10.5 Asset Reliability Improvements

As always, equipment maintainability plays an important role in uptime. Besides the reduction of failure rates, the quick recovery from those failures or the successful execution of scheduled activities makes a considerable difference in availability indicators. The application of Lean tools and Six Sigma analysis contributes to the improvement of maintenance execution by applying the 5 steps of Lean Six Sigma methodology (Define, Measure, Analyze, Implement and Control) and using the tools associated with them. This webcast will discuss Lean Six Sigma theory, basic principles of the methodology and case studies showing the use of tools. Case 1 will illustrate the application of Lean Six Sigma in scheduled preventive maintenance for slurry pumps operating in the oil sands industry. Case 2 will examine how the use of Six Sigma analysis reduced the corrosion rate of tubes in a bank of 12 heat exchangers shell and tube type, which heat diluted bitumen upstream of a distillation tower. Both cases emphasize the importance of using data and facts to make decisions, including front end personnel, and the sustainment of implemented solutions.

KPIs are often used to measure the past performance of a process, but did you know that they can be used to see into the future and predict the performance of the organization?KPIs can be used to measure past performance, or predict future performance. This is because there is a cause and effect relationship between leading and lagging KPIs. When a process is measured, it will in turn effect another process which is also being measured, providing insight to future performance.When Leading and Lagging KPIs are properly understood it provides unique insights to where the performance of the organization is going.

By using Root Cause Analysis you can end the re-occurring issues that arise in your plant.  Root Cause Analysis is used to determine the underlying cause or causes of a failure so that steps can be taken to manage those causes and avoid future occurrences of the failure.Performing a Root cause analysis can be a quick simple task or a in depth difficult task depending on the complexity of the issue being addressed.

While a host of factors influence profitability, maximizing your plant’s production output potential is arguably one of the facility’s greatest opportunities. An Asset Management, Reliability and Maintenance Strategic Plan can guide continuous improvement that’s aligned with bottom-line performance expectations for managing assets and people. This presentation will provide a framework approach for establishing your strategic asset management & reliability plan and the associated business case. Delegates will gain a fundamental understanding of how to establish a baseline: "know where you are," define where you’re going, who needs to be involved, how to measure the program’s progress and results, and what elements are essential for success.

The tenets of reliability can be fun and messy. In this workshop, we’ll help you better understand these concepts and where the confusion creeps in. This session will be great for those studying for an exam or for those who want to geek out. You’ll leave with new knowledge, interesting facts, and explainable models that you can take back to your facility. We’ll look at turbo implementations; the criticality of criticality (both of them); the P-F interval; the funky failure curves of RCM; why root cause analysis is a lie; and why predictive tools can’t predict. Bring your own confusions and a willingness to participate in the dialogue as we break each of these down and toss out a few lies.

With all the talk about big data and the IIoT, many are asking how can we use this in maintenance? The IIoT enables us to put sensors in any location where we might want to collect and analyze equipment condition and performance data. There are companies that offer predictive maintenance services, and some companies do this for themselves, in-house. Typically, it’s the larger companies that can afford this, but democratization has meant this has become available to a much broader market. But there are hurdles to taking advantage of this sort of continuous monitoring program, even for your most critical equipment. One, it’s expensive, whether you do it in-house or outsource. And two, there are data bottlenecks. Condition monitoring data comes is huge volumes and it’s all time-sensitive. Even if you can afford it, you need a data handling network with a lot of capacity. In this workshop, we’ll present a viable technical solution to the data bottleneck problem — based on a solution already proven in financial securities markets — that opens up these possibilities in the realm of plant continuous condition monitoring.

As I spend more and more time in and around maintenance, reliability and asset management professionals, and though my own experiences as both an end user and now a contractor, it has become more and more clear that there is a definitive gap in most maintenance and reliability plans....the electrical system. This is not to say that there is not maintenance being done, or that people are not recognizing that their electrical system is critical. But do you understand what you are doing? Do you understand why? Is what is being done correct? Is the budget that is set aside for electrical adequate or too much? How do you know? What are the best practices and where do you start? As discussed this is not a technical presentation but rather a look at a basic electrical system and where an end user can start in regards to assuring themselves that they are doing the right things. There are some new technologies that are in the market place that can assist in determining if there is a potential problem with parts of your system...this presentation is not about those. Alternatively it is about "the basics", learning to walk before you can run: Looking at the system as a whole and learning where most trouble areas are; Assisting end-users in looking at past test results and planning next steps; Determining what needs to be done based on predictive tests such as transformer oil samples or IR scans, and what can be pushed into next year’s budget; What cannot be skipped because, if it is, it may not only cause catastrophic plant failures but potential fatalities. In conclusion what this presentation will focus on is assisting Maintenance Management professionals to treat their electrical assets with the same care that they keep their mechanical assets. It is not overly technical and you do not have to be an electrical professional to understand or benefit.Presented at MainTrain 2017 

Cigar Lake is Cameco’s newest uranium mine located in northern Saskatchewan. During construction it was decided that a lubrication program needed to be implemented to ensure that critical assets were properly maintained. The mine offers challenges in that there is not just one plant or area to setup. There is a fleet of equipment both underground and surface with mobile and stationary assets. In addition there is diesel power generation and a fleet of freeze compressors installed. Each area presents its own challenges and opportunities when setting up a program.There are several aspects of a lubrication program that need to work together to ensure reliability. This presentation will share Cigar Lake’s journey from ground zero towards a world class lubrication program, one that was featured in Machinery Lubrication’s 2016 Lube Room Challenge edition.Why a lubrication program is needed will be discussed. In addition, the improvements made to program management, storage and inventory management, cleanliness, product standardization and sampling will be presented. Lastly, some of the specialized assets in use at the mine will be highlighted and discussed on how they fit into the program. 

Preventive Maintenance (PM) Optimization is often thought of as an activity to improve the effectiveness of the maintenance strategy, looking at the activities in the PM routine and matching them with known failure modes. While this is the first step to improving any maintenance strategy, it is just a beginning. In order for an organization to achieve its highest performance, they not only need to do the right maintenance, but they also need to do it efficiently.This is where PM Optimization can unlock the hidden potential. When PM Optimization is combined with known and accepted Lean techniques, the efficiency of maintenance is truly unlocked. When performing PM Optimization, the team should be aware of the 8 types of waste: (1) Defects, (2) Overproduction, (3) Waiting, (4) Not utilizing talent, (5) Transportation, (6) Inventory excess, (7) Motion waste, and (8) Excess processing. Once the team is aware of the waste, there needs to be an unrelenting focus on eliminating the waste and minimizing planned downtime. To eliminate the waste, the team uses various Lean tools, such as SMED, 5s, and Visual Factory. When the 8 types of waste are targeted, the amount of planned downtime goes down, allowing higher levels of asset utilization. Presented at MainTrain 2017

Many organizations have embarked on asset management programs and struggle to implement best in class practices, find it difficult to sustain the new ways of working and find it difficult to demonstrate the return on the investment in AM.  Success in Asset Management (AM)  Development and Sustenance of the AM Program depends of effective Change Leadership throughout the program. It requires a focus on the following areas:1. Program and Steering Team Charters2. Comprehensive Business Case3. Comprehensive Project Management  Plan4. An AM Framework and Policy that provides a clear vision for AM5. A Leading Change Plan (and an effective issue management process)6. Communications Plan7. Tracking and Reporting of BenefitsThis presentation will provide practical guidance to people who are embarking on an AM Program, in the throes of implementing one or trying to sustain the new way of working. Participants will hear abut real case studies where challenges in the areas listed above were successfully managed.