This document provides guidance on conducting an Equipment Criticality Analysis (ECA). The ECA process identifies equipment that is most critical to business goals. It describes preparing for the analysis, including developing an equipment hierarchy and defining assessment criteria. The ECA evaluates the potential impact of equipment failure across categories like safety, quality, costs. This helps prioritize critical equipment and reliability improvement projects.
The ultimate guide on constructing a FMEA process for Manufacturing, Maintenance, Services and Design.
The presentation include step by step on how to determine the failure modes, failure effects, assign severity, assign occurrence, assign detection, calculate risk priority numbers and prioritize the RPNs for action. With some examples and illustrations.
Presentation contents:
1. Determing failure modes, effects and causes.
2. FMEA team & team leader.
3. Brainstorming.
4. The basic steps of FMEA.
5. Examples.
This presentation provides a nice introduction to Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA). Includes history and background, definitions, timelines for implementing and describes the FMEA methodology.
When working for Petrobras at PRSI (Pasadena Refining System Inc.) I had this opportunity to share my experience as a Maintenance Manager in Brazil with PRSI operators and maintenance crew.
Criticality is a tool that allows the objective evaluation of the potential consequences of equipment breakdown on a plant as a result of functional failures. It helps determine the characteristics that make one piece of equipment more critical to overall plant performance than another.
[Note: This is a partial preview. To download this presentation, visit:
https://www.oeconsulting.com.sg/training-presentations]
Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a step-by-step approach for identifying all possible failures in a design, a manufacturing or assembly process, or a product or service. The purpose of the FMEA is to take actions to eliminate or reduce failures, starting with the highest-priority ones. FMEA also documents current knowledge and actions about the risks of failures, for use in continuous improvement.
In this training presentation, you can teach your employees on the proper steps to construct an FMEA for a design or process, and then implement action plans to eliminate or reduce the risks of potential failures.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Understand what an FMEA is, why it is used, and when can it be deployed
2. Understand the definitions, scoring system and calculations used in an FMEA
3. Learn the steps to developing an FMEA and the pitfalls to avoid
CONTENTS
1. Introduction to FMEA
2. FMEA: Definitions, Scoring System & Calculations
3. FMEA Procedure
4. FMEA Example
The ultimate guide on constructing a FMEA process for Manufacturing, Maintenance, Services and Design.
The presentation include step by step on how to determine the failure modes, failure effects, assign severity, assign occurrence, assign detection, calculate risk priority numbers and prioritize the RPNs for action. With some examples and illustrations.
Presentation contents:
1. Determing failure modes, effects and causes.
2. FMEA team & team leader.
3. Brainstorming.
4. The basic steps of FMEA.
5. Examples.
This presentation provides a nice introduction to Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA). Includes history and background, definitions, timelines for implementing and describes the FMEA methodology.
When working for Petrobras at PRSI (Pasadena Refining System Inc.) I had this opportunity to share my experience as a Maintenance Manager in Brazil with PRSI operators and maintenance crew.
Criticality is a tool that allows the objective evaluation of the potential consequences of equipment breakdown on a plant as a result of functional failures. It helps determine the characteristics that make one piece of equipment more critical to overall plant performance than another.
[Note: This is a partial preview. To download this presentation, visit:
https://www.oeconsulting.com.sg/training-presentations]
Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a step-by-step approach for identifying all possible failures in a design, a manufacturing or assembly process, or a product or service. The purpose of the FMEA is to take actions to eliminate or reduce failures, starting with the highest-priority ones. FMEA also documents current knowledge and actions about the risks of failures, for use in continuous improvement.
In this training presentation, you can teach your employees on the proper steps to construct an FMEA for a design or process, and then implement action plans to eliminate or reduce the risks of potential failures.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Understand what an FMEA is, why it is used, and when can it be deployed
2. Understand the definitions, scoring system and calculations used in an FMEA
3. Learn the steps to developing an FMEA and the pitfalls to avoid
CONTENTS
1. Introduction to FMEA
2. FMEA: Definitions, Scoring System & Calculations
3. FMEA Procedure
4. FMEA Example
Authors: (i) Prashanth Lakshmi Narasimhan,
(ii) Mukesh Ravichandran
Industry: Automobile -Auto Ancillary Equipment ( Turbocharger)
This was presented after the completion of our 2 months internship at Turbo Energy Limited during our 3rd Year Summer holidays (2013)
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)...Flevy.com Best Practices
More Information:
https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/reliability-centered-maintenance-rcm-and-total-productive-maintenance-tpm--2-day-presentation-1081
BENEFITS OF DOCUMENT
Improve reliability of plant & equipment
Measure the machine performance losses and understand better
Introduce autonomous maintenance
DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION
Reliability Centered Maintenance and Total Productive Maintenance presentation is intended to help as a 2-day workshop material for Operations and Maintenance personnel.
This presentation consists of over 200 slides and comprises of the following:
Group Activity - Define Maintenance Excellence
Maintenance Excellence - Activity
What is RCM?
Objective & goal of RCM
Techniques employed by RCM
Primary RCM Principles
Types of Maintenance Tasks
RCM Considerations, Applicability + Benefits
Steps in RCM Implementation
TPM vision, definition, origins, principles
8 Pillars of TPM
TPM Self-Assessment
Autonomous maintenance
Equipment & Process Improvement
Equipment Losses, Manpower & Material Losses
OEE - what it is & Calculations
Activity OEE Calculation
Other pillars of TPM
TPM Implementation - 12 steps
Benefits & OEE Tracker
Proactive Maintenance Analysis
Liaison with Ops, Communicating OEE,
Group Activity - OEE Communication/Importance
Ops. Skills, Cleanliness,
Monitoring - Gauges, Lubrication, Contamination, Vibration, One point Lesson
Activity - Maintenance / Operations
Analysis of Maintenance History, MTBF and its calculation
Activity - MTBF Calculation
Improving Equipment performance
FMEA, Types, Calculating RPN
Introduction to Reliability Centered MaintenanceDibyendu De
Introduces Reliability Centered Maintenance, strategies employed, formulation of effective maintenance plan, reduction of consequences of failures and failure rate.
We all want to support the accomplishment of safe and trouble-free products and processes. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis has the potential to be a powerful reliability tool to reduce product design and manufacturing risk in a cost effective manner. With shorter product development times, tighter budgets and intense global competition, Design for Reliability tools such as FMEA must be applied correctly. Yet in practice, FMEA does not always achieve the expected results. Why is it that some companies have outstanding success in their FMEA application and others do not? What is the difference between well done and poorly done FMEAs? What are the essential elements of an effective FMEA process? These questions and more are answered in these three new short courses on FMEA.
ABOUT THE TRAINING PROGRAM :-
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis or FMEA is a structured technique to analyze a process to determine shortcomings and opportunities for improvement. By assessing the severity of a potential failure, the likelihood that the failure will occur, and the chance of detecting the failure, dozens or even hundreds of potential issues can be prioritized for improvement.
DESIGNED FOR :-
Sr. Engineer, Engineer, Supervisor and Foreman engaged in maintenance, operation, Store, Supply chain, Quality, Safety and Engineering activities.
OBJECTIVE :-
Employees completing this training will be able to effectively participate on an FMEA team and can make immediate contributions to quality and productivity improvement efforts.
