AMMJ

November 2013 Issue Vol26 No6

Asset Management & Maintenance Journal

Celsius
750.6 409.0
300.0
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44.1

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AMMJ

Contents
November 2013

Click On The Page Number/Title To Go To That Page

MAINTENANCE AND
RELIABILITY

WIIFM - What Is In It For Me

Maintenance Plan Development Template At Your Peril

RBI - An Introduction To Risk

Based Inspection

14 The Value Of Finding Many Root

PLANT ENGINEERING
AND SERVICES

41 A Cost Effective Solution For

Perimeter Protection

43 The New Leader

46 Equipment & Services for

Assets, Plant & Buildings NEWS

STORES, PURCHASING,
PARTS AND MATERIALS

52 Spare Parts Inventory: An Exercise

In Risk Management

56 Warehouse Safety Part 2:

Selecting The Right PPE

57 Stores Purchasing & Materials NEWS

Causes vs One

16 Criticality Analysis Based

59 TECHNICAL REPORTS AND

20 Supporting The AMMJ

21 Learn To See The Future of Your

- Assessment & Measurement of Asset

Deterioration of flood & coastal defence
Assets & their Residual Life (88 pages)

26 Fault Diagnosis of Hot Metal

- Maintenance & Occupational

Safety & Health (22 pages)

Maintenance

Operation, Plant & Equipment

Ladle Systems Using Infrared

Thermography

32 Maintenance Workshops
33 Maintenance & Reliability NEWS

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RESEARCH PAPERS

- Six Ways To Improve Your Oil

Analysis Program (17 pages)

60 AMMJ Information Page

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Richard (Doc) Palmer

Richard Palmer and Associates

USA

WIIFM means Whats in it for me?

We must know why a craftsperson, a supervisor,

a manager, and a company would want
maintenance planning if we are to successfully
implement a planning program. What is in
it for each of these persons or levels in the
organization?
Enlightened craftspersons* welcome planning
for a couple of reasons:
First, craftspersons gain their own personal
file clerks. No longer do they have to keep
tidbits of technical information in their lockers
or memories. They simply write down
information on job plans as feedback and the
planners include it on future plans for the same
equipment.
The planners keep a file for every piece of
equipment. In a plant with thousands of devices,
craftspersons need the services of a competent
file clerk. Advances in plant maintenance often
result from little lessons of the past: here a
little, there a little. Some craftspersons simply
cannot keep up with the minute details. Other
technicians have a wealth of this information
stored in their minds and we hate the day of

This Is the 3rd In A Series of

Articles From Doc Palmer
their eventual retirement. The planner as
file clerk can put the lessons learned into
plant memory.
Second, the planners not only save
these past lessons for future job plans,
the planners codify the lessons into
formal procedures. The planners take
the lessons from feedback and gradually
improve written job plans for specific
equipment in specific plant environments.
Craftspersons would be crazy
not to want planning.
On the other hand, enlightened
supervisors welcome planning because
it gives them more control over
maintenance work. This is an incredible
statement because the chief impediment
to planning is supervisors that fear a loss
of control.
These latter supervisors reason that their
specific role in maintenance is to decide
what maintenance to do. Which jobs
should be worked? Yet, maintenance
supervisors should never have assumed
this role.

the world of thermal imaging

Disclaimer: Images for illustrative purposes only. The images displayed may
not be representative of the actual resolution of the camera shown.
ISO No. FLIR20878

WIIFm

The priority system of the plant decides what jobs should be worked!
Maintenance should work the higher priority jobs first.
Enlightened supervisors realize their role is to be out in the field
supervising. One reason supervisors do not supervise present
maintenance work is they are too busy lining up future jobs. They
look over the work and decide how they would assign it. Maintenance
planners free them of this task by taking care of the future work.
Planners include craft needs and labor hours on job plans in addition to
general job scopes. This information allows supervisors to assign work
without inspecting every job personally. Not only does this information
give supervisors information to control their work better, it gives them
extra time to spend with their crews on maintenance work already in
progress.
A planning group further frees maintenance supervisors from constantly
reviewing entire backlogs of open work to decide next job assignments.
A planning group provides a backlog service when it develops a weekly
schedule. Instead of a crew supervisor having to scan an entire backlog

