Risk Based Inspection Study Challenges - An EPC Contractor's Perspective

1.0 Abstract In order to develop an effective inspection program for the early operational phase, Risk Based Inspection (RBI) study is included as a standard requirement in recent EPC Oil & Gas Projects. Conventionally, RBI study was managed by Operators, however nowadays EPC contractors are mandated to execute the same. This paper discusses the challenges faced by EPC Contractor during the execution of RBI study and provides an approach for timely completion of study. RBI study involves enormous data gathering and risk assessment to identify critical equipment, piping systems to optimize inspection programs and recommends inspection frequencies, locations and techniques. In addition, RBI study covers potential damage mechanisms identification, risk ranking and identification of potential hot spots for development of inspection program. RBI is normally performed based on risk assessment methodologies derived from International Standards such as API 580/581, DNV RP G101and applicable Operator guidelines. Specialized software is widely used for carrying out integrated activities involving failure probability, consequence assessment and inspection details. Finally, RBI inspection programs are integrated with Computerized Maintenance Management System. In order to execute RBI study successfully, a specialized third-party Consultant is normally engaged., Further alignment of all stakeholders including RBI study specialist is essential to address the following: - Timely availability of "As-built" data for study such as baseline inspection survey reports Agreement on design data versus baseline inspection data for RBI analysis Agreement on appropriate RBI approach: quantitative vs. semi-quantitative/qualitative Acceptance of RBI software Agreement on inspection program recommendations including hot spots, inspection intervals RBI study activities can be effectively initiated once the equipment fabrication records, piping isometrics, baseline reports and hydro-test data are available. In case of pipelines, inline inspection data should be the initial basis for the pipeline RBI assessment. EPC contractors normally face following challenges during RBI study execution: Delay in finalizing the study due to lack of "As-built" data Inconsistency between the outcomes of Corrosion Risk Assessment Study and RBI study performed by third party due to different corrosion modeling software Implications on selected material of construction as a result of RBI Study findings Ensuring compatibility of RBI templates with Operators CMMS. NPCC, as a large EPC company, has extensive experience in various Oil & Gas projects where RBI studies are developed in recent EPC projects and ensuring the integrity of the newly constructed assets. This paper attempts to address the challenges faced by EPC Contractor during execution of RBI studies; emphasizing the strategic considerations to be adopted for successful and timely completion of the study, providing benefits to the End users.

Prospects for Improving Building Maintenance Management in Nigerian Public Universities: A Case Study of Nnamdi Azikiwe University

Buildings are highly resourceful in the effective operation of tertiary institutions. It is imperative that these assets should be given good maintenance attention for effective performance. Public institutions have always been faced with ineffective maintenance of buildings due to bureaucratic constraints and poor maintenance culture. This study is aimed at establishing prospects for improving maintenance management and performance of buildings in public universities in Nigeria, using Nnamdi Azikiwe University as a case study. The study adopted a survey research approach using a structured questionnaire. A total of 148 responses were gotten from the Works and Services Department and Heads of academic departments out of 203 distributed questionnaires, being a 72.9% response rate. The questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics technique. The study variables were examines using mean, with an acceptance benchmark of 3 and above. This implies that any issue that has the mean of the responses to be 3.0 will be regarded as “agreed”, while those whose mean of their responses are less than 3.0 will be regarded as “disagreed”. Mean and standard deviation of each item were determined, and ranking were then assigned to them. From the research findings, it is evident that there are statistically significant prospects for improving on the poor state of building maintenance management in the study area. The study therefore recommends that adoption and deployment of computerized maintenance management system that would handle all aspects of users’ reporting and feedback, scheduling and coordination of activities; intensive training and retraining program for the maintenance personnel, orientation programs for building users on healthy maintenance culture and regular building condition survey should be incorporated as prospects for improving building maintenance management in the study area.

Reliability and Cost Estimation for Maintenance Planning of Oil and Gas Assets

Safety and reliability of the assets in the Oil and Gas sector is considered critical to maximize availability and minimize downtime in production and operations. The industry, due to ageing assets, are re-visiting the maintenance planning of critical equipment through Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM). The RCM process comprises of the hierarchical structuring of technical objects according to their functional locations and further dividing them into their maintainable items and components. Generally, a criticality matrix is developed that would identify the highly critical assets based on criteria such as cost, production, safety, and environment. The Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is then performed for the identified functions, functional failures, and likely failure modes of each component of the asset. The failure modes can be identified from first principles and historical failure data from the asset owner or databases such as the Offshore Reliability Database (OREDA). The failure modes, mechanisms and causes are defined in accordance with International Standards such as ISO14224. The failure characteristics such as the hidden or evident nature of the failure modes, along with the occurrence of the failure within the bathtub curve, would help in deciding the right maintenance strategies such as condition-based, fixed-time, fault-finding intervals, run to failure or redesign. The maintenance tasks are then developed as a mitigation against each failure mode. Efficient and effective asset management strategies are achieved through the allocation of resources such as the labor, tools and materials required to execute the maintenance task. The maintenance tasks are grouped together based on the maintenance time intervals and the resulting maintenance plans are fed into the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) to manage the maintenance process and track the implementation of the maintenance tasks on site. The maintenance time intervals are allocated mainly based on the current industrial practices and may be qualitative in nature. This paper aims to quantitatively determine the right maintenance intervals by analyzing the historical failure data and determining the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) and Mean Time to Repair (MTTR). Cost and reliability analysis of the maintenance scenarios based on best industry practices and statistical analysis is determined. This helps with the decision-making process by improving the maintenance task intervals based on planned and unplanned maintenance downtime. A case study of an asset from the Oil and Gas sector is provided for demonstrating the proposed approach.