John Day developed a proactive maintenance process in 1978 and manage maintenance and engineering at Alumax Mt. Holly and later at Alcoa Mt Holly for over 20 years. These are the slides he presented at the 1997 SMRP Conference. Great slides with great information. If you would like the slides and not PDF send me an email at rsmith@maintenancebestpractices.com. I worked for John Day back in the early 1980s which started my journey in Proactive Maintenance.
This presentation outlines the processes and benefits of applying enhanced maintenance planning techniques such as Reliability Centred Maintenance at your place of work. Please go to www.simenergy.co.uk for more information.
Authors: (i) Prashanth Lakshmi Narasimhan,
(ii) Mukesh Ravichandran
Industry: Automobile -Auto Ancillary Equipment ( Turbocharger)
This was presented after the completion of our 2 months internship at Turbo Energy Limited during our 3rd Year Summer holidays (2013)
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)...Flevy.com Best Practices
More Information:
https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/reliability-centered-maintenance-rcm-and-total-productive-maintenance-tpm--2-day-presentation-1081
BENEFITS OF DOCUMENT
Improve reliability of plant & equipment
Measure the machine performance losses and understand better
Introduce autonomous maintenance
DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION
Reliability Centered Maintenance and Total Productive Maintenance presentation is intended to help as a 2-day workshop material for Operations and Maintenance personnel.
This presentation consists of over 200 slides and comprises of the following:
Group Activity - Define Maintenance Excellence
Maintenance Excellence - Activity
What is RCM?
Objective & goal of RCM
Techniques employed by RCM
Primary RCM Principles
Types of Maintenance Tasks
RCM Considerations, Applicability + Benefits
Steps in RCM Implementation
TPM vision, definition, origins, principles
8 Pillars of TPM
TPM Self-Assessment
Autonomous maintenance
Equipment & Process Improvement
Equipment Losses, Manpower & Material Losses
OEE - what it is & Calculations
Activity OEE Calculation
Other pillars of TPM
TPM Implementation - 12 steps
Benefits & OEE Tracker
Proactive Maintenance Analysis
Liaison with Ops, Communicating OEE,
Group Activity - OEE Communication/Importance
Ops. Skills, Cleanliness,
Monitoring - Gauges, Lubrication, Contamination, Vibration, One point Lesson
Activity - Maintenance / Operations
Analysis of Maintenance History, MTBF and its calculation
Activity - MTBF Calculation
Improving Equipment performance
FMEA, Types, Calculating RPN
Introduction to Reliability Centered MaintenanceDibyendu De
Introduces Reliability Centered Maintenance, strategies employed, formulation of effective maintenance plan, reduction of consequences of failures and failure rate.
We all want to support the accomplishment of safe and trouble-free products and processes. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis has the potential to be a powerful reliability tool to reduce product design and manufacturing risk in a cost effective manner. With shorter product development times, tighter budgets and intense global competition, Design for Reliability tools such as FMEA must be applied correctly. Yet in practice, FMEA does not always achieve the expected results. Why is it that some companies have outstanding success in their FMEA application and others do not? What is the difference between well done and poorly done FMEAs? What are the essential elements of an effective FMEA process? These questions and more are answered in these three new short courses on FMEA.
ABOUT THE TRAINING PROGRAM :-
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis or FMEA is a structured technique to analyze a process to determine shortcomings and opportunities for improvement. By assessing the severity of a potential failure, the likelihood that the failure will occur, and the chance of detecting the failure, dozens or even hundreds of potential issues can be prioritized for improvement.
DESIGNED FOR :-
Sr. Engineer, Engineer, Supervisor and Foreman engaged in maintenance, operation, Store, Supply chain, Quality, Safety and Engineering activities.
OBJECTIVE :-
Employees completing this training will be able to effectively participate on an FMEA team and can make immediate contributions to quality and productivity improvement efforts.
John Day developed a proactive maintenance process in 1978 and manage maintenance and engineering at Alumax Mt. Holly and later at Alcoa Mt Holly for over 20 years. These are the slides he presented at the 1997 SMRP Conference. Great slides with great information. If you would like the slides and not PDF send me an email at rsmith@maintenancebestpractices.com. I worked for John Day back in the early 1980s which started my journey in Proactive Maintenance.
This presentation outlines the processes and benefits of applying enhanced maintenance planning techniques such as Reliability Centred Maintenance at your place of work. Please go to www.simenergy.co.uk for more information.
I designed this Tool Box Talk to hopefully help people understand more about asset criticality and why it needs to be developed a specific way in order to manage asset health effectively. Let's make the right decision at the right time on the right asset.
Effective Spare Parts Management - 8 rulesLogio_official
The management of spare parts and other materials needed for realization of the maintenance process is one of the key
functions in physical asset management.
Planning for Emergencies - Tips for Reducing Risk
The former Director of Energy and Physical Plant for Wake County Public School System discusses best practices and lessons learned in preparing for and recovering from actual incidents that impacted the district.
Asset integrity services such as KBAI™ (Knowledge Based Asset Integrity) provide risk profiling for key components based on assessment of data from a variety of sources. This allows owners and operators to better predict where problems will occur. Similar approaches are already regularly used by owners and operators in other industries such as oil and gas. Such systems provide a maintenance and/or inspection task plan that is optimised specifically for the asset and the business. - See more at: http://blog.lr.org/2013/05/kbai-the-definitive-addition-to-your-om-strategy/#sthash.TWKPtbTK.dpuf
For a company to continue business, the role of the Spare Parts department is very important. Whether or not the part activities are properly controlled, can greatly influence the company’s success.
The system control among other things is vitally important to the Spare Business Unit (SBU) control, for effective operation of actual SBU.
rrelic has developed a highly effective Total Reliability Framework for the implementation of reliability methods, tools and services in order to achieve your desired end results.
Total reliability Framework (TRF) Provides a management system for all reliability and Maintenance activities; focus on improving the performance of both the personnel and the plant equipment.
Probability that a product, piece of equipment, or system will perform its intended function for a stated period of time under specified operating conditions.
Your business is important to you. Your business is important to many of your employees. Planning for difficult times may be a grim outlook, but a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) will provide your direction of you, your company, and your employees when a threat has happened. In this slide presentation will examine Threats, Level of Threats, and the framework for a BCP.
Risk management of the performance measurement baselineGlen Alleman
Many large government and industry programs are plagued by cost and schedule overruns and technical shortfalls.
Knowledge of project risk provides information needed to make decisions in the presence of uncertainty, where predicting future outcomes is part of the project management process.
When we talk about risk we need to have definitions that are shared across the domain. Risk in federal acquisition programs may not be the same definition as risk in the financial investment
domain.
Resolver’s new platform, Core, is something you’ll hear a lot about over the next few days. This presentation provides an introduction to the foundations of Core, the applications that sit on top of Core, and the various use cases they address.
Having experience as a Maintenance Manager and Maintenance Consultant I wrote this article. The one Maintenance Manager that inspired me the most was Rick Mullen, former Engineering and Maintenance Manager at Anheuser Busch, who by far the #1 Maintenance Manager I ever met.
What does a "Day in the Life of a Proactive Maintenance Planner" look like. This article was writen based on my experience at Alcoa Mt Holly (Certified as World Class Maintenance).
Having worked with companies all over the world I decided to write this article based on my experience as a Maintenance Advisor and a Maintenance Leader.
How to know if your maintenance planning and scheduling is not effectiveRicky Smith CMRP, CMRT
Many times companies have Maintenance Planning and Scheduling however it is not effective as they like it to be. This article helps anyone who is struggling the Planning and Scheduling with a few ideas.