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ting

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of all open work orders, a planning group

gives supervisors a subset of the backlog
matching their available crew labor hours
for a week. A supervisor needs only to scan
this subset instead of the whole backlog
when selecting next work assignments in
the absence of plant emergencies.
Supervisors would be crazy
not to want planning.
Going further up the organization,
enlightened managers welcome planning
because it allows them to control
maintenance productivity.
How much maintenance should be
done?
Is it enough to handle all the
emergencies?
What other work should be done?
With the planning group developing a
weekly schedule as a goal of work,
management can see if the maintenance
force accomplishes the amount of work
expected. If not, the manager has a basis
for asking why not?
Did the storeroom run out of parts?
Did several emergencies interrupt the
schedule?
Simply starting crews with s goal of work
each week lifts their wrench time from
the 35% of a typical maintenance force
without planning to upwards of 55%. While
a later article will have the space to explain
all the nuances of wrench time, suffice it
to say, maintenance programs frequently
only get about a 35% productivity rate from
craftspersons.
Planning and scheduling can boost
this level to as much as 55%, a 57%
improvement (55% divided by 35%).

Multiplying a 50-person group by 1.57

yields a 78-person workforce, a 28
person improvement.
For every 50 persons, the plant can
have another 28 persons, free!
Managers would be crazy not
to want planning.
At the top of the organization,
enlightened companies and their
stockholders welcome planning because
the additional productivity means
accomplishing more maintenance work.
More maintenance work accomplished
means higher plant availability for
producing product and higher profits.
Companies would be crazy not
to want planning.

My vibration routes seem endless.

I need to collect data faster, so I can
spend more time fixing problems.

YOU CAN DO THAT

NOTE: The term Craftsperson refers to any

journeyman, technician, apprentice, helper, or
any other maintenance worker.

Doc Palmer, PE, MBA, CMRP is the

author of McGrawHills

Maintenance Planning and

Scheduling Handbook
As managing partner of Richard Palmer
and Associates, he helps companies
worldwide with planning and scheduling
success.
For more information visit
www.palmerplanning.com or email
[email protected]

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AMMJ

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Maintenance
Plan Development
Template At Your Peril
Stephen Renshaw
Assetivity
www.assetivity.com.au

Are you ready for

ISO 55000?

Senior Consultant

Many organisations attempt to expedite the development of maintenance

plans by using Maintenance Templates as an out of the box solution
that specifies the maintenance to be performed on an asset based on its
category.
This process is used on the basis that the use of templates will:
create a single source of truth so that all similar assets have
consistency in tasks and task descriptions;
make adjusting the strategy easier in the future, particularly if software
is used as only the templates need to be changed, these changes are
then directly applied to all linked assets; and
result in a lower implementation cost as time will not be wasted
repeating analysis on similar assets.
Unfortunately, after a company embarks on this strategy they discover:
maintenance plan development time does not reduce, in some cases
it even increases, as the developed plan is required to be reworked
early in its life as it is quickly observed to be excessive or
inappropriate and not optimised;
no improvement in reliability is obtained and often availability suffers
due to an excessive number of tasks being developed resulting in
increased maintenance downtime; and
excessive cost occurs due to unnecessary maintenance being applied
to non-critical assets.
This paper reviews why these issues occur, finishing with a set of Dos and
Donts to assist in ensuring that the use of templates occurs in a positive
way that adds value to the maintenance plan development process. This
ensures that the business goals of lower cost, higher reliability, and higher
availability are achieved rapidly from the maintenance plan.

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The use of templates refers to the practice of

having standard task lists identified for common
asset categories such as a diesel engine, filter,
pressure transmitter, gate valve, etc. that are
applied to the asset hierarchy using software
or spread sheet solutions. These templates
are sometimes referred to as maintenance
strategies or failure mode libraries. In theory
these allow maintenance plans to be developed
by categorising the assets in a hierarchy and
applying the relevant templates to them. This
ensures a consistent maintenance strategy is
applied to every similar asset in an organisation
and the plan can be developed by less
experienced and cheaper resources.

The problem
Why does this approach go wrong?

