Within the plant and equipment asset-reliability-management community, we spend substantial time and energy focusing on asset operation and maintenance. However, the design of the equipment represents the DNA—the genetic code—of reliability. Consequently, there is little that we can do in a plant to overcome poor design. Let’s explore a number of design principles that will enhance the performance and reliability of your site’s equipment assets, whether you are building a new facility, adding a line to an existing plant, upgrading an existing operation, or simply executing a sustainable capital-replacement project.
In a typical capital project, business leaders define the objectives. They determine what product(s) the company needs to make, the customer(s) that the product(s) will serve, and how much production is required. From that point, the project is typically turned over to a specialized capital-projects group. In some cases this group is an internal team; in other instances the project is contracted out to an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firm.
It’s common for a project to focus on getting production online as fast and cheaply as possible. Unfortunately, reliability, operability, maintainability, flexibility, inspectability, cleanability, safety, environmental sustainability, and all the other “abilities” that are necessary during the operations and maintenance phases of the asset life cycle are often treated as afterthoughts, if they are considered at all. After the equipment is designed, procured, and installed, it can be very difficult, expensive, and, in some cases, impossible to rectify shortcomings in these key areas.
HERE ARE SOME FIRST PRINCIPLES
1. In the project’s mission or premise, clearly specify required flexibility, operability, maintainability, environmental sustainability, and all the other capabilities that are required for successful asset management across the entire life cycle of the equipment, i.e., design, acquire and install, operate, maintain and dispose or reuse. These asset life-cycle requirements must be equal to cost and timeline when drawing up the project specification and scope.
2. Incorporate personnel with expertise and experience in the operation and maintenance of similar equipment. People with expertise in safety, environmental sustainability, and environmental life-cycle-impact analysis, and other areas of expertise must be consulted as well. The design team should be cross-functional in nature to ensure achievement of the mission or premise, and they should be fully integrated into the project from the start—not casually consulted to check off a box.
3. Conduct life-cycle analyses. For life-cycle cost analysis, refer to IEC 600-3-3; 2017 – Dependability management – Part 3-3: Application guide – Life-cycle costing. For environmental life-cycle impact assessment, which addresses energy and material usage, refer to ISO 14040: 2006 – Environmental management – Life-cycle assessment principles and framework, and ISO 14044: 2006 – Environmental life-cycle assessment – Requirements and guidelines. Note: ASTM Technical Committee E60.13 has produced several excellent standards on the topic of sustainable manufacturing.
4. When designing a plant and equipment, consider the larger system of which the project will be a part, including the building and community in which the plant will reside, and the ecosystem, including the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. Create a risk registry to consider all potential adverse impacts and create mitigation plans as required. For example, if noise or light pollution might adversely affect people in the community, you may wish to create a land buffer using conservation easements to prevent incompatible development to close to the plant.
5. Design equipment and processes assuming a 10th-percentile skill level of operators and maintainers in the plant. The Japanese refer to this as “poka-yoke,” a process that was pioneered by Toyota and is a part of the Toyota Production System (TPS). Poka-yoke is a mistake-proofing process. By making the plant easy to operate and maintain, we reduce the likelihood of mistakes that will adversely affect the production, safety, or environmental performance of the plant. Build other elements such as 5S (sort, set-in-order, shine, standardize and sustain) in up front, and create operating manuals, maintenance manuals, and troubleshooting guides that are clear, accurate, correct, and easy to follow and implement.
BOTTOM LINE
Design represents the DNA of your machines and your plant. It’s the genetic code for reliability, operability, maintainability, flexibility, safety, environmental sustainability and all the other “abilities” you require with regard to the assets. Don’t treat these features as “add-ons”—make them a priority and build them in up-front. By doing so, you’ll minimize life-cycle cost of ownership and safety and environmental impacts, and, in the end, maximize productivity and profits.TRR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Drew Troyer has 30 years of experience in the RAM arena. Currently a Principal with T.A. Cook Consultants, he was a Co-founder and former CEO of Noria Corporation. A trusted advisor to a global blue chip client base, this industry veteran has authored or co-authored more than 250 books, chapters, course books, articles, and technical papers and is popular keynote and technical speaker at conferences around the world. Drew is a Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE), Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional (CMRP), holds B.S. and M.B.A. degrees, and is Master’s degree candidate in Environmental Sustainability at Harvard University. Contact him directly at 512-800-6031 or [email protected].
Tags: reliability, availability, maintenance, RAM, safety, equipment health, plant operations, life-cycle analysis, life-cycle costing, environmental sustainability, sustainable manufacturing