If you have questions email me at rsmith@worldclassmaintenance.org
Ever wondered what a "Day in the Life of a Proactive Maintenance Supervisor". Checkout this article and see how it matching where you are. If you have questions send Ricky an email to rsmith@worldclassmaintenance.org
A proactive maintenance technician is a highly trained professional who is an expert in his or her skills area, has knowledge of other skills areas, including safety and production, and has a desire to learn more. This professional knows and can
implement a failure-modes driven maintenance strategy for any piece of equipment.
A proactive maintenance technician uses knowledge and experience to ensure the maintenance process is optimized by making constructive recommendations to
management concerning improvement areas.
To ensure success, a proactive maintenance technician is proactive in everything he or she does. This person constantly reviews information to ensure procedures are accurate and issues are resolved quickly and does what is required to ensure the work is repeatable. Such a professional leads by example and takes responsibility for training new employees on how to be a proactive and effective maintenance technician.
The objective of the Parts Checkout process to ensure the right part is in stock when required by Maintenance / Operations to provide Production with Reliable Assets.
> Parts / Material Checkout Guiding Principles:
•All parts/material used for an asset will be charge to the asset via a Work Order
•No blanket work orders – blanket work orders lead to lack of failure information due to failure threads of like parts/material
•Overnight ordering of parts is an exception and not the general rule
•The Materials Management Process will be managed with Leading and Lagging KPIs
... and so much more
Best Maintenance Lubrication Practices are essential to
optimal life for ball and rolling element bearings.
There are four factors that are important when
lubricating bearings:
1. What type of lubrication?
2. How much lubrication?
3. How frequently should lubrication be applied?
4. How should the lubrication be applied to ensure
contamination control?
... and so much more covered on this document
Maintenance Planning and Scheduling is critical to success of any Maintenance Organization resulting in a significant increase in Wrench-time (Hands on Tool Time). Planning and Scheduling are two distinct functions which are dependent on each other.
Top 7 Reasons why Maintenance Work Orders are Closed Out AccuratelyRicky Smith CMRP, CMRT
Closing out work orders accurately is critical for leadership to make the “right decisions at the right time with accurate data” and it can only occur if work orders are “Closed with the Right Information/Data”.
If metrics and Key Performance Indicators are so important where are people pulling the data from without their work orders having the right data on them when they are closed into that dark hole called the CMMS or EAM.
Without good data you are lost and probably are making decisions based on passion and not facts.
Very few organizations pay attention to hydraulic leaks and how they can impact production capacity, asset reliability, and reactivity when a mitigation strategy is in place.
This Tool Box Talk may help you take that next step.
Most companies spend a lot of money training their maintenance personnel to troubleshoot a hydraulic system.
If we focused on preventing system failure then we could spend less time and money on troubleshooting a hydraulic system. We normally except hydraulic system failure rather than deciding not to except hydraulic failure as the norm. Let’s spend the time and money to eliminate hydraulic failure rather than preparing for failure.
Preventive Maintenance - Actions performed on a time- or machine-run-based schedule that detect, preclude, or mitigate degradation of a component or system with the aim of sustaining or extending its useful life through controlling degradation to an acceptable level. (Definition Source: SMRP Best Practices)
Maintenance Skills Training for industry is a hot subject right now. In many areas of the country, companies are competing for skilled maintenance personnel.
“A Deloitte study found that the skills gap may leave an estimated 2.4 million positions unfilled between 2018 and 2028, with a potential economic impact of $2.5 trillion”
The skill level of the maintenance personnel in most companies is well below what industry would say is acceptable. In the past, I have been involved with the assessment of the skill level for hundreds of maintenance personnel in the U.S. and Canada and found 80% of the people assessed scored less than 50% of where they need to be in the basic technical skills to perform their jobs. The literacy level of maintenance personnel is also a problem. In some areas of the United States we find that up to 40% of maintenance personnel in a plant are reading below the eighth grade level. After performing the Gunning FOG index, we find the reading level for mechanical maintenance personnel should be the twelfth year level and electrical maintenance personnel the fourteenth year level (associate degree).
Much has been written about lean manufacturing and the lean enterprise—enough that nearly all readers are familiar with the concepts as well as the phrases themselves. But what about lean maintenance?
Is it merely a subset of lean manufacturing? Is it a natural fall-in-behind spinoff result of adopting lean manufacturing practices?
Much to the chagrin of many manufacturing companies, whose attempts at implementing lean practices have failed ignominiously, lean maintenance is neither a subset nor a spinoff of lean manufacturing. It is instead a prerequisite for success as a lean manufacturer. This article will explain why.
Every wondered what the life of a Proactive Maintenance Technician looks like. This article was written based on my experience as a Proactive Maintenance Technician.
CW RADAR, FMCW RADAR, FMCW ALTIMETER, AND THEIR PARAMETERSveerababupersonal22
It consists of cw radar and fmcw radar ,range measurement,if amplifier and fmcw altimeterThe CW radar operates using continuous wave transmission, while the FMCW radar employs frequency-modulated continuous wave technology. Range measurement is a crucial aspect of radar systems, providing information about the distance to a target. The IF amplifier plays a key role in signal processing, amplifying intermediate frequency signals for further analysis. The FMCW altimeter utilizes frequency-modulated continuous wave technology to accurately measure altitude above a reference point.
Welcome to WIPAC Monthly the magazine brought to you by the LinkedIn Group Water Industry Process Automation & Control.
In this month's edition, along with this month's industry news to celebrate the 13 years since the group was created we have articles including
A case study of the used of Advanced Process Control at the Wastewater Treatment works at Lleida in Spain
A look back on an article on smart wastewater networks in order to see how the industry has measured up in the interim around the adoption of Digital Transformation in the Water Industry.
Sachpazis:Terzaghi Bearing Capacity Estimation in simple terms with Calculati...Dr.Costas Sachpazis
Terzaghi's soil bearing capacity theory, developed by Karl Terzaghi, is a fundamental principle in geotechnical engineering used to determine the bearing capacity of shallow foundations. This theory provides a method to calculate the ultimate bearing capacity of soil, which is the maximum load per unit area that the soil can support without undergoing shear failure. The Calculation HTML Code included.
Harnessing WebAssembly for Real-time Stateless Streaming PipelinesChristina Lin
Traditionally, dealing with real-time data pipelines has involved significant overhead, even for straightforward tasks like data transformation or masking. However, in this talk, we’ll venture into the dynamic realm of WebAssembly (WASM) and discover how it can revolutionize the creation of stateless streaming pipelines within a Kafka (Redpanda) broker. These pipelines are adept at managing low-latency, high-data-volume scenarios.
Saudi Arabia stands as a titan in the global energy landscape, renowned for its abundant oil and gas resources. It's the largest exporter of petroleum and holds some of the world's most significant reserves. Let's delve into the top 10 oil and gas projects shaping Saudi Arabia's energy future in 2024.
Forklift Classes Overview by Intella PartsIntella Parts
Discover the different forklift classes and their specific applications. Learn how to choose the right forklift for your needs to ensure safety, efficiency, and compliance in your operations.
