Uptime Magazine - October/November 2008 - (Page 46)

maintenance mgmt upload Cooperation is Key The Operator’s Role in Achieving Equipment Reliability by Heinz P. Bloch, P.E. I n virtually every modern process plant we will always find operating, maintenance and reliability/technical job functions. The most profitable of these modern “high uptime” facilities have managed to successfully train their personnel. Also, most of these facilities have implemented organizational and other procedural routines or work processes that ensure the three job functions work together smoothly. They certainly practice cooperation, communication and mutual consideration on a daily basis. In the many years of exposure to reliability-conscious companies, I have often highlighted the training and cooperation principles and their rather obvious value. greatly to pinpointing the many small, and generally overlooked, reasons for drastically different reliability performance of essentially identical pumps. One such example is highlighted in Figure 1. A totally full constant level lubricator bowl will make it impossible for the device to function properly. For it to work, there must (!) be an air volume above the oil. This air volume will be at less than atmospheric pressure. Added to the pressure of the standing column of oil, the total pressure must equal that of the surrounding atmosphere. The message: Training and surveillance are absolutely necessary for success. Recent plant experience shows that the operator’s role in achieving equipment reliability can be explained in a one-day training course and several refineries and chemical plants have been able to validate the importance of such training. Here’s what a pacesetting facility would want to emphasize in training its operators. No Uptime Optimization Without Operator Involvement Just as the most well-designed and best-maintained automobile will fail in the hands of a thoughtless or inexperienced driver, the best and most reliable machine will not perform optimally if the operator lacks training, care or motivation. Behind the steering wheel of a car, we accept the responsibility of viewing the dashboard instruments many times in a single minute. Likewise, the operator in a modern process plant must accept equipment surveillance as his prime responsibility. The purpose of equipment surveillance is to spot deviations from normal operation. At best-ofclass plants, these deviations are then reported to maintenance or reliability personnel. A maintenance or reliability person determines the significance of a deviation and both schedules and implements necessary remedial action. We consider it of extreme importance to point out that there are oil refineries in the United States whose centrifugal pumps have an MTBF (mean-timebetween-failures) of over nine (9) years, while a few report an MTBF of only about two years. Each group purchases its pumps from the same manufacturers; in each group we find represented old and new, unionized and non-unionized plants. However, at the 9-year MTBF facility, a good training program is in place. Through surveillance its operators contribute Figure 1 - An Over-ﬁlled Constant Level Lubricator Cannot Possibly Function Properly “Best Practices” Surveillance and Other Misunderstandings Cleared Up Each has its place, but a pacesetter “best practices” plant will carefully select and explain when, why and where electronic, or console surveillance makes economic sense, and where only the operator’s eyes and ears will do the best job. 46 october/november 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Uptime Magazine - October/November 2008

Uptime Magazine - October/November 2008 Contents Upfront Upclose: An Asset Management Oasis in the Desert Information Technology: Streamlining Through Simplicity Lubrication: Phases for Framing a Solid Foundation Infrared: Do Your Homework Before You Buy Maintenance Management: Get It Together by Getting Together Motor Testing: Key Elements in Motor Decision Making Precision Maintenance: Shedding Some Light on Tolerances Reliability: RCM & the Mortgage Meltdown Ultrasound: A Multidimensional Tool Vibration: The Whirling Pump Mystery, Solved with ODS Upgrade: Are You Looking in the Right Place for Your Wear Debris?

Uptime Magazine - October/November 2008

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