The reasons for the failure of this approach can

be tracked down to a number of key issues:
Problem 1
The process fails to recognise a key concept
of maintenance strategy development that
maintenance is performed to maintain function.
Organisations using templating often do not
consider the function of the asset only the
category when developing maintenance plans,
often this is driven by the functionality of the
Computerised Maintenance Management
System (CMMS).
Maintenance plans must be developed based
on maintaining the function of the asset. The
category of the asset assists in identifying
a suite of possible preventative tasks that
can be applied, not the effectiveness or cost
benefit of applying these tasks.

AMMJ

Problem 2
Templates are often developed and applied prior to a
high level Maintenance Strategy being finalised that
includes the processes to be used in developing the
maintenance plans.
The development of maintenance plans should be
guided by a Maintenance Strategy supported by
a set of standards and procedures. One of these
documents might be a set of standard templates
that can be applied to common asset types such as
instruments.
Problem 3
Templates are often applied using a bottom up
approach starting at the lowest level of the asset
hierarchy.
This approach can easily
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overlook the overall
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system that they belong
to. Prior to application of
templates a top down review
of the system functions
Improve production efficiency, increase quality control
and criticality should be
performed. This will allow
Thermal imaging cameras are
evaluation of how the
used across a wide variety of
tasks listed on template
industries to monitor continuous
processes, easily collecting information
will be effective in terms of
on product quality and/or production efficiency that is difficult or
effectiveness and cost in
impossible to capture using conventional means such as thermocouples
or visible light cameras.
maintaining function.
A FLIR A65, A35, A15 or A5 is the perfect solution for such applications,
Problem 4
and with features and functions designed to make it the natural choice
for anyone who uses PC software to solve problems.
The analyst applying the
strategy often is not trained
in any reliability centred
maintenance principles.
PoE
It is a flaw to think because
you have a template that
it can be blindly applied to
an asset. The analyst must
have been trained formally,
or through mentoring,
Disclaimer: Images for illustrative purposes only. The images displayed
may not be representative of the actual resolution of the camera shown.
ISO No. FLIR20871

The Use of Templating

to have an understanding in reliability principles and

be conversant with the seven standard questions of
Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) and if on a
brownfield site Preventative Maintenance Optimisation
(PMO).
This applies even where formal RCM is not being
applied. As a reminder the seven questions as spelt out
in SAE JA1011 are:
What are the functions and associated desired standards
of performance of the asset in its operating context
(functions)?
In what ways can it fail to fulfil its functions
(functional failures)?
What causes each functional failure (failure modes)?
What happens when each failure occurs (failure effects)?
In what way does each failure matter
(failure consequences)?

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Nov 2013

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What should be done to predict or prevent each

failure (proactive tasks and task intervals)?
What should be done if a suitable proactive task
cannot be found (default actions)?
Where a PMO process if being undertaken then at
least questions d to g should be asked, particularly
how does each failure matter.
Problem 5
Hidden or secondary functions are often overlooked
resulting in missing critical function tests. By
definition a critical function test is performed to
ensure that a critical function is operative.
Maintenance plan development in high risk
industries must consider asset function at both
the system and physical asset level to properly
identify critical hidden functions.
Problem 6
When applying templates people do not consider
the effectiveness and applicability of the tasks.
When using templates the question Is the
task applicable and effective? should always
be asked. So often tasks are applied that are
not applicable to the asset in question due to
technical differences such as greasing autogreased bearings, or tasks are applied that will
cost more than the consequences of a run to
failure strategy.
Note: This question should also apply to
selection of OEM maintenance tasks. E.g. many
organisations insist on sticking to OEM in order
to maintain warranty or if the system is not critical
and worthy of full RCM analysis. In both cases
the cost of maintenance must be less than the
cost of repair or replacement of the asset to justify
doing the OEM recommended task. If an OEM
strategy is performed to maintain warranty then it
should be reviewed once the warranty period has
expired.

How should the organisation work with

software tools and templates to improve its
maintenance strategy?

Dont:

Let software drive your maintenance plan

development process.
Use templates to automatically apply maintenance
tasks and expect an efficient maintenance plan.