For more technical information, visit our website https://intellaparts.com
NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER IN CONDENSING HEAT EXCHANGERS...ssuser7dcef0
Power plants release a large amount of water vapor into the
atmosphere through the stack. The flue gas can be a potential
source for obtaining much needed cooling water for a power
plant. If a power plant could recover and reuse a portion of this
moisture, it could reduce its total cooling water intake
requirement. One of the most practical way to recover water
from flue gas is to use a condensing heat exchanger. The power
plant could also recover latent heat due to condensation as well
as sensible heat due to lowering the flue gas exit temperature.
Additionally, harmful acids released from the stack can be
reduced in a condensing heat exchanger by acid condensation. reduced in a condensing heat exchanger by acid condensation.
Condensation of vapors in flue gas is a complicated
phenomenon since heat and mass transfer of water vapor and
various acids simultaneously occur in the presence of noncondensable
gases such as nitrogen and oxygen. Design of a
condenser depends on the knowledge and understanding of the
heat and mass transfer processes. A computer program for
numerical simulations of water (H2O) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4)
condensation in a flue gas condensing heat exchanger was
developed using MATLAB. Governing equations based on
mass and energy balances for the system were derived to
predict variables such as flue gas exit temperature, cooling
water outlet temperature, mole fraction and condensation rates
of water and sulfuric acid vapors. The equations were solved
using an iterative solution technique with calculations of heat
and mass transfer coefficients and physical properties.
Understanding Inductive Bias in Machine LearningSUTEJAS
This presentation explores the concept of inductive bias in machine learning. It explains how algorithms come with built-in assumptions and preferences that guide the learning process. You'll learn about the different types of inductive bias and how they can impact the performance and generalizability of machine learning models.
The presentation also covers the positive and negative aspects of inductive bias, along with strategies for mitigating potential drawbacks. We'll explore examples of how bias manifests in algorithms like neural networks and decision trees.
By understanding inductive bias, you can gain valuable insights into how machine learning models work and make informed decisions when building and deploying them.
1. Equipment Criticality Analysis.
Section 1 - Overview
This chapter has been prepared to provide assistance in the application of an
Equipment Criticality Analysis.
Included in this chapter are instructions for applying the Equipment Criticality
Analysis methodology to determine which equipment has the greatest potential
impact on achieving business goals.
The scope of this ‘document’ describes:
1. The purpose of the Equipment Criticality review process is.
2. The logistical preparation for the Equipment Criticality Analysis review.
3. The technical basis for the Equipment Criticality review criteria.
4. The steps in conducting the Equipment Criticality review meetings.
5. The results of the Equipment Criticality Analysis review.
6. How to analyse the assessment results.
7. A series of standard reports to be generated in a format suitable for
presentation.
The process used to nominate candidates and select Equipment Reliability
Improvement Projects.
Introduction
The Proactive Asset Reliability Process is shown in Figure 5.3.1. It is an integral
part of a larger manufacturing ‘business’ process. The Proactive Asset Reliability
Process focuses the maintenance of physical asset reliability on the business
goals of the company. The potential contribution of the equipment asset base to
these goals is recognized. The largest contributors are recognized as critical
assets and specific performance targets are identified. The role of the
maintenance function, accomplished through the six (6) elements of the
maintenance process, is to maintain the capability of critical equipment to meet
its intended function at targeted performance levels.
This document will describe the structured evaluation methodology used to
‘Identify Critical Equipment’.
1 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
2. plan improve control
Align Reliability
Strategy with Work Work Work
Business Goals Identification Planning Scheduling
Identify Physical
Assets
Contributing to Continuous Sustained
Goals Improvement Maintenance
Loop Loop
Prioritize Assets
by Criticality /
Relative Risk
Performance Work
Follow-up
Establish Targeted Analysis Execution
Performance
Requirements assess
Figure 5.3.1 Proactive Asset Reliability Process
Purpose of Equipment Criticality Analysis
The Equipment Criticality Analysis is used to identify:
♦ Which equipment has the most serious potential consequences on
business performance, ‘if it fails’? The resulting Equipment Criticality
Number is used to prioritize resources performing maintenance work.
♦ Identify what equipment is most likely to negatively impact business
performance because it both matters a lot when it fails and it fails too
often. The resulting Relative Risk Number is used to identify candidate
assets for reliability improvement.
The definition of critical equipment may vary from organization to organization. In
fact, if it is not formalized there may be several interpretations of equipment
criticality within a single organization. The assumptions used to assess what
equipment is critical are not technically based. As a result, when different
individuals are asked to identify their critical equipment, they will likely select
different pieces of equipment. Often we are told, “all our equipment is critical!”
Selections are based on individual opinions, lacking consensus. The potential for
equipment failure having significant safety, environmental or economic
consequences may be overlooked.
2 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
3. A consistent definition for equipment criticality needs to be adopted. The
definition used in the context of this document is:
Critical equipment is that equipment whose failure has the highest potential
impact on the business goals of the company.
The relationship between equipment failure and business performance is an
important factor in deciding where and when resources should be applied to
maintain or improve equipment reliability.
To maintain reliable equipment performance requires the timely execution of
maintenance work to proactively address causes of equipment failure. Large
organizations normally manage a backlog of maintenance work. This
maintenance work is made up of individual tasks that must be carried out over
limited time periods, using limited resources. The maintenance scheduling
function strives to optimize the application of resources to get all the ‘right work
done, at the right time’. Effective maintenance scheduling requires an
understanding of how critical the equipment is that the task is applied to, so that
a priority can be assigned to each job. The criticality is a function of the potential
consequence that could occur if the job is not completed within the required
timeframe.
Equipment reliability improvement also requires the application of either human
or financial resources. The business case for improvement justifies why the
limited resources of the company should be applied to a project over the many
possible alternatives that exist also competing for usually the same resources.
When justifying an improvement project, it is not sufficient to demonstrate benefit.
It is necessary to demonstrate that the relative benefits of a project exceed the
potential benefits of other projects.
Equipment reliability improvement projects benefit the organization by reducing
the consequences of failure and / or reducing the probability that the failure will
occur. Equipment reliability improvement projects must focus on equipment that
both matters a lot when it fails and is failing a lot. The combination of failure
consequence and failure probability is a measure of the risk posed to the
organization by the specified equipment.
Why use the concept of ‘Risk’ to prioritize Equipment Reliability Improvement
Projects? Alternate approaches used to identify which equipment could benefit
from some form of reliability improvement usually use only failure frequency data
or failure consequence data. Equipment failures are analyzed to identify which
equipment has the greatest number of failures or to identify which equipment is
causing the most ‘pain’. The most frequent measure of ‘pain’ is economic impact.
Focus is directed to the equipment, which is costing us the most money. ‘Pain’
can also be related with other consequences such as the number of safety or
3 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
4. environmental incidents. The problem with this approach is that focus is
restricted to historical events.
The discipline of Risk Management recognizes that failures with high
consequence normally occur infrequently, while failures with low consequence
occur more frequently. This is represented graphically in the ‘Risk Spectrum’.
The consequence of a failure is plotted against the probability of the failure event.
Probability is a measure of the number of events / unit time. The probability of an
event like the nuclear accident at Chernobyl is very low but the consequence is
very high. Consequently, we don’t see a high frequency of accidents with this
severity.
Alternately, many industrial organizations routinely experience failures within
their plants. These failures impact business performance but their consequence
would be considered orders of magnitude less than the consequences of a
Chernobyl like incident. The majority of plant failures would fall to the right side of
the ‘Risk Spectrum’ (figure 5.3.2).
The Risk Spectrum
High
Failures with high consequence
have a low probability of failure.
