Which is why a business management system needs a quality management system that improves their products.
Crazy Risk Management with a Risk Matrix
A risk management risk matrix can trick you into leaving high consequences uncontrolled and convince you it is fine to do nothing to reduce the impacts of failure. Whether you think a bad event cannot happen has no standing in Law. The likelihood of an adverse event is unimportant; only the resultant severity is how the Law will gauge your risk abatement efforts. Did you do ‘reasonably practicable’ risk control?
[Read more…]Dangers of Inventing Your Own KPIs to Measure Production Performance
A certain Operations Manager started inventing production KPIs in order to measure reliability from a production perspective. So he got together his colleagues and they came up with this formula.
Reliability = Good Production / (Net Production Hours + Nominal Speed)
When asked to define ‘good production’, I was told that it was the saleable production remaining after losses such as speed losses, first time quality, downtime, change overs, etc. were taken off.
After 3 years of running TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) across 3 factories, they made the following observations. The mean time between failure (MTBF) of equipment in all 3 factories increased. The production volumes increased. However the Reliability remained flat. How can this be? Something is not right. Is the above formula incorrect?
Is there a better way to calculate Reliability from a production perspective?
[Read more…]Physics of Failure Analysis for Roller Bearing FailuresÂ
A tutorial explaining the Physics of Failure method applied to regularly failing roller bearings in a dewatering press. After three years of exhaustive efforts to solve the cause of the bearing failures it was decided to test Physics of Failure Analysis with the aim of finding a lasting answer.
Producing Zero Operational Risk
The likelihood of component failure reflects the operational risk present. By reducing the likelihood of component failure to zero, zero operational risk is achieved.
Operational Risk is a mathematical formula, with variables that can be manipulated and controlled to reach the desired outcome. Below are three equations related to operational risk that you can use to change your future.
[Read more…]Process Flowcharts for Better Business Performance
You will find example process diagram layouts with the most effective flowchart templates to use, what to include in them so that the flow chart drives business results and personal performance (and you will be surprised at how easy they are to create). With the right layout and the inclusion of ACE 3T (Target-Tolerance-Test) quality assurance standards your process flowcharts and procedures will drive business and workplace performance. First it is necessary to layout your flowcharts so it is totally clear what must happen in a process or procedure, who is responsible to make it happen, and how their performance will be measured.
[Read more…]Your Most Important Business Equation
THE BUSINESS RISK EQUATION SHOWS YOU HOW MUCH YOU WILL LOSE FROM ANY FAILURE EVENT
THE COMPLETE BUSINESS RISK EQUATION EXPLAINS WHAT INFLUENCES YOUR CHANCE OF SUCCESS IN BUSINESS
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Risk = Consequence x Opportunity x Uncertainty of the Opportunity
One of the most important business equations of them all is the full form of the business risk equation shown above.
Determine which Critical Spare Parts to Keep in Stock
Which critical spare parts you carry in the maintenance store always revolve around how much risk your company is willing to bear. It is purely a risk based business decision. Look at the economics of the risk decisions available and go with the biggest chance of success.
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I have a question about critical spare parts determination that I always have a problem with. I do not know if this topic is included in the online preventive maintenance training I and my team of engineers are doing with you, that’s why I am asking the question.
How can I determine which are the critical spare parts that we have to keep on stock?
Plant Wellness Way Methods Summary
Let a Plant Wellness Way EAM System-of-Reliability halve your Annual Maintenance Costs
The Plant Wellness Way is business paradigm to create world-class performance and results in any operation by the correct selection and use of engineering, operating, maintenance, and reliability strategy and practices.
The six IONICS steps are used to develop lifecycle asset management, reliability improvement and maintenance management strategy and activities needed for endless operational excellence. Simply identify where you are in the above process map, come in at that point, and then continue on through the process to the point where your answers are available.
[Read more…]The Value of Precision Quality Standards
When equipment working parts are operated within their precision quality standard zones, world-class reliability is guaranteed.
The figures below demonstrates the importance of setting precision quality standards to achieve outstanding equipment reliability. It comes from a conference presentation on the production equipment reliability improvement in a steel mill in Australia.
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