Up Time Magazine- June/July 2008

OIL FILEDS - (only one product, Oil) Field A B C Production Rates bls/hr 5 50 200 50 Product Cost USD/bl Production Cost USD/bl 250 2,500 10,000 5,000 100 RCA Cost* USD RCA Trigger Bls RCA Trigger Hrs 20 2 0.5 difficult to define corrective actions because the real or “root” cause remains undetected (Tables 2 and 3). Recommendation – The maintenance and reliability team should always record all information on every event that affects AU, including data on the damaged equipment and its various components. PETROCHEMICAL PLANTS (different products) Plant X Y Z Production Rates bls/hr 1.2 2.5 3.7 Product Cost USD/bl 700 1000 500 Production Cost USD/bl 840 2,500 1,850 5,000 RCA Cost* USD RCA Trigger Bls 7 5 10 RCA Trigger Hrs 6 2 3 ERROR 3 – When the Triggers are Surpassed Not All of the Events Are Analyzed Problem Description – After defining triggers based on their impact to safety, quality, production and/or maintenance; if only the failures with very high impact are analyzed, future problems can be expected. In many operations, only the events that have a huge AU impact are analyzed. This can be a costly practice. Table 4 illustrates a case where failures that have an impact slightly greater than the trigger are not analyzed. Recommendations – For those events in which the impact is greater than the defined trigger, the RCA always should be initiated since the Return on Investment (ROI) for each RCA will be guaranteed (i.e., if error #1 is not present). Also, if according to the defined triggers it is necessary to execute “numerous” RCA’s on a continued basis; the company should decide on either increasing the number of trained facilitators or increasing the defined trigger limits. Taking into account that every RCA has its own guaranteed ROI, the first option is recommended. This does not necessarily mean that the company must hire additional personnel. Another alternative might be to train Supervisors or Technicians to analyze failures that have a medium level of impact on AU. Production Losses 1,550 250 75 Trigger 200 200 200 Is RCA Required? YES YES NO Is RCA Executed? YES NO NO *Average RCA cost including Facilitator and Specialist Table 1 - Production costs versus RCA costs vary by production line in all industries and RCA triggers must be set accordingly. Consider an average RCA cost might be $5000 USD and the trigger might be: “Execute an RCA every time any corrective maintenance procedure has a cost greater than $2000 USD.” In this case, it is more expensive to execute the RCA than to permit the failure occurrence. Regardless of the type of industry, as shown in Table 1, it is necessary that the RCA trigger (in hours) be different for each production line (even with very big differences in some cases) in order to generate the same economic impact. Recommendations – To avoid inevitable problems associated with RCA Error #1, the maintenance and reliability team should: • Define the cost per hour for production If failures are recorded only at the Eqiupment level and do not include Equipment Components Equipment 011-P-001 03-EM-005 15-CE-011 Production Losses 550 210 75 Corrective Action What was the problem? What was the problem? What was the problem? losses on every productive line • Define the average RCA cost • Establish different triggers production line by: 1. Taking into account the cost per hour for production losses on each line (not event downtime) 2. Assuring that the trigger is greater than the average RCA cost ERROR 2 – When Asset Utilization (AU) is Affected All the Information Needed Is Not Recorded Problem Description – It probably should be obvious that RCA discrepancies can occur when event information is recorded on equipment without including data related to the specific equipment component that caused the failure. Therefore, when a Pareto Analysis2 is prepared to identify chronic failures and define improvement plans, with a high level of analysis it is only possible to identify the main piece of equipment that generated 80% of the failures. It is Table 2 - Equipment Analysis But if failures are recorded at the Components Level Equipment Seals Stators Packings Production Losses 550 210 75 Corrective Action Personnel training on seal installation Implement Motor Circuit Analysis Change the brand of packing Equipment 011-P-001 03-EM-005 15-CE-011 Table 3 - Equipment Component Analysis Table 4 - When triggers are surpassed and the event is not properly analyzed, costly problems can occur www.uptimemagazine.com 53 http://www.uptimemagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Up Time Magazine- June/July 2008

Up Time Magazine- June/July 2008 Contents Upfront Upclose: The True Cause of Most Machine Failures Information Technology: Finding Future Perfect Lubrication: Building an Oil Analysis Winner Maintenance Management: Hidden Ways to Increase Safety Infrared: Air Barriers Lower Energy Costs, Increase Profits Motor Testing: Efficient Motor Repair, Part Deux Precision Maintenance: Good Maintenance, Smart Maintenance Reliability: Common Errors in Root Cause Analysis Ultrasound: Avoid the Baghouse Blues Vibration: Don't Let Your Sensors Get Eaten Alive Upgrade: Lining It All Up

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