| Criteria
for CMMS to Satisfy Facility Reliability Needs |
written
by William C. Worsham and Charles J. Latino
and
presented at the 1999 API Pipeline Conference
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It does not show up on a company?s balance sheet and is not usually recognized
as an asset, but the data that a business possesses is an important asset
to the company. A company with good business values can benefit from a
reliability program because it generates lots of important data. This data
can be used for reliability purposes to improve equipment and process performance,
reduce operating costs, and dramatically improve profits. To gather and
manage this data, a good Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS)
is extremely helpful. |
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To satisfy facility reliability needs the Computerized Maintenance Management
System (CMMS) must provide for the collection of data to facilitate Reliability
study and analysis. The question becomes how to capture this data and what
type of data is needed. The purpose of this paper is to shed some insight
into the type data needed and why. From a reliability perspective a CMMS
must satisfy the following broad requirements: |
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Help
identify reliability deficiencies. |
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Provide
data to aid in the analysis of reliability deficiencies. |
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Provide
reports that measure the effectiveness of reliability corrections. |
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| Help
Identify Reliability Deficiencies |
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For the reliability professional to identify maintenance and operational
deficiencies certain information is essential. Much of this information
can be obtained by introducing shift notes that are kept by mechanics and
operators into the CMMS and analyzing tasks depicted therein for frequency
and impact. While there are tools, like computers and software that now
make it possible to sort through unstructured data in useful ways, data
manipulation and analysis is much easier when a logical coding method is
used. A brief example of what is meant by logical coding is illustrated
below. |
| Logical Coding |
| Subsystem |
Failure
Event |
Failure
Mode |
Frequency
(Date) |
Impact
(Downtime) |
| Area
6 |
Pump
14 |
Bearing
Failure |
12-Jan-99 |
8
hours |
| Area
6 |
Pump
14 |
Bearing
Failure |
17-Jan-99 |
4
hours |
| Area
6 |
Pump
14 |
Bearing
Failure |
18-Jan-99 |
12
hours |
|
| Note: Drop Down Windows
Facilitate Logical Coding |
| Compare this to the illogical
coding that follows: |
| Illogical Coding |
| Subsystem |
Failure
Event |
Failure
Mode |
Frequency
(Date) |
Impact
(Downtime) |
| In
Area 6 |
Pump
# 14 |
Bad
Bearing |
1/17/99 |
1/4
day |
| Area#6 |
Pump
(14) |
Noisy
Bearing |
Jan.18,
1999 |
2
weeks |
| Area
6 |
Pump
14 ? |
Bearing
Failure |
25-Jan-99 |
8
Hours |
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Logical coding will require some training for those individuals who write
shift notes. Once training is complete and a logical coding method is adopted,
deficiencies can be determined. Some examples of the type deficiencies
that can be delineated in this manner are: |
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Repeat
pump failures and the amount of production lost. |
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Repeat
sprocket and/or chain failures and amount of production lost. |
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Chronic
or repetitive leaks by service line (e.g., steam, acid, condensate, etc.)
and dollars expended to correct these leaks. |
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Repeat
failures of systems or equipment and the amount of production lost in total
or per occurrence. |
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Stores
substitutes made and probable production lost if the substitute fails. |
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Trips
to stores to secure parts and dollars expended in this effort. |
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Number
of safety lockouts that occur and the money expended in securing the lockout
plus the amount of work or workers delayed while the lockout is secured. |
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In identifying deficiencies like those above, it is important to not only
identify the deficiency, pump failures, but to also identify
the cost associated with that deficiency, the amount of lost production.
Also, in perusing the above deficiencies, it can be seen that some of the
deficiencies are process, leaks, some are equipment related,
equipment and system failures, and some are administrative in nature,
stores substitutes, trips to stores, and safety lockouts. Typically,
process and equipment problems are considered reliability issues whereas
administrative situations often are not. This is a fallacy. Administrative
issues like substituting for parts in Stores because a substitute part
is more easily obtained or costs less often creates reliability issues
and should be tracked. Non-value-added situations like trips to stores
and safety lockouts, while necessary, are reliability issues and should
be analyzed to minimize costs and process interruptions. In addition, there
are other reliability deficiencies that must be considered. |
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Other ways that reliability deficiencies can be identified and analyzed
is to keep track of these items in the CMMS. The CMMS should: |
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Identify
and statistically sample the number and type of key strokes made by control
room operators.On the surface this activity may seem unnecessary,
but it is something that should be examined periodically. The goal should
be to maximize operator attention time to the process and minimize keystrokes.
The keystrokes may be necessary to operate the process and/or equipment
and to provide information on how well the equipment and process is performing.
Regardless, keystrokes should be minimized because every keystroke is a
chance for error. |
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Identify
the frequency and type of adjustments made to specific machinery and equipment.