Failure Consequence
Failures with low consequence
have a high failure probability. As
probability increases historical data
becomes available for events that
have occurred.
Most Plant
Failures!
Low
Low High
Probability of Event
Figure 5.3.2 Reliability must be managed across the Risk Spectrum
The pre-requisite to do Pareto Analysis, is to have failure data to analyze. This
means that these failures must have occurred in order to be recognized.
However, potential failures with very serious consequences will not even be
considered because there is no failure data to associate with them. Therefore, it
is necessary to manage events across the ‘Risk Spectrum’.
4 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
5. Benefits of the Equipment Criticality Review Process
This process takes an integrated approach to setting project priority. Potential
impact of equipment failure is assessed in each of the following categories:
Safety, Environmental Integrity, Quality, Throughput, Customer Service, and
Operating Costs. The scales in each assessment category ensure that
equipment prone to failure resulting in Safety and Environmental consequences
is emphasized.
It also ensures that equipment impacting on the operational objectives of the
organization, when failure occurs, is addressed. Resources are continually being
challenged by project assignments from different sectors of the organization with
no unifying evaluation process to decide which should take priority. In the case of
maintenance program development, it is not possible to develop a separate
maintenance strategy for each business driver. What is required is a
comprehensive program that responds to the total needs of the organization. The
equipment criticality analysis provides a prioritised view of composite needs,
which then become the focus of a suitable Equipment Reliability Improvement
Strategy.
The Equipment Criticality Evaluation Tool provides a systematic, consistent
approach to assessing equipment criticality. The relative risk rating is arrived at
by consensus of decision makers, responsible for project nomination and the
process can be completed in a short period of time.
The focus is on business results which managers are already accountable for
achieving. They are committed to projects, which align with these objectives and
are perceived as having the highest probability for success.
Finally, the use of a systematic process for focusing resource deployment
supports a “due diligence” approach to physical asset management from a safety
and environmental perspective. Projects having the largest potential impact on
the corporation, heavily weighted towards safety and environmental integrity
become the most critical. Projects with the potential to deliver the maximum
benefit to the company by mitigating risk are identified to be the subject of
Equipment Reliability Improvement Strategies.
Section 2
Preparing for Equipment Criticality Analysis
Equipment Hierarchy Review
Prior to performing an Equipment Criticality Assessment, an Equipment
Hierarchy must be produced. The Equipment Hierarchy needs to account for ‘all’
equipment within the assessment area boundaries. This means that all
maintainable components can be mapped and identified to an Equipment or Sub-
Equipment level. It is possible that at the time Equipment Criticality Analysis is
conducted the Equipment Hierarchy may not be fully developed to the lowest
level of detail desired. However, it is essential that the hierarchy be identified at
least to a ‘system level’.
5 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
6. ♦ Registering the Equipment Criticality Analysis
All completed Equipment Criticality Analyses should be consistently documented
and recorded in an appropriate database. An analysis title should reflect the
highest level in the Equipment Hierarchy that the analysis will apply to. For
example: XYZ Corporation, Port Operations, Sorting Plant, and Packaging Line
Equipment Criticality Analysis. The date when the analysis is conducted should
be recorded. Also identify the review team members and a description of their
titles/positions.
The Equipment Criticality Analysis should be reviewed and revised on an annual
basis to reflect changes in business conditions, improvements in reliability and to
identify new priorities for reliability improvement. Different review team members
may be involved in the analysis review. The original team should be documented
as well as the team members for the last revision.
♦ Document a list of equipment to be assessed at the appropriate analysis
level.
The level of analysis that the assessment is completed at is important. It is
undesirable to evaluate the criticality of components. It would also be
inappropriate to evaluate the criticality at the process or facility level. The level at
which the analysis is done requires that the results of the analysis apply to all
sub-level equipment not identified for analysis. Although somewhat imprecise this
provides a good definition for the first pass. In the evaluation process, it quickly
becomes apparent if the equipment should be further sub-divided into sub-levels.
The two factors used in the risk assessment are the potential consequence of the
failure when it occurs and the probability that the failure will occur. If the level of
the analysis is conducted too high, the resulting estimate of risk associated with
the equipment may be misleading. This is illustrated in the accompanying
Airplane example (figure 5.3.3). If a risk assessment is done at the airplane level,
the result will be that flying in airplanes is high risk.
What is the correct level in the equipment hierarchy to perform criticality
analysis?
Airplane
High Risk
Failure Probability /
Consequence Frequency of
Failures
HIGH HIGH
Figure 5.3.3 Airplane Risk Assessment
6 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
7. However, by simply moving the analysis down to a system level, a much different
perspective is achieved. The Structural Systems of the airplane have a high
consequence if they fail but are extremely reliable, having a low failure rate. The
Airplane Propulsion Systems have perhaps a medium consequence when they
fail because of built in redundancy. The failure rate is likely higher than the failure
rate for structural systems. The relative risk is therefore greater. The Comfort
Systems of the aircraft (such as seats, lights, entertainment plugs) have failure
consequences much lower and failure rates likely much higher. Again overall risk
is low. This result seems more reasonable.
Airplane
Structural Propulsion Comfort
Systems Systems Systems
Failure Probability / Failure Probability / Failure Probability /
Consequence Frequency of Consequence Frequency of Consequence Frequency of
Failures Failures Failures
HIGH VERY LOW MEDIUM MEDIUM LOW HIGH
5.3.4 Airplane Equipment Hierarchy Analysis
The list of equipment to be analysed needs to be recorded at the desired level in
the hierarchy complete with a definition of parent relationship and children
included in the analysis line item. The facilitator prepares this list in advance of
the analysis review meetings. It can also be revised during the review meetings.
During the analysis, items and levels of detail omitted in the Hierarchy are
sometimes identified.
♦ Define the Equipment Criticality Assessment Criteria.
The Equipment Criticality Assessment is conducted by evaluating the potential
impact of equipment failure on key business objectives. We will provide ’default’
assessment criteria but we also recognize that the client may wish to modify or
redefine a different set of criteria for their organization.
In the ‘default’ criteria, company goals are categorised under the themes of
Safety, Environmental Integrity, Product Quality, Throughput, Customer Service,
and Total Cost. An evaluation scale for consequence of failure potential is
defined for each theme. If an equipment failure has no impact on a goal area, a
score of zero (0) is assigned. If an equipment failure has impact on a goal area
the rating is assigned that most closely fits the consequence description.
Safety and Environmental issues have a maximum scale of forty (40).
Operational Consequences independently score a maximum value of ten (10).
7 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
8. Most equipment failures impact operations in several different ways and in the
extreme case a total operating consequence of forty (40) could be achieved.
The ‘default’ criteria are provided in the following table (Table 5.3.4).
