Plant Services - August 2008 - (Page 29) MANAGEMENT Personnel won’t allow you to, for example, put a 4,800 V insulator on a 13,200 V line, or plan a 350-ft. span when the guys will only support a 200-ft. span.” The approach depends more on following procedures than on buying specific software. Many CMMS packages allow job plans to be linked to work orders so crews have access to drawings and standard work instructions. A variety of document-management systems allow you to store, sort and assign versions to the documents, and more than one design package can accommodate a rulebase. “The key is, when you’re doing work, you don’t want to have to do a bunch of sorting and searches,” Yonkman says. “You tend to work with specific construction units and job plans, and when you work on a piece of equipment you click on it. What comes up is a job plan that reaches out and grabs sketches and SWIs associated with that piece of equipment so you’re not searching and sorting.” Buy a software system preloaded with information relevant to the equipment in your facility. Once you’ve built and populated the database, you can improve, build on and modify standard work instructions based on learnings. “The idea is, it’s never done,” Yonkman adds. “You’re always learning – new equipment, new design processes, new maintenance approaches. On a day-to-day basis, as you get new equipment and new procedures, you continue to build that SWI database so it’s available for future generations.” Build a better database Advanced Technology Services (ATS, www.advancedtech. com) began building its information system – called Knowledgebase – about two years ago. When the maintenance services company gets involved in a new site, teams go through the files, scanning in manuals and documentation. “We use a Web-type database and Google search technology,” says Jeff Morrow, ATS KnowledgeBase database administrator. It can search by word or phrase, and the full-text searches can be filtered to a particular site, keywords, equipment type, etc. Along with scanned documents, the system captures information from maintenance work orders, technician’s questions and answers from its “Factory Forum,” and relevant information from the public domain. “We now have about 14,000 files and expect 100% growth during the next year,” Morrow says. “About 20% is tribal knowledge – PMs, procedures and real-world tips and tricks.” That tribal knowledge isn’t easy to capture. “When rootcause analysis [RCA] is mandatory – and we have rules for that, based on safety, regulations, equipment criticality and excessive downtime – the analysis goes into the system,” August 2008 Morrow says. “We’re using RCA-based problem/solution forms that are filled out by the technician and signed off by the maintenance planner and site management. This is how we get the knowledge that’s not in the manuals.” Users can rate information for how much it helped, or comment on accuracy or missing information. Higher ratings raise the information’s position in the search results. “We just used the knowledgebase this weekend to pull up the manual for a measuring instrument on a bearing production line,” says ATS Traveling Technician Jason Scales, who was caught in transit between jobs near Hamilton, Ala. “Until we found the manual, we thought we would have to shut down the line and send the instrument back to Japan.” Scales says he routinely uses the system to prepare for a site visit. “With a machine model and number, we can access manuals, schematics and PLC logic,” he says. “It’s a lot better than flipping through hundreds of pages of manuals.” It also comes in handy for troubleshooting. “We had a drive on a Gleason machine tripping,” Scales adds. “The knowledgebase gave us a tip to adjust the gain, which solved the problem. It saved us a lot of time and trouble.” ATS now provides services at about 60 sites, so an important function is to share, as well as capture, knowledge. It also helps for training new employees. “It drives us toward best practices because we can capture and share the best way to deal with a particular machine or problem. And as we add more, it does more,” says Vlad Bacalu, product manager, ATS. “It’s a great tool that improves efficiencies,” Morrow adds. “Every day that you don’t use it, you risk losing knowledge.” Another option is to buy a software system preloaded with information relevant to the equipment in your facility. Some such systems allow you to modify the information and add specific details to build a powerful, comprehensive support and reference system. For example, SKF’s @ptitude Decision Support system offers failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) and failure symptom information for more than 100 kinds of equipment, from shafts and bearings to heat exchangers and motors. It also supports and monitors operator-driven reliability (ODR) inspection data and can accept process data via OPC. Decisions are made on multiple variables. Like a seasoned reliability expert, Decision Support can help identify problems, determine how serious they are, recommend a course of action and priority, and highlight potential risks to productivity, quality, worker safety and the environment. 29 www.PLANTSERVICES.com http://www.advancedtech.com http://www.advancedtech.com http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com
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