Assessment of Computerized Medical Equipment Management and Maintenance System From Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Perspective: Need and Approach

Appropriate management of medical equipment is of crucial importance for providing quality healthcare. A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is a computerized program used by healthcare technology management (HTM) systems as an instrument for maintaining, organizing, storing, and reporting the data related to medical technologies in health facilities. Though CMMS is introduced as a beneficial and flexible tool for transforming the management of biomedical equipment, but no evidence of the same has been documented yet to highlight the efficacy of CMMS in the Indian context. CMMS, an e-Health system used by HTM programs, is a relatively new technology being adopted by various states of India. Such systems are vital to judging whether the system is operating and delivering the effects as desired. Assessment not only can inform policy-makers about what is known about the technology, but it also provides a better knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the intended technology. Health Technology assessment (HTA) is a systematic process designed to synthesize and evaluate the prevailing evidence for treatment or health delivery innovation. So considering the HTA perspective, an assessment approach to CMMS could be planned. Systematic reviews and empirical frameworks that have been used for understanding and assessing e-health programs can be used for evaluating technologies. Assessment of CMMS from a HTA perspective should be vital to the implementation of HTM systems by healthcare agencies.

Condition Assessment Framework for Facility Management Based on Fuzzy Sets Theory

Condition information is essential to develop effective facility management (FM) strategies. Visual inspections and walk-through surveys are common practices of condition assessment (CA), generally resulting in qualitative and subjective outcomes such as “poor”, “good”, etc. Furthermore, limited resources of the FM process demand that CA practices be efficient. Given these, the purpose of this study is to develop a resource efficient quantitative CA framework that can be less subjective in establishing a condition rating. The condition variables of the study—mean time between failures, age-based obsolescence, facility condition index, occupant feedback, and preventive maintenance cycle—are identified through different sources, such as a computerized maintenance management system, expert opinions, occupants, and industry standards. These variables provide proxy measures for determining the condition of equipment with the implementation example for heating, ventilating, and air conditioning equipment. Fuzzy sets theory is utilized to obtain a quantitative condition rating while minimizing subjectivity, as fuzzy sets theory deals with imprecise, uncertain, and ambiguous judgments with membership relations. The proposed CA framework does not require additional resources, and the obtained condition rating value supports decision-making for building maintenance management and strategic planning in FM, with a comprehensive and less subjective understanding of condition.

Forecasting Machine Failure Using DMG and Weibull Analysis in an Automotive Industry: A Case Study

In manufacturing or production setup, maintenance cost is one of the major portions of overall operating expenditure. It can vary between 15 to 60 percentage of overall cost for various industries including food related industries, iron, steel and other heavy industries. Such a high cost directly impacts manufacturing setup, profitability and sustainability in long run. In most of the industries, ineffective maintenance management can result in loss of capital and inefficient human resource deployment. This in turn affects the plants’ ability to manufacture quality products that are competitive in the market. Various maintenance management strategies including Operate to Failure (OTF), Design Out Maintenance (DOM), Skill Level Upgrade (SLU), ConditionBased Monitoring (CBM) and Fixed Time Maintenance (FTM) are used in industries for maximizing productivity. In recent years, Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) has become an integral part of most of the industries so its importance and characteristics cannot be understated. While CMMS cannot live standalone, it requires some decision-making techniques to be equipped with. These techniques range from Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) to Decision Making Grid (DMG). In this paper, concept of DMG has been applied to an automotive parts Manufacturing Industry in conjunction with Weibull analysis. Parallels are drawn between the results of DMG and Weibull analysis.

Evaluating a computerized maintenance management system in a low resource setting

This study documents the setup and roll-out of a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) in Burundi’s resource constrained health care system between 1/04/2017 and 31/03/2020. First, in 2017 a biomedical assets ontology was created, tailored to the local health system and progressively mapped on international GMDN (Global Medical Devices Nomenclature) and ICMD (International Classification and Nomenclature of Medical Devices) classifications. This ontology was the cornerstone of a web-based CMMS, deployed in the Kirundo and Muramvya provinces (6 health districts, 4 hospitals and 73 health centers).During the study period, the total number of biomedical maintenance interventions increased from 4 to 350 per month, average corrective maintenance delays were reduced from 106 to 26 days and the proportion of functional medical assets grew from 88 to 91%.This study proves that a sustainable implementation of a CMMS is feasible and highly useful in low resource settings, if (i) the implementation is done in a conducive technical environment with correct workshops and maintenance equipment, (ii) the active cooperation of the administrative authorities is ensured, (iii) sufficient training efforts are made, (iv) necessary hardware and internet connectivity is available and (v) adequate local technical support can be provided.

Analysis of Service Maintenance of Medical Equipment in State Organizations of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Policy Brief

What are the problems? • Overestimation of the cost of service work at the "officials"; • Underpricing by unscrupulous suppliers who do not have the necessary knowledge and skills to service medical devices; • Deficit of financial resources between the actual need and the planned expenditures of budgetary funds for the maintenance of medical devices; • Lack of MI engineers in healthcare organizations; Lack of medical equipment on the basis of a medical organization on an ongoing basis. Quite often, medical technicians work in parallel in several medical organizations, which in turn leads to downtime of broken equipment that could be repaired immediately; • Insufficiently developed practice of training medical personnel on the basis of equipment manufacturers or an institution providing professional training in servicing relevant types of equipment; Policy options • Option 1. Amendments to the Normative legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan. • Option 2. Competent center, centrally dealing with the issues of medical equipment breakdowns. • Option 3. Implementation of a computerized maintenance management system for medical equipment. Key provisions Each of these policy options can contribute to the development of service provision for medical technology in the Republic of Kazakhstan. At the same time, in combination, they can lead to more effective changes. Key words: medical equipment, medical equipment, service, service of medical devices, Kazakhstan.