Safety Environment Quality Throughput Customer Operating
Service Cost
40 = Multiple 40 = Potential for severe 10 = SCRAP cannot 10 = Unable to recoup 10 = loss of customer 10 = Incur
fatality environmental damage (see rework or be sold as loss to attain production and/or potential increased costs of
attached) secondary product quota - must reduce litigation more than $500,000
future order bookings
38 = Fatality 32 = Potential for major 8 = 0ut of 8 = cannot make up lost 8 = Customer 8 = Incur increased
environmental damage (see specification, with production at facilities - experiences downtime costs of more than
attached) rework can be sold have to purchase outside or excessive scrap loss, $100,000 but less
as second at little or material or service costs charged back than $500,000
no profit
34 = 28 = Potential for 6 = out of spec, with 6 = Lost production can 6 = Late delivery of 6 = Incur increased
disabling significant environmental rework can be sold be recovered within majority of order costs of more than
injury damage (see attached) as prime facilities but at quantity or customer $50,000 but less
additional cost (e.g. rejects product as than $100,000
overtime) since no received
excess capability readily
available
30 = lost time 20 = Minor or no 5 = out of spec, can 4 = can recover lost 4 = Partial late 4 = Incur increased
injury environmental impact (see be sold as seconds production through delivery costs of more than
attached) readily available excess $10,000 but less
capacity but is a than $50,000
significant impact on
buffer inventory levels
putting other operations
at risk of delay in supply
20 = Minor 0 = no accidental release or 4 = out of spec, can 2 = Lost production has 2 = On time delivery, 2 = Incur increased
injury such as emission (see attached) be reapplied to other no significant impact on but minor impact on costs of less than
contusions & prime order buffer inventory levels order quality or $10,000
lacerations quantity that the
customer is willing to
accept
0 = No injury 2 = Production 0 = no lost production 0 = Quality, quantity & 0 = no increased
within spec but delivery date as operating costs are
process out of promised to the incurred
control customer at time of
order placement
0 = Process remains
in control
Table 5.3.4 ‘default’ criteria
Against each of the criteria it is possible to have an explanation. A set of
qualitative descriptions is provided for the Environmental rankings in the next
table (Table 5.3.5). Similar explanations could be provided for each of the
assessment review areas.
Environmental Consequence Explanation / Example
40 = Potential for Severe Environmental 1. An environmental release causing death, injury, or
evacuation of the surrounding community.
Damage 2. Cost of clean up, damage to property and/or interruption
of production/business in excess of $1,000,000.
3. Major kill of wildlife – generally fish or birds in the local
area.
4. Releases large quantities (>500 gallons) of toxic and/or
environmentally persistent materials to the environment
external to company property. (ammonia, light oil, PCBs,
etceteras)
8 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
9. 32 = Potential for Major Environmental 1. Discharges to storm sewers, sanitary sewers, or directly
to water exceeding environmental regulations.
Damage 2. Discharges to atmosphere causing property damage –
particulate fall out, corrosion, etceteras.
3. Discharges to atmosphere exceeding regulations and
can cause health effects – particulate, sulphur dioxide,
etceteras.
4. Releases of large quantities of toxic materials to the
ground (>500 gallons).
5. Cost of clean up, damage to property and/or interruption
of production/ business in excess of $100,000.
28 = Potential for Significant 1. Discharges to storm sewer, sanitary sewer or water
exceeding regulations.
Environmental Impact 2. Discharges to atmosphere exceeding regulations, e.g.
opacity.
3. Operation of process equipment without environmental
equipment event if there is no immediate or short-term
impact.
4. Releases to ground.
20 = Minor or No Environmental Impact 1. Accidental releases of process fluids to containment
areas or treatment plant; e.g. tank leaks to containment
pad.
2. Use of containment areas for temporary storage.
3. Releases inside buildings, which do not get to the natural
environment.
4. Events that cause upsets to treatment plants but do not
necessarily result in excessive discharges.
5. Operation of a process at production rates higher than
specified in a Certificate of Approval.
6. Operation of a process with feed materials not specified
in a Certificate of Approval; e.g. feeding rubber tires to a
coke plant.
0 = No Accidental Release or Emission 1. Normal process and environmental-control equipment
operation – within operating specifications and in
compliance with regulations and Environmental
Certificates of Approval.
Table 5.3.5 Qualitative descriptions for the Environmental rankings
Similar assessment criteria are provided for reviewing how likely a failure will
occur on the selected equipment. This assessment is made along with the
consequence evaluation for the asset being reviewed.
It is important to clarify the meaning of failure. The definition of failure used in the
Equipment Criticality Analysis is the inability to perform any function at its
required level of performance. As a result of failure, corrective intervention is
required to restore equipment capability. One way of interpreting how often the
equipment fails is to assess how often any form of corrective maintenance is
performed on the equipment. Differentiate corrective maintenance from
preventive maintenance. The frequency or probability of failure number will be
used in the calculation of relative risk to determine how likely the failure of the
assessed equipment will impact the business. If an effective PM program
controls failures, the equipment is unlikely to negatively impact business
performance.
The Probability/Frequency of failure is evaluated on a scale ranging from 1 to 10
with 10 representing the highest failure rate. A description of the default criteria is
9 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
10. provided below (Table 5.3.6). It is possible for an intermediate value to be
selected; e.g. 8.5 signifying that failures are felt to occur between weekly and
monthly.
Frequency/ Probability
(How often failures occur)
10 = Failures occur daily.
09 = Failures occur weekly.
08 = Failures occur monthly.
07 = Failures occur between monthly and yearly.
06 = Failures occur yearly.
05 = Failures occur approximately between yearly and 1 in 5 years.
04 = Failures occur between 1 in 5 and 1 in 10 years.
01 = Failures occur less frequently than 1 in 10 years.
Table 5.3.6 Frequency/Probability Failure Rate
♦ Document Assumptions Used in the Analysis.
During the analysis the review group will be required to evaluate failure
consequences based on various assumptions. For example, the impact of
equipment failure with operational downtime will depend on market conditions,
inventory levels, capacity, utilization, and etceteras. The assumptions used for
evaluating the criteria should be documented. These assumptions should be
documented against the assessment criteria (Table 5.3.7).
Equipment Criticality Analysis Assumptions
Assessment Criteria Assumption Description
Throughput 1. If equipment failure results in more than 4
hours of downtime, buffer inventory stock will
be depleted interrupting customer supply.
Table 5.3.7 Equipment Criticality Analysis Assumptions
10 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
11. Section 3
Conducting the Review
Facilitating the Review Meetings
The Equipment Criticality Assessment is designed to achieve consensus among
key decision-makers in an organisation. Review team members are selected
based on their ability to assess the consequence of equipment failure on the
business, the frequency of individual equipment failure, and their responsibility
for nominating or sponsoring Equipment Reliability Improvement Projects. The
assessment process is designed to minimise the time that the review team must
dedicate to attending the assessment review meetings.
The analysis is conducted by answering a series of structured questions about
each equipment line item. These questions assess both the consequence of
equipment failure and the frequency/probability of failure against the pre-defined
assessment criteria. The Total Consequence evaluation is compiled from the
group’s responses to the following questions using the assessment criteria for
severity determination:
1. If the identified equipment fails could it result in a Safety Consequence? If
yes, how serious would you rate the “potential” consequence?
2. If the identified equipment fails could it result in an Environmental
Consequence? If yes, how serious would you rate the “potential”
consequence?
3. If the identified equipment fails could it result in a consequence affecting the
quality of our product? If yes, how serious would you rate the “potential”
consequence?
4. If the identified equipment fails could it result in a consequence affecting the
throughput capability of the plant? If yes, how serious would you rate the
“potential” consequence?
5. If the identified equipment fails could it result in a consequence affecting the
service provided to the customer? If yes, how serious would you rate the
“potential” consequence?
If the identified equipment fails could it result in a consequence affecting total
operating costs? This includes the cost of maintenance to restore the equipment
to full operational capability. If yes, how serious would you rate the “potential”
consequence?
