3.08 Resource Management

Thriving instead of surviving: how a little bit of redundancy is helping companies to thrive in tumultuous times. Changing the strategy and planning around “trimming the fat” or “make it lean” is going to take some time, but the change is required. The events of the past four years have proved that “lean and mean” is more akin to clinging on by the fingernails or being left behind. Proper asset management strategies depend on being able to access parts in a timely manner so that preventative maintenance can be performed as scheduled. Keeping a spare or critical spare on hand acts as a buffer when a supplier is unable to deliver on time, or a shipment is stuck waiting in a port. It may appear to be a “waste of money,” as this piece of inventory is now hitting the bottom line and is not yet needed; however, what is the cost of not having it? Or the cost of having to outsource it last minute? Moreover, how are the supplier relationships? This presentation will explain how redundancy can help save money and time through changing how businesses operate and view their bottom line. Attendees will learn how to review and calculate the cost of a stockout and compare it to holding a spare or critical spare; hear how to set or adjust inventory review policies; and discover that having multiple supplier options will help operations continue even in times of change and emergency.

The City of Winnipeg faced challenges with the condition of their Return Activated Sludge (RAS) piping within the North End Sewage Treatment Plant. Non-destructive and destructive condition assessment techniques were used to determine that the critical process piping was life expired, and required replacement or rehabilitation to maintain process level of service until the plant is upgraded. Replacement of a RAS piping system is akin to major heart surgery on a sewage treatment plant. To manage the process risk, in situ structural renewal using an engineered Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) external wrap system to encapsulate the original carbon steel piping was chosen. Selection of the rehabilitation method reduced the schedule by two years compared to the replacement option and minimized operational risk, as process outages were reduced to a few short-term events. Offline testing of mock-ups and emphasis on environmental and quality control further managed the risks associated with CFRP installation. The project faced unique challenges due to the complex configuration of the RAS piping, which was located inside a congested plant gallery with surrounding equipment, piping, and electrical services in continuous operation. To effectively convey information during planning, design, tender, and construction, a digital 3D model was developed using laser scanning to capture the detailed configuration of the piping and surrounding physical constraints. The 3D model was embedded with data to define the rehabilitation scope, locations of existing pipe leaks requiring immediate repair, rework of pipe supports to accommodate the CFRP installation, and other aspects relevant to the work. This model was a highly effective tool used for collaborative review by all project team members throughout design and construction, leading to successful completion of the RAS piping rehabilitation.

Recently there was a lot of discussion on various forums around the term ‘Human Asset’. It was prompted by a paper/presentation made by Dr. Monique Beedles in Australia where she questioned the term and the appropriateness of using it based on the definition of an asset in ISO 55000 – ‘an item, thing, or entity that has value or potential value to the organisation (ISO, 2014)’.There were questions posed on the various forums as to the use of ‘thing’ to describe humans – it’s legal meaning, it’s cultural implications and though most posting felt the term was appropriate, there was definitely a difference of opinion. What wasn’t brought out in most of the discussions was the intent or suitability of the decision to word the definition that way. No-one disagreed with the idea that a human ‘has value or potential value to the organization’ and so rather than argue about the term, I’d like to explore how we could apply the tools and lifecycle approach we use for physical assets, to humans. Let’s walk through the lifecycles and see if we can find how it might apply to humans.Concept Design Acquire Operations and Maintenance Decommission So as I said I won’t address the term ‘human asset’ but hopefully you can see that taking the same approach to ensure that the ‘value or potential value to the organization’ is certainly a good alternative.