To this point we have focussed on some of the

issues of templating. Templating can have a number
Do:
of benefits including:
Develop a solid process to develop maintenance tasks
Similar assets will have similar potential failure
for your assets founded on maintaining function.
modes (as distinct from function). As such templates
Integrate your maintenance plan development
are a good guide to what can fail on an asset and
process to the capability and functionality of any
what can be done to predict or prevent failure. This
software solution that may have been purchased.
can save time by not having to perform failure modes
Ensure that personnel implementing a maintenance
analysis from scratch.
plan have at least introductory training to modern
As similar failure modes exist for the same asset
reliability principles.
type, similar maintenance tasks are also likely to
be applicable to an asset, templates
will therefore have standard
wordings for tasks. This can assist
in ensuring consistency in wording
of the selected maintenance tasks,
Technology
and therefore the quality of the final
Part of the apt Group
work instructions. Too often different
maintenance analysts will develop
a different wording every time they
create a new task, even if a similar
task already exists.
They can be collated into a
summary to provide pre-approval of
possible tasks prior to too much time
being spent applying them to the
NEW RELEASE
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actual assets.

Summary

Templating is a useful tool for

assisting in the development of
maintenance strategies but used
improperly it can also be an enemy
to achieving the business goals of
cost, reliability, and availability. The
following summarises the Dos and
Donts of templating:

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 Ensure that the use of templates is integral to the

overall maintenance strategy for the plant.
When applying a task always be sure to ask:
Is it effective and worth doing.
If your program is based upon an OEM
requirement to maintain warranty, review your
maintenance program at the end of the
warranty period.

Example:
A Tale of Two Temperature Transmitters
The following example discusses two temperature
transmitters. For the purposes of the example we
will assume that they are of the same type and
manufacturer. These temperature transmitters
are located in a greenfield plant currently being
commissioned and a group of maintenance analysts
are developing maintenance plans.
As part of this development a Maintenance
Template document has been created that lists the
standard tasks for a temperature transmitter as:
1 Year Perform visual inspection
4 Year Perform three point calibration
and loop test.
The functions of the parent systems and the
temperature transmitters are:

Case 1 (Figure 1)

The temperature transmitter (TE823) is located on

an emergency black start generator (BSG) only used
to provide power to start a series of Gas Turbine
alternators. The BSG is only required in emergency
situations, about once per year when a black out
occurs due to other causes. The transmitter itself
provides temperature information to an operators
display as well as triggering a high temperature
alarm, and/or BSG shutdown. A 4 hr test run of the
generators (failure finding task) is performed weekly
to ensure that the units are operative. Temperature
control in the diesel engine is controlled by a

Incr

temperature control valve not linked to the temperature

transmitter set to 79oC and a check that the EDG is
operating at this temperature is included in the test run
check sheet.

Case 2 (Figure 2)

The temperature transmitter (TIT675) is part of a nitrogen

plant essential to the operation of a high capacity gas
compression station. Failure to provide dry nitrogen will
result in shutdown of the gas compressors and heavy
financial losses. The plant will shut down if the temperature
moves out of a target range and the transmitters function is
to transmit the gas temperature to the control system.
Figure 1 - TE823 temperature transmitter
controlling diesel engine shutdown (Standby Application)

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Whats Missing in
A high level analysis of Case 1 shows:
Your Tool Bag?

A functional failure of the temperature

transmitter, or the temperature control valve
would be evident during test runs as the
temperature display would not read 79oC. If this
is the case the technician should investigate
if it is a fault with the temperature transmitter,
temperature control valve, or other issue
causing overheating. As such there is no need
to perform any formal calibration or inspection
on this device as the failure of the transmitter is
evident during weekly testing.
Figure 2TIT675 - High temperature transmitter in process application

A high level analysis of Case 2 shows:

A small drift of the temperature transmitter

output could cause a false trip as it may cause
the temperature output to cause an alarm even
though there is no actual issue with the actual
temperature. Such a output drift might cause a
plant shutdown and cause high financial loss. In
this case it is wise to perform regular calibration
and inspection as per the template.
In summary it can be seen that despite two
assets being equal it is important to understand
its function and effect of functional failure in an
assets operating context to develop a suitable
maintenance plan.

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RBI

An Introduction To
Risk Based Inspection
[email protected] www.ReliaSoft.com

Risk based inspection (RBI) is a method in which assets are identified

for inspection based on their associated risks as opposed to a
predetermined fixed time interval.
In other words, it is a prioritizing and planning tool, predominantly used
in the oil and gas industries, which aids in the identification of high
priority items (i.e., those with high risk) vs. low priority items (i.e., those
with low risk).
This approach allows the users/owners of the assets to maximize the
effectiveness of their inspection resources by concentrating them on
those assets that pose the highest risk and not wasting resources on
assets that are, in essence, inconsequential.
In this article, we describe the basic concepts of risk based inspection,
and then provide an example using ReliaSofts new RBIsoftware tool.