The ‘frequency or probability of equipment failure assessment’ is made along
with the consequence evaluation for the equipment line item being reviewed. In
addition to the series of consequence questions asked of the review group, they
are asked, “How often do failures of the specified equipment occur?” They
choose their response from the pre-defined criteria.
Answers to all these questions should be recorded in the spreadsheet during the
review team meetings.
11 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
12. Recognizing Capital Equipment Upgrade Requirements
In some cases there is a pre-conceived belief that the equipment being assessed
in the assessment needs to be upgraded consuming capital funds. Where
physical redesign is the apparent solution it is useful to capture this data during
the Assessment Review. This can be done be placing an asterisk in front of the
equipment line item under assessment.
Section 4
Analyzing the Assessment Results
Calculate Equipment Criticality Number
The criticality of equipment is a function of its impact on the business when it
fails, regardless of how often it fails. Not all failures matter equally. The
Equipment Criticality Number assigned to an equipment level in the hierarchy is
influenced by the severity of impact of failure and the consequence category.
Equipment Criticality Numbers are assigned between 1 and 9. An Equipment
Criticality of 9 is the highest and 1 is the lowest criticality.
During the review, the consequence of equipment failure is assessed against key
company goal areas. The default criteria includes the potential impact of failure
on the Safety and Environmental Integrity performance of the Enterprise,
considered fundamental to the continued operation of the business. Other key
business goal areas such as Product Quality, Throughput, Customer Service,
and Operating Costs are assessed. The user may have redefined the
assessment criteria as previously discussed.
The spreadsheet (Figure 5.3.8) can calculate and assign the Equipment
Criticality Number using the following default logic. (This logic may need to be
redefined by the organization if the consequence evaluation criteria are
modified.)
12 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
13. Equipment Criticality Analysis Consequence Rating Equipment Criticality Number
Safety, Environmental or Total Operational 9
Consequence > or = 38
Safety, Environmental or Total Operational 8
Consequence > or = 28 or Any Single Operational
Consequence = 10
Safety, Environmental or Total Operational 7
Consequence > or = 20 or Any Single Operational
Consequence = 8
Safety, Environmental or Total Operational 6
Consequence > or = 16 or Any Single Operational
Consequence = 6
Total Operational Consequence > or = 14 or Any 5
Single Operational Consequence = 5
Total Operational Consequence > or = 10 4
Total Operational Consequence > or = 8 3
Total Operational Consequence > or = 4 2
Total Operational Consequence < 4 1
Table 5.3.8 Equipment Criticality Analysis Consequence Rating Worksheet
Cascade Equipment Criticality Number To Applicable Levels in
the Hierarchy
The Equipment Criticality Analysis is usually performed at an intermediate level
in the hierarchy as described in section 2 of this document. The Equipment
Criticality Number will apply to all children of the analysis level, except those
children identified for analysis also. Any parent level not analysed will adopt the
Equipment Criticality value of the highest child. This is illustrated in the figure
5.3.9 below.
13 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
14. For Asset B: Selected Levels of Analysis
Parent Level Adopts Equipment
Parent Level: B Hierarchy Level 2 Criticality Value of Highest Child: 9
Analysis Level: B1 Hierarchy Level 3 Analysis Level Criticality: 7
Includes: B1.1 Hierarchy Level 4 Chil d Level Criticality: 7 (default)
Parent Level: B Hierarchy Level 2
B2 Hierarchy Level 3 Parent Criticality (Highest Child): 9
Analysis Level: B2.1 Hierarchy Level 4 Analysis Level Criticality: 5
Includes: Hierarchy Level 5 Child Level Criticality: 5 (default)
Analysis Level: B2.2 Hierarchy Level 4 Analysis Level Criticality: 8
Includes: B2.2.1 Hierarchy Level 5 Child Level Criticality: 8 (default)
B2.2.2 Hierarchy Level 5 (Analyzed below)
B2.2.3 Hierarchy Level 5 Child Level Criticality: 8 (default)
Analysis Level: B2.2.2 Hierarchy Level 5 Analysis Level Criticality: 9
Figure 5.3.9 Equipment Criticality Value
Determine which equipment has the greatest potential impact on business
goals by calculating Relative Risk.
Risk incorporates the notion of Severity of Consequence when failure occurs and
the likelihood that failure will occur. For example, an individual being struck by
lightning has a life threatening consequence. The probability of being struck by
lightning is low under normal circumstances. Therefore the risk of being struck by
lightning is low. Most people are not concerned about being struck by lightning.
However, suppose your job involved working from heights where a fall could
result in fatality, again a life threatening consequence. If the probability of falling
were great (perhaps the work platform is a crane runway), the Risk would also be
high. As a result, you would be compelled to take action to reduce the risk of
falling, perhaps by wearing a safety harness.
The Equipment Criticality Assessment uses the concept of Risk to identify which
equipment has the greatest potential impact on the business goals of the
enterprise. This, in turn, is the equipment most likely to fail and have significant
impact when the failure occurs. The “Relative Risk (RR)” number for the
equipment is evaluated by calculating the product of the “Total Consequence
Number” and the “Frequency/Probability (F/P) Number”. It is called “relative risk”
because it only has meaning relative to the other equipment evaluated by the
same method. Total Consequence (TC) is the summation of the values assigned
to each of the individual areas of consequence evaluation; e.g. Safety (S),
Environmental (E), Quality (Q), Throughput (T), Customer Service (CS) and
Operating Cost (OC).
14 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
15. TC = S + E+ Q + T + CS + OC
RR = TC X F/P
If the user defines different criteria then it follows that the Total Consequence
would be the summation of scores applied in each area of consequence
evaluation defined by the user.
Communicate criticality assessment recommendations to all
stakeholders.
The results of the Equipment Criticality Assessment should be communicated
and understood by everyone affected by the nominated Equipment Reliability
Improvement Projects. This includes:
♦ Senior and intermediate managers who sponsor or expect results from the
project.
♦ Coaches and team leaders responsible for the assets that the project
addresses.
♦ People assigned to the assets that the project addresses.
♦ Individuals who must commit time to the project or are directly affected by
its outcome.
♦ People who are not immediately affected.
Often the last group demonstrates the greatest opposition because they believe
that the selected projects are ‘hogging’ the financial and human resources
needed to address their priorities.
The goal of this communication is to develop stakeholder understanding why
each Equipment Reliability Project is selected, its potential impact on business
performance and to define the resource expectations to deliver.
Outputting Results
♦ Printed Reports
The initial output of the Equipment Criticality Analysis should be a report suitable
for binding and presenting. The following list summarizes typical sections to be
included in the report.
♦ Title Page
♦ Table of Contents
♦ Introduction
♦ Recommendations
♦ Analysis Description, Review Team, Date
♦ Analysis Assumptions
♦ Equipment Summary Sorted by Relative Risk.
♦ Equipment Summary Sorted by Criticality Number
♦ Detail Assessment Results
15 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
16. ♦ Equipment Failure Consequence Evaluation Criteria
♦ Probability Evaluation Criteria
♦ Equipment Criticality Number Conversion Criteria
Section 5
Using the Output of the Equipment Criticality Assessment
Prioritizing Equipment for Reliability Improvement.
The relative risk ranking provides a means of identifying which equipment poses
the highest potential impact on the organisation. The equipment with the highest
‘Relative Risk’ ratings should be initially targeted for the application of some
reliability improvement strategy.