In service providing organizations, coordinating resources to minimize redundancy, manage cost to serve and combat employee disengagement becomes a differentiator. For larger organizations this can further support streamlined captial and operational investments such as facilities, speciality tooling and training. Within the maintenance industry we project that 35% of our trades persons time is actually on the tools (module 6), this is an alarming statistic that resonates with many professionals. Organizing resources intentionally, creating the customer experience while managing these investments can be achieved in a network strategy.  The network organizes resources between generalists and specialists and capitalizes on placing services that require specialization in labour markets that have depth. Organizing is only part of the equation,  having a comprehensive & fluid S&OP process and a mechanism (ex: a control tower) to bring real time visibility into capacity increases productivity and reduces overall cost to serve. At my organization, we have done just that. Beginning in 2019, we designed a hub and spoke model that would support a long term vision of creating capacity through strategic efficiency. This transformational pivot required considerable foresight, change management and Since the MRO articlehttps://www.mromagazine.com/digital-archives/september-2020/ (page 12) in 2020,  the focus on capturing internal & external demand signals to support the maturity of our capacity and capability (S&OP) planning,  we have been able to grow niche market shares by 300% in under 2 years. THe planning coupled with the increased/real time visbility through our contol tower has supported sustainable growth in an ever shifting economic climate.     

There are many reports of skilled labour shortages affecting organizations ability to sustain assets. However conventional solutions to address the “labour shortage” won’t work, in part because every company has its own unique requirements, and in part because it is solving the wrong problem.The underlying problem is that our front-line leaders – supervisors, foremen, charge hands, etc. – do not have the skills they need to effectively train or lead.When supervisors don’t have the skills to train well, companies compensate by trying to hire the skills, with limited success.Front-line leaders need five core skills: instructing, improving, setting priorities, fostering performance, and listening. The most immediate need is often the skill of instructing. For this, the best solution for most companies is the Job Instruction module from the Training Within Industry program – a proven public-domain program. In a study of 600 companies using this approach, 100% of them saw their training time go down 25%. One client cut their time to get people up to speed by more than 60%.In the world of asset management, better skills for asset managers and their supervisors can achieve significant gains - sometimes seemingly overnight.This talk will provide asset management examples, and some suggestions on how you can get started to fix this.When supervisors have better skills, especially in the area of instructing, you can expect the productivity of your asset management crews to improve rather than degrade over time.

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world, the foundations of business operations shifted instantly. With ripple effects continuing today, organizations continue to strive to adapt to the changing landscape. In these times, the principles and practices of asset management are more critical than ever and can be a framework for embedding resiliency. This presentation will delve into the relationship between asset management principles and three focus areas impacted by COVID, while sharing real life examples from water and wastewater operations. First, we will explore how facility lockdowns and supply chain disruptions impacted equipment repair parts availability. We will dive into how facilities with strong critical spare parts management techniques weathered these disruptions with less panic and time spent chasing parts. And, how techniques such as predictive maintenance programs and planning scheduling better accommodated longer lead times before equipment intervention was required. Second, we will discuss what happens when only a few individuals own the asset management program and they are suddenly absent for health or family support obligations for an extended period. We will interconnect how building a strong ownership of asset management across disciplines and embedding processes and procedures ensures a lasting culture of asset management. Finally, lockdowns and travel bans forced our team to explore new methods for deploying technical support without onsite visits. Innovative approaches from virtually facilitated risk review workshops to augmented reality condition assessments have been developed and implemented over the past year. With advancements in technology, as the accumulation of data grows there has been a concentrated effort to leverage this data toward making data-justified decisions. Over the past year there has also been an increasing emphasis to leverage these analyses to bring decision teams to agreement as managers and client interact virtually. With an interdependent global economy it is only a matter of time until the next disruption hits, and implementing the core principles of asset management can enhance the resiliency of your organization.

Do those that manage the performance, understand the measures?

Change at the helm often presents new opportunities, and in 2018 with Doug as the new GM of Asset Management at Sherritt’s metals refinery operation, the company proactively began the implementation of asset management strategy as part of the company’s initiative to use Operational Excellence as a spearhead to improve the organization’s performance.

This article will be discussing the issues and some causes of bad parts.

How well is your MRO Stores system integrated with your maintenance requirements to ensure effective support of your organization’s maintenance efforts?Most of MRO stores efforts are to provide parts and materials to both Operations and Maintenance. For this article, the focus will be upon MRO stores support of Maintenance.