In the mid-1980a, one of my informal mentors held a mid-level management position at a refinery just North of Galveston, TX. He was a highly respected, educated man of few words. His advice was always factual, pure common sense.
One of his core beliefs was simply stated: Adding value to an enterprise requires that every maintenance event be viewed as an opportunity to upgrade. The feasibility of upgrading must be determined well ahead of the maintenance event. Whenever an upgrade is cost-justified, the maintenance/reliability professional must seek an active involvement in calculating, and making known, the monetary value of these endeavors.
We did just that at my site: calculate, broadcast, obtain approval, implement. In the process, we came up with cost-justification formulas that, decades later, have become a chapter in my most recent book.
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COST-JUSTIFYING UPGRADES
An empirical assessment assumes that a simple available upgrade measure will extend safe operating life by factors ranging from 1.1-1.4; implementing two available upgrade measures would extend safe operating life by factors from perhaps 1.5 to 2.5; three low cost improvement measures get the user from 2.6 to roughly 3.3-fold operating life. These approximations are often used in initial cost justification calculations. They have usually yielded reasonably close results and proceeding with upgrade plans is considered justified if payback is obtained within 18 or fewer months.
Other empirical guidelines exist. I will be describing two of them next week in my article for The RAM Review.TRR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Heinz Bloch’s long professional career included assignments as Exxon Chemical’s Regional Machinery Specialist for the United States. A recognized subject-matter-expert on plant equipment and failure avoidance, he is the author of numerous books and articles, and continues to present at technical conferences around the world. Bloch holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and is an ASME Life Fellow. These days, he’s based near Houston, TX. Email him directly at heinzpbloch@gmail.com.
Tags: reliability, availability, maintenance, work processes, professional development