It goes almost without saying that frequent and/or large
adjustments to machinery and equipment indicates that the process is either
being changed frequently, or that the machinery and equipment is operating
or was designed unreliably. Frequent adjustments are sometimes taken for
granted and go unreported for ages. |
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Identify
the time it takes to ramp down, stay down, and ramp up when an outage or
production interruption occurs. Standards for ramping down (shutting
down) and ramping up (starting up) should exist or be established. If possible,
deviations from standard should be noted and explained. Serious deviations
should be investigated. For the length of time the equipment or process
stays down, standards by reason (i.e. felt change, filter change, maintenance,
etc.) should also be established and deviations noted. |
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Identify
the frequency and impact of shortages of parts and operating supplies,
such as spare parts, raw materials, additives, filters, blanks, hoses,
etc. These
items, commonly known as stock-outs, can have a serious impact on production.
If the stock-out is for a critical item the impact can be devastating.
Therefore, stores stock items should be assigned criticality codes and
stocked accordingly. All stock-outs should be noted. Care should be taken
to designate a stock-out whenever a substitute part is used because the
item wanted was not available. A situation comes to mind where an electrician
wanted a twenty five amp heater and because it was not available in stores
used a 23.5 amp heater as a temporary fix. The piece of equipment involved
in that temporary fix experienced numerous resets for months before that
condition was uncovered and corrected. |
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Identify
and keep track of the runtime for each process and each piece of operating
equipment before a shutdown occurs. Runtime
must also be tracked for vehicles, fork trucks, cranes, tow motors, and
other types of motorized equipment. Runtime is essential for calculating
Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), an important reliability indicator, for
equipment that is not run continuously and useful for calculating MTBF
for equipment that is run continuously. |
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Identify
each human interface and make potential inferences when problems occur
as to which interfaces may have contributed to the problem. For
example, in an area that experiences heavy failures, the supervisor to
hourly employee interface may be contributing to the problem. |
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Identify
product flow slowdowns due to ramping, equipment failure, and administrative
order.It is a reliability concern whenever production rates
are curtailed for any reason. Whenever this happens, the time the slowdown
started, the reason for the slowdown, and its duration should be captured. |
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| Provide
Data to Aid in the Analysis of Reliability Deficiencies |
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Once reliability deficiencies have been identified, it is imperative that
these deficiencies be analyzed to determine root cause and corrective measures
initiated to improve reliability. The analysis and subsequent solutions
can be aided by such CMMS data as discussed in these five major categories: |
|
Process
Supporting Data |
|
Machinery
Supporting Data |
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Other
Supporting Data |
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Direct
Failure Information |
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Financial
Information |
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| Process
Supporting Data |
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Depending on the deficiency, certain process supporting data is necessary.
In order to cover the full range of possible deficiencies, the list of
supporting data becomes fairly large. Included in this list would be a
list of processing exemplars and where to obtain actual specimens or samples.
Also included would be the results of job audits, quality parameters that
must be met to assure a first quality product, and the data and analyses
of previous process failures. In addition, a continually updated list of
experts in various disciplines, and on various machinery and processes,
should be maintained and readily available in the CMMS. Finally, a common
problem list should be maintained. The problem list should include a list
of chronic problems within the same process such as yield deficiencies,
pluggage problems, quality problems, and deteriorating heat transfers. |
| Machinery
Supporting Data |
|
A significant amount of machinery supporting data must be maintained in
order to analyze and resolve reliability deficiencies. This data should
be stored in the CMMS and should include machine histories that delineate
all past repairs and adjustments. It should also include all previous failure
analyses on the same equipment. It should also include a listing of the
clearances for the machine in question, plus a listing and pictorial representation
of the spare parts used in that particular machine. Additionally, for critical
machinery the CMMS should include graphics capable of showing 3D cutaway
views of the machine with parts installed. Finally, the CMMS should include
a list of quality parameters for the machine and a list of past deficiencies
in part quality. |
| Other
Supporting Data |
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Besides process and machinery data, certain other data is necessary to
completely resolve reliability deficiencies. This data should be stored,
maintained, and retrievable from the CMMS. In this category of data would
be such things as: a listing of the applicable operating, maintenance,
and safety procedures for the area in which the reliability deficiency
exists, a list of trained failure analysts for the site or company, and
area training records showing past training experiences. For example, the
training records should include who was trained in what subject or skill
and particulars about the training. Finally, this category should include
a vendor list including phone numbers and who to contact for each vendor. |
| Direct
Failure Information |
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Many reliability deficiencies involve chronic process or machinery failures.