The most basic means of prioritising assets for reliability improvement is to
perform a sort of the assessed equipment by ‘Relative Risk’. In many
applications, this method of establishing priority is sufficient for project
nomination. The top ten equipment items evaluated using the ‘Relative Risk’
criteria would then be subject to a project selection validation.
However, the priority ranking developed using ‘Relative Risk’ alone, does not
consider how difficult it will be to improve the reliability of the critical equipment.
Suppose this could only be achieved with a large commitment of human
resources, over an extended time and at high cost. In assessing the business
case for proceeding with the reliability improvement project, each of these factors
plays a role.
An alternate prioritization method assesses the human resource effort for an
equipment reliability intervention. Alternatively the cost of the intervention, of the
resulting redesign or equipment replacement can be evaluated. The following
sections describe the process used to evaluate priority considering effort/cost.
This approach would normally be applied to the top 20% of equipment items
ranked by ‘relative risk’ to minimize the analysis effort. It is worthwhile estimating
effort and cost for those reliability interventions generally providing the greatest
potential impact on the business.
Estimate the human resource effort required for an appropriate Reliability
Improvement Strategy to reduce the risk to a tolerable level.
The human resource effort required to proceed with the proposed equipment
reliability improvement strategy is assessed. For example, the number of
meetings to complete a Reliability-centred Maintenance Analysis is estimated.
This effort provides an indication of the degree of difficulty that is required to
overcome the performance gap.
16 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
17. Plotting Relative Risk / Effort Graph.
The Excel spreadsheet provides the ability to enter an estimate of resource effort
and the proposed equipment reliability improvement strategy. Reliability
improvement options include the application of Reliability-centred Maintenance,
Predictive Maintenance Needs Assessment, use of the Reliability Assessment,
Equipment Maintenance Program Development, Planning, and Scheduling
Practice interventions.
The ‘Relative Risk’ value is plotted on the vertical axis of a graph and the effort
on the horizontal axis of the graph. Intuitively, we want to initially work on projects
with high potential impact that can be done quickly and projects with low impact,
requiring large effort last.
In order to prioritise the proposed interventions, a diagonal line is drawn from the
upper left corner of the risk/effort graph and terminates in the lower right. The
slope of this line is calculated by summing all of the ‘Relative Risk’ values for
each equipment item evaluated and dividing the ‘Total Relative Risk’ by the ‘Total
Effort’ calculated by summing the ‘Effort’ values estimated for each equipment
item. The downward slope of this line from the upper right to the lower left
represents reduction in risk per unit effort. Consider a series of lines, drawn
perpendicular to this diagonal completely covering the graph. Adjacent lines
represent bands of relative priority.
Equipment Reliability Improvement Projects addressing assets closest to the
upper left corner of the plot should be addressed first while those projects
addressing assets in the lower right of the plot should come last. Each project
can be assigned a specific priority. A sample plot is represented in Figure 1.
The priority of the proposed reliability intervention is identified mathematically by
calculating the y-axis intercept of a perpendicular line passing through a point
with the individual project (relative risk, effort) co-ordinates. A number 1 priority is
assigned to the reliability intervention with the highest relative risk intercept.
Lower priority is assigned in order to reliability interventions with successively
lower relative risk intercepts.
Estimate the cost for an appropriate Reliability Improvement Strategy or
equipment modification / replacement to reduce the risk to a tolerable level.
17 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
18. alternative to estimating human resource effort is to estimate the cost to proceed
with the chosen equipment reliability improvement strategy or equipment
modification / replacement. This is an estimate of the cost required to overcome
the performance gap.
Figure 5.4.10: Plotting relative risk vs. effort or cost defines reliability
intervention priority.
Note: The use of this graph is a focusing tool only. The exact value and position
on the graph is an indication of relative priority. Individual circumstance could
require specific projects to proceed irrespective of their position on the graph. For
example, a piece of equipment whose failure has serious safety implications and
a high frequency/probability of failure resulting in a high relative risk number
requires a large expenditure of human and/or capital resources to improve its
overall reliability. Legislation or a safety ruling may dictate that this project takes
precedent over another asset scoring equivalent relative risk and requiring much
less effort or cost. None-the-less, the concept can be used successfully in most
situations to develop a defensible position for assigning resources to address
equipment reliability issues.
Identifying Equipment Reliability Improvement Projects.
♦ Nominate candidates for Equipment Reliability Improvement Projects.
The preceding section described several approaches for prioritising equipment.
The next step is to nominate a series of candidates for equipment reliability
improvement projects. The Equipment Criticality Analysis evaluation process was
designed as a ‘focusing tool’. It allows the organisation to quickly understand
where significant benefits will likely be achieved by improving equipment
reliability. The methodology is not precise. The top ten percent of the ranked
items will almost assuredly include the equipment where the organization wants
18 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
19. to focus its attention. The exact ordering within the 10% may be imprecise. The
next step in using the results of the Equipment Criticality Analysis is to develop
the business case for each of the proposed candidates. The development of this
business case prepares the justification for proceeding with an Equipment
Reliability Improvement Project and validates the order in which the Projects
should proceed.
Perform a cost/benefit analysis to validate nominated project(s) by
evaluating the current performance-state against the desired end-state.
Quantify the potential benefits and estimate the costs to proceed.
The application of the criticality assessment provides a means of identifying the
equipment most likely to impact on business performance by improving reliability.
Once potential Equipment Reliability Improvement Projects are nominated,
developing a business case to proceed should validate them. The Criticality
Assessment provides an indication of what areas of performance are likely to be
impacted. In each category affected, which includes any or all of Safety,
Environmental Integrity, Quality, Throughput, Customer Service and Operating
Cost, the current performance should be established and a performance target
set considered achievable as an outcome of the improvement. The difference
between current performance and the desired end state should be quantified
either in terms of costs for Operational Improvements or in terms of reduced
incidents or level of risk for Safety and/or Environmental issues. This gap is
important in creating the required tension for change to maintain management
commitment throughout the project. Estimate the costs of the Reliability
Improvement Intervention and summarize the cost benefit.
Identify what performance measures must be tracked to monitor the impact
of the Equipment Reliability Improvements.
As soon as capital or human resources are deployed, expectations are created to
produce tangible benefits. The development of the business case solidifies what
results can be expected from the Equipment Reliability Improvement Project.
However, it is still necessary to demonstrate the improvement. This is effectively
done through the use of Performance Measurement. It is crucial that each of the
stated performance benefits be monitored on a routine basis to validate
improvement. If the required measurements are not currently collected, the
project scope should formalize their creation. This permits the quantification of
improvement benefits, sustaining project commitment and the management of
long-term change.
Conclusions
The Equipment Criticality Evaluation Tool provides a systematic, consistent
approach to assessing equipment criticality and nominating equipment reliability
improvements. Rankings are arrived at by a consensus of decision-makers,
19 - Equipment Criticality Analysis
20. responsible for project nomination. By design the process can be completed in a
short period of time.
The focus is on business results which managers are already accountable for
achieving. They are committed to projects, which align with these objectives and
are perceived as having the highest probability for success.
Finally, the application of systematic processes for focusing resource deployment
supports a “due diligence” approach to physical asset management. Projects
having the largest potential impact on the corporation weighted towards safety
and environmental integrity become the most critical. Projects with the potential
to deliver the maximum benefit to the company by mitigating risk are identified to
be the subject of Equipment Reliability Improvement Strategies.
The chapter was developed in conjunction with Ivara Corporation who provided
the information and graphics shown in this chapter.
20 - Equipment Criticality Analysis