Maintenance and Reliability Best Practices. Ramesh Gulati
showers and eye baths. Make certain that emergency showers and eye baths are available at the right locations.
• Liquid and solid waste handling. Certain cleaning operations may create liquid and solid waste that can be handled within the in-plant industrial sewer system. Other wastes—including asbestos, spent chemicals, and sandblast media—may create materials that require special handling, disposal, and access limitations. Unanticipated disturbance or creations of hazardous materials are showstoppers often overlooked during the planning process. Develop and review policies for spill control and for containment and disposal of hazardous material including potential handling problems
• Noise control. Some repair steps may generate excessive levels of noise. These operations need to be identified and corrective action taken that may require the use of earplugs and posting of “high-noise” area.
• Scaffolding control. During a shutdown, scaffolding is often moved from one location to another. Ensure all scaffolding from different sources is properly marked and color coded if necessary. Portable, motorized lift devices add significant flexibility to any scaffold plan for large turnaround.
• “Return to service.” Ensure that return to service is well planned. What are the critical items that need to be insured before the system can be released for a start-up? Involve operations personnel in developing and executing the return-toservice plan, integrating their standard operating procedures with special concerns involving new or modified equipment. Make sure those critical items are OK. The right sequence of operating and energizing electrical devices safely is very important.
Holding a post-turnaround meeting is one of the important tasks for the turnaround manager. The area of turnaround planning that is most often underestimated is the area of lessons learned. Assuming the manager and planners keep good meeting notes or logs during the planning and execution phases, these notes provide an excellent source of lessons learned and process improvements for future turnarounds.
The time to collect this information is throughout the entire duration of planning and executing the turnaround. The lessons learned are compiled and reviewed with the turnaround team and stakeholders in a post-turnaround session. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss what worked and what did not work in the turnaround process,while the memories of the turnaround are still fresh in everyone’s mind. Recommendations from the team are then woven into the process for future reference and implementation.
The planning and scheduling processes, like other processes, need to be measured and evaluated to make improvements. A few examples of performance measures and benchmark data include:
1. Percentage of planned work. This measure is the percentage of all jobs that have been planned. It assumes that all parts,procedures, specifications, tools, drawings, etc., have been identified before the job is scheduled. The benchmark is 85% or better.
2. Percentage of schedule compliance. This measure is the percentage of work accomplished that is agreed upon or on the weekly schedule. The benchmark is 90% or better.
3. Percentage of time that kits (materials and parts) are delivered on time. This measure is calculated as the number of times the kits (material and parts) were delivered on time,divided by the total number of kits delivered. This measure affects the planner’s ability to plan jobs properly. Expediting parts adds unnecessary and wasteful cost to the P&S process.
4. Percentage of time the right parts are delivered. As part of the planning process, planners and schedulers should have the confidence that a specific vendor will deliver the right part when required. Otherwise, this problem could create a delay in performing the work. The benchmark is 99% or higher.
5. Percentage of work generated from a formal work PM/CBM. Most work should come from identifying the degradation of a component or asset far enough in advance of any PM/CBM tasks that the job can be planned and scheduled properly, thus minimizing unexpected delays and production loss.
6. Percentage of rework. This measure is the percentage of work orders requiring rework. Each organization needs to define what rework means to it. The definition may differ from one organization to another. Examples of rework include revisiting an asset to fix something within 7, 15, or 30 days of a PM or major repair work performed. The benchmark number is less than 2%.
7. Backlog. This measure shows how much work is ready to be performed. This measure is important to keep maintenance effectively utilized. A 4–6 week’s backlog of work is a good benchmark.
Planning and scheduling have the highest potential impact on the timely and effective accomplishment of maintenance work. The planning and scheduling functions are where all maintenance activities are coordinated. Although planning and scheduling are closely related, they are two distinct functions:
• Planning. The what and how—what and how work will be performed
• Scheduling. The when and who—when the work will be done and who will do the work
Planning encompasses what the job is and how to do the job. It’s an advanced preparation of a work task so that it can be executed in an efficient and effective manner sometime in the future. It involves detailed analysis to determine and describe the work to be performed,task sequence, and identification of required resources—including skills,crew size, labor hours, spare parts and other service materials, special tools, and any lifting device or equipment needed. It also includes identification of special lockout/tagout measures and any special permit required before the start of the task.
Planners are oftentimes very talented and great at multitasking,but many times they get pulled into duties that take them away from their primary function. Planners should always think of tomorrow—future work. They shouldn’t be tasked to:
• Be a supervisor
• Be a quality inspector
• Be a material expeditor
• Perform administrative/clerical activities
• React to emergencies
• Be the “help desk”
Scheduling encompasses when the job is going to be done and who is going to do it. It’s a process by which resources are allocated to a specific job based on operational requirements and resource availability.
Planning and scheduling eliminate or minimize the waiting time and delays. When maintenance personnel have to return to the storeroom numerous times to locate the required parts or to locate a specific tool, it delays the work execution and adds additional cost to the job. Poor planning and scheduling lead to poor utilization of maintenance resources.
Asset criticality analysis and work-job prioritization are two elements that can help in planning and resource optimization. The purpose of asset criticality is to facilitate asset decision making by identifying the assets that present the highest levels of risks to the organization and prioritizing their treatment. Work-job prioritization helps us to schedule asset maintenance and repairs based on asset criticality and the consequence of work impact.
Q4.1 Draw a workflow chart to show work from a request to completion.
Q4.2 Explain each role as shown in the workflow chart from Q4.1.
Q4.3 Who is the work coordinator? Explain that person’s role and responsibilities.
Q4.4 What is the purpose of a job priority system?
Q4.5 Why