asset management Unplanned costs will also need to be included, in a way ‘planning’ for a level of unplanned activities, i.e. an asset fails before it was expected. Historical records are a good place to start. This simulation will then provide a picture of whole-of-life cost for the asset or group of assets. Consider the level in the asset hierarchy to report whole of life (WOL) costs. It is best to start higher up in the asset hierarchy and then get more granular if required. Start with a whole pump station consisting of a building, a number of pump sets, valves, control system, and so on. This pump station can still be compared to others by using factors such as pump count or capacity or even $/ML pumped. By implementing this, future funding requirements are now based on a transparent, robust and activity-based methodology. This is a big improvement on the typical budget methodologies that use the average of the last three years. It might be flagging some big numbers in the future, but that is all part of managing a portfolio of assets. The business can now plan for this and have the justification to support any requests for changes in the level of funding.
Case Study 1 A client needed to increase the level of transparency on its maintenance budgets submitted to the state water regulator. Maintenance budgets were created using historical costs. A move to risk-based maintenance was suggested, where the level of maintenance is matched to the criticality of the asset. The maintenance strategies to be applied were developed from a failure mode approach and reliability-centred maintenance approach (Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) and Reliability-Centred Maintenance (RCM) respectively). This change was written into the annual review of the Maintenance Management Plan, and then applied to assets in the field. This involved conducting an asset verification, as many important assets did not exist on the asset register. An asset criticality rating was assigned during a joint workshop with the client, and then the maintenance strategies were developed. A preliminary analysis on the outcomes of the current maintenance plans suggested that some assets were over-maintained, some assets were undermaintained and some assets had the wrong maintenance being carried out. This would be significantly improved with the new maintenance strategies. The failure mode approach allows the maintenance strategy to be reviewed if service levels are not being met. A revised maintenance strategy then allows changes to be made to the maintenance plans in the CMMS. The state water regulator approved the risk-based maintenance approach and the use of a FMECA/RCM approach to developing the maintenance strategies. The new maintenance strategies are currently being created and loaded in the client’s new CMMS.
Case Study 2 On one of our own contracts, the asset criticality rating was used to identify assets that were being over-maintained. Assets in a 100% duty standby configuration with a medium criticality rating were identified to have their mechanical maintenance frequency extended, i.e. serviced less. These identified assets were discussed with operations to ensure that they were suitable for the change. This change represented a 10% saving in planned mechanical maintenance costs and has not resulted in reduced plant availability or asset service life.
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Feature Article Case Study 3 Through the joint Asset Management committee, a proposal was made to move towards risk-based maintenance to continuously improve the maintenance of the assets. The current maintenance practices were a mixture of OEM recommendations and corrective actions to service level issues of the past. The maintenance strategies lacked consistency across the asset base. The starting point was the annual review of the Maintenance Management Plan. The risk-based approach to maintenance combined with the failure mode approach and reliability-centred maintenance approach to developing maintenance strategies was then agreed at the joint Asset Management committee and subsequently included in the update of the maintenance management plan. The client was also keen to update its asset register as part of an upcoming upgrade to their CMMS. The asset verification was undertaken jointly by splitting the list of assets and using a common approach, scoring sheet and documentation. The asset criticality rating was assigned during a joint workshop and the maintenance strategies were developed. These were documented in the Tactical Asset Management Plan (TAMP) and agreed changes made to the maintenance plans in the CMMS for the assets. The state water regulator approved the revised Maintenance Management Plan during its annual audit.
Conclusion The points raised in this article are the basics of managing assets. Start with these and do them well. This will provide increased confidence and knowledge of all the assets, their condition and where they are. Better insight into future replacement and refurbishment costs and discussions can be had in the business. As the scoring systems for criticality and condition are created, capture them in a procedure. Start to document the process being used in Asset Management procedures. Create an Asset Management policy that underpins corporate objectives. Ensure decisions made are in line with these corporate objectives. They are all live documents, so do not be too concerned if they are not perfect the first time. Let the Finance and Safety departments know about the new methodology for creating the annual replacement and refurbishment plans. They should appreciate the rigour and transparency in the new process, an improvement on the usual last minute, rushed brainstorm. It will take some time to develop and implement all these basics, depending on how many assets there are, your CMMS and how many resources can be deployed, both people and money. The benefits will flow during this time. WJ Matt Gulliver (email: mgulliver@ trility.com.au) is TRILITY’s Asset Manager, accountable for the Asset Management and Maintenance of all company and client-operated assets. He holds a Master of Business Administration, a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) and is a member of the Asset Management Council of Engineers Australia.
November 2013 water