Basic Concepts

In risk based inspection, risk is calculated as the product of the probability of

failure and the consequence associated with a failure:
Risk = Probability of Failure x Consequence of Failure
Risk is usually considered a better measure for prioritization than either the
probability of failure alone or the consequence of failure alone, because it is
more descriptive of the actual damage/loss caused. As an example, if you
need to prioritize two assets where one asset has a high probability of failure
but low consequence of failure, and the other asset has a low probability of
failure but a high consequence of failure, the analysis would yield completely
opposite results if you considered only one factor or the other. The use of risk
eliminates this ambiguity.

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1819 November 2013

1819 November 2013
www.sirfrt.com.au/emsnf
www.sirfrt.com.au/emsnf

Bayview on the Park Hotel, 52 Queens Melbourne

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Contact Melissa Cameron on 0410 439 126, or Jeff Naylor on 0409 535 239
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practitioners to share knowledge about safe,
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reliable & cost effective management of electrical
assets in an unforgettable annual event
assets in an unforgettable annual event
with energy filled presentations, discussions,
with energy filled presentations, discussions,
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As an organisation that supports leading

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People who would greatly benefit from atPeople who would greatly benefit from attending this national forum are Electrical
tending this national forum are Electrical
Maintenance Managers, Supervisors, Team
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www.pwc.com.au/assetpartnership

The probability of failure (POF) is determined using applicable damage

factors (mechanisms), a generic failure frequency and a management
system factor:
POF(t) = 1 e-gff x FMS x Df(t)
where:
gff is the generic failure frequency.
FMS is the management system factor.
Df(t) is the overall damage factor.
The generic failure frequency is based on industry averages of
equipment failure. The management system factor is a measure of how
well the management and labor force of the plant is trained to handle
both the day-to-day activities of the plant and any emergencies that may
arise due to an accident. The overall damage factor is the combination
of the various damage factors that are applicable to the particular piece
of equipment being analyzed.
The consequence of failure is calculated as the combined values of
the consequences for damage to the failed equipment, damage to the
surrounding equipment, loss of production, the cost due to personnel
injury and the damage to the environment.
The consequence of failure can include both a financial consequence
(FC) and an area (safety) consequence (CA).
FC = FCcmd + FCaffa + FCprod + FCinj + FCenviron
CA = max (CAequip, CApersonnel)
FCcmd is the financial consequence to failed equipment.
FCaffa is the financial consequence to surrounding equipment.
FCprod is the financial consequence due to production downtime.
FCinj is the financial consequence due to personnel injury.
FCenviron is the financial consequence due to environmental
damage/cleanup.
CAequip is the area consequence to surrounding equipment.
CApersonnel is the area consequence to nearby personnel.
For further detail on calculating probability of failure and/or consequence
of failure, please consult API RP 581. [1]
10

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Tough times demand

smart solutions

PwCs The Asset Partnership team offers practical support, mentoring

and training in asset management, reliability and maintenance.
With our partnering approach we deliver real solutions on how to
maximise the sustainable capability of your existing assets, reduce
costs and risk associated with owning and operating assets and how to
optimise your capital outlay.
Trust in PwCs The Asset Partnership to deliver solutions that add value
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Principal
02 8266 0503
[email protected]

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02 8266 0036
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02 8266 0442
[email protected]

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Example

Risk analysis on
a proposed high
pressure pipe
A small town wants to do a
risk analysis on a proposed
high pressure 24-inch pipe
carrying crude oil for which
the oil transportation company is willing to pay a rent of $500,000 in advance for the
next 20 years. The company will also perform an inspection on the pipe halfway through
the rental period. Since the city is self-insured and is not willing to take any financial
chances, the city council would like to know if the $500,000 offsets the possible risk
associated with the pipe.
The city has requested the required information from the oil transportation company to
conduct its own RBI analysis of the pipe.