Until resolved chronic failures occur over and over again When they do
occur, it is important that direct failure information be gathered and
maintained in the CMMS. This data must include operating data for the period
of time prior to and at the time of failure, and observations of witnesses
prior to and at the time of failure. Gauge readings prior to and at the
time of failure should be recorded, and observed liquid spills or gas releases,
their timing, volume and/or size should also be recorded. If the failure
involved an explosion, the exact location of parts immediately after the
explosion occurred should be recorded. Sketches and photographs of the
failure site, and eyewitness accounts of people interviewed immediately
after the failure should also be recorded. Failed parts should be tagged,
bagged, and saved for the failure analyst, and a listing of the failed
parts and their present location should be recorded in the CMMS. Finally,
operational paradigms should be identified and recorded. For a variety
of reasons, operational paradigms are usually best secured by outside experts. |
| Financial
Information |
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Applying scarce resources to analyze and resolve reliability deficiencies
must be cost effective. To assess cost effectiveness and to determine the
impact of failures and slowdown on plant financials, certain financial
information is necessary. Although there is a reluctance by some to put
financial information in the CMMS, it works best for the failure analyst
when this is done. The following financial information is suggested: production
rates, parts usage rates, product output, unit cost, expected return on
investment, downtime cost per unit of time, fully loaded hourly rates or
a standard hourly rate for assessing repair costs, value added costs by
department, cost accounting data used internally to evaluate costs, and
overhead costs. |
| Provide
Reports that Measure the Effectiveness of Reliability Deficiency Corrections |
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Once a solution to a reliability deficiency has been devised it has to
be tested and tracked on two levels, operational and financial. To do this
certain additional data must be available in the CMMS. Briefly, the following
operational and financial data is required: |
| Operational
Level |
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On the operational level, the following data should be stored, maintained,
and retrievable from the CMMS: |
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Slowdowns
or Rate Reductions |
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Most of the above items have been discussed earlier in this paper or are
self explanatory. However, a few items are worth mentioning again. For
example, whenever an equipment or process failure occurs, the equipment
or process that failed, the date and time of the failure, and its runtime
to failure should be recorded. Additionally, the time to restore the equipment
or process should be recorded. Using this input, the CMMS should tabulate
the number of failures, the mean time between failures, and the mean time
to restore after failure. |
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Other than to count incoming stores stock items to ensure against shortages
and a visual inspection to spot obvious damage, many companies do not inspect
stores stock items against specifications. Where possible and feasible
this should always be done. In addition, there should be a provision in
the CMMS for recording stock item quality defects. |
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In addition to quality defects of parts, quality parameters for all products
manufactured at the facility should be retrievable through the CMMS. These
parameters and how well the products are meeting the parameters should
be stored in the CMMS or retrievable through an interface with other plant
systems, for example the Quality Control system. This concept also applies
to production data for such things as production rates, flow rates, pluggage
rates, etc., and to non-destructive testing data for things like vibration
data, infrared thermography readings, etc. This type data, which is useful
to the failure analyst, does not have to reside in the CMMS, but should
be retrievable from the CMMS. |
| Financial
Level |
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On the financial level, trends of certain financial information should
be tracked and maintained in the CMMS or retrievable from the CMMS through
an interface with other plant systems. Trends of product output, unit cost,
customer complaints, on-time deliveries, stores inventory, and raw material
inventories (intermediate and final product) are very useful to the reliability
professional for assessing the impact of reliability deficiencies as well
as evaluating the solutions to these deficiencies. |
| Summary |
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A properly used and set up CMMS is a powerful tool for enhancing reliability
efforts. A word of caution though, an improperly setup and used CMMS can
have an equally negative impact on reliability. The trick is to do it right
in a consistent manner. Like any tool, CMMS must be maintained and used
properly to achieve the greatest potential possible. |
| William C. Worsham
is a Senior Consultant for Reliability Center, Inc. Mr. Worsham has over
30 years experience in the field of Maintenance and Reliability program
managment. He has participated in and led teams in the development, design
and implementation of three separate maintenance management systems. He
has also participated in the design and implementation of specialized reliability
inspection programs such as lubrication scheduling, vibration monitoring,
instrument inspection and preventive maintenance. Mr. Worsham is a practitioner
of root cause analysis in the field with his clientele as well as an educator.
He can be contacted at 804/458-0645 or bworsham@reliability.com. |
| Charles J. Latino
is president & founder of Reliability Center, Inc. Mr. Latino is a
chemical engineer with a background in psychology and human factors engineering.
He is a leader in the development of an integrated approach to achieving
greater reliability in manufacturing and industrial systems and processes.
He has served as consultant to many companies in the United States and
abroad. He is the author of Strive For Excellence...The Reliability Approach.
Mr. Latino can be contacted at 804/458-0645 or info@reliability.com |
RCI Offers the full
range of Reliability Consulting Services and Training Programs for Industry.
We conduct facilitations, reliability assessments, FMEA & Root Cause
Failure Analysis Training - Public & On-Site.
For more information
contact:
Reliability Center, Inc.
P.O. Box 1421
Hopewell, Virginia 23860
Phone: (804) 458-0645
Fax: (804) 452-2119
Website: http://www.reliability.com
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Return
to Failure Analysis Reference Library Index
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© Copyright
2000 Maintenance Resources, Inc.
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Phone: 812.877.7119
- Fax: 812.877.7116 - E-Mail: info@maintenanceresources.com
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Address: 1983 North Hunt
Street - Terre Haute, IN 47805
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