24-Inch Pipe Specifications

The pipe is composed of carbon
steel.
The heavy crude, which
contains 100ppm H2S, is being
pumped through at an operating
temperature of 25 Celsius with a
pressure of 4.5 MPa.
The only two damage
mechanisms expected are
general thinning and external
corrosion.

11

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For their analysis, the city assumed that the effectiveness of the performed
inspections was average. All other property values were estimated based on
other similar pipes used elsewhere.
The city based the financial portion of the consequences on the current
population density and the property values around the proposed pipe area.
For the initial estimate, the city did not take into account inflation or any
possible losses associated with property value changes, nor possible
resident dislike of the pipeline across city land.

Results

LogbooksOnline

The analyzed results show that in case of a containment failure of the

pipe, the expected cost associated with a failure would be almost $4.9
million. This far exceeds the $500,000 payment to be received. However,
the probability that a failure will occur within 20 years under normal

Web-based logbooks are the way of the future

and OMCS International is leading the way,
offering users a configurable system which can
be used for any form of operation power, water,
pipelines, transport, oil and gas, mining etc...
Imagine the capability to design
your own logbooks... for every
part of your business... without the
costly overhead of professional
developers to keep it up to date as
your requirements change!

Using LogbooksOnline
is like using a whiteboard.
Users can create their
own fields, data types,
calculations, trigger points
and trigger functions!
Get a grip on your
production performance
with the LogbooksOnline
web based solution...
For more LogbooksOnline information visit:
www.omcsinternational.com/downloads/
Production Log DemoV3_r1.pdf

[email protected]
www.ReliabilityAssurance.com
Telephone: +61 3 9315 0330
Facsimile: +61 3 9315 0332

12

AMMJ

LogbooksOnline is a result of over a decade of research across all industry

types. It is a simple and effective tool for improving methods of data collection
and loss reconciliation and is designed to sustain any reliability initiative.
LogbooksOnline lets you produce production run reports with spectacular
graphs which can be printed, e-mailed or embedded into reports.
LogbooksOnline is a module of one of the best reliability assurance software
available, PMO2000.
Production Run
Log Record

Log Book
Entries

Plant
Readings

Downtime
Input Records

Nov 2013

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Supervisor
Instructions

Introduction to the RBI Software

circumstances is estimated to be only 0.7%. Therefore, the expected financial risk is the
product of the two, or a little over $36,000. This is well under the $500,000 payment to be
received.
In terms of a cost analysis of the risk, and not including the potential loss in property
value by having the pipe run across city property, the city council recommended that the
community accept the proposed pipeline as an additional revenue source with minimal risk.

References

[1] American Petroleum Institute, API RP

581 Risk-Based Inspection Technology 2nd ed.,
Washington, D.C.: American Petroleum
Institute, 2008.
This article was first published in the September 2013
issue of Reliability Hotwire

ReliaSofts new RBI software tool has all of the functionality of RCM++ and facilitates risk
based inspection (RBI) analysis for oil & gas, chemical and power plants in adherence
to the principles and guidelines presented in the American Petroleum Institutes
recommendations in the API RP 580 and RP 581 publications, as well as the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers recommendations in the ASME PCC-3-2007 publication.
RBI also includes all of the standard features available in RCM++, such as being able to
perform a functional failure analysis on an item and/or create a DFR planner.
The RBI interface is identical
to RCM++, with the addition
of RBI specific options on the
System Hierarchy tab.
The equipment and component types
that are available for RBI analysis are
currently limited to those addressed API
RP 581. The available equipment types
are shown below.

Each equipment type also has associated

components. For example, the VesselFinFan equipment has the specific
components shown below available for
analysis.

While the system hierarchy can

contain items that are not RBIrelated, those items will be ignored
when performing an RBI analysis.
For example, in the following
picture the system is the hydrogen
generation unit, which has several
items that receive RBI analysis and
several that do not.
Once you create the assets, you
must answer questions and fill out
the relevant properties for the asset
to be analyzed. All of these inputs
are used to create a failure model that determines the probability of failure, and calculates
the consequences of failure. The results also include the recommended inspections, if any,
that should be performed to keep the asset under the maximum allowable risk.
[email protected] www.ReliaSoft.com

13

AMMJ

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The Value Of
Finding Many Root
Causes vs One
Jack Jager

ARMS Reliability

www.apollorootcause.com

14

AMMJ

Australia

The need to find the root cause has often been the
driver of many investigations. Understanding what is
the root cause of a problem is the purpose of many
investigations. However, the concept of root cause
suggests that there is only one, singular cause that is at
the root of any problem.
The root cause concept and how it is applied often
leads to this perception. For example, the statement
What is the root cause of the problem? implies that
there is only a singular root cause for the problem, that
there is only one critical cause that is the instigator.
So what is root cause and how is it defined? It can be
difficult to find a clear and precise definition. This welldefined description reveals something very simplistic
Root Cause can be described as that cause, which if it
were controlled or eliminated would make the problem
go away. Therefore it is the root cause
This is an interesting concept as it can be applied to
a number of causes within a cause and effect chart.
Therefore with a number of causes that can fit this
definition, it can be said that there are many root
causes.
Based on the definition above, a problem doesnt occur
from a single cause. It is a combination of causes that

can trigger a problem. Therefore how do we know

which of these causes is the root cause?
If you were to ask this question to various people,
there would be a number of different observations.
One person may think the root cause is one thing,
while another would consider the root cause to
be something else. So is root cause someones
opinion? It would appear so from this observation.

Lets look at the example below:

What are the causes of a fire? For a fire to occur

there must be certain conditions present. Each of
these conditions are a contributing cause of the fire.
There must be oxygen present
(a conditional cause)
Fuel to burn (a conditional cause)
An ignition source, such as a match or lighter (also
a conditional cause)
All of these causes can exist in harmony with each
other and can do so for some time.
It is only when an action cause occurs, such as the
lighting of a match that the fire will actually occur.
So what is the root cause here?
If we apply the definition provided above for root
cause here, then by eliminating the oxygen, there
would be no fire. Therefore oxygen is a root cause
of the fire.

If you were to remove the combustible material, fuel,

then this too will satisfy the definition requirement. The
problem would not reoccur. Therefore fuel is also the
root cause of the fire.
If you were to also remove all of the ignition sources,
then there would be no possibility of a fire. This too
satisfies the definition requirements. Therefore the
ignition source is the root cause of the fire.
If no match was to be lit, then there would be no fire.
Therefore the lighting of the match must be the root
cause of the fire as well.
Based on this example, there are potentially four root
causes and each of them satisfies the root cause
definition. This can be quite confronting in a sense to
recognise that there are many potential root causes
for a problem. It is, however, liberating too because
now you have many potential corrective actions rather
than just one.
How often have you heard someone ask What is the
root cause of the problem? and you cant control the
problem until you have identified what the root cause
is.
How do we determine which causes to control? In
the fire example, who will determine the control or
controls to put into place? Its unlikely that oxygen will
be eliminated, as this can be a very costly and difficult
process (although we do use this concept in confined
spaces).
Can we control the combustible material? If we were
to eliminate the fuel then would we have an effective
control? This is possible in some cases but not in
others.
What about the ignition sources? If there were no
lighters or matches present or available, then there
would be no fire. Do we have the ability to remove
these?
If we could stop the persons action from occurring
then we would also have controlled the possibility of a
fire happening.

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15

Based on these rationales, which of these

controls should be implemented? Is this
decision governed by certain criteria?
And then the question about what we can
control also comes into play.
So what criteria can we use to determine
our choices?
Money - it needs to be cost effective
Safety - it needs to be safe
Easy - if possible it should be easy to do
Quick - being able to do it quickly has
merit
Doesnt cause other problems at least
not unacceptable problems
Is an ongoing fix and is not a band-aid.
The solution will fix the problem for today
and tomorrow, as well as next week and
next year.and other criteria may also be
considered.
The above criteria are taken into
consideration when making the decision
about which solutions to implement. At
the end of the day, it is important to have
an understanding of the problem and how
many of the causes you need to control to
prevent recurrence.
Did the notion or understanding of what
the root cause is come into consideration
when making the decision about which
solutions to implement? No, therefore
what is the value of identifying root
cause?
In my mind, it is the concept of root cause
that is important. Applying this concept
requires us to understand the problem
before we make decisions about corrective
actions. If we do this and understand the
depth and complexity of a problem, then

AMMJ

we are in the best possible position

to make good decisions about which
corrective actions to implement.
The decision of which solutions to
implement is a choice. It is a choice we
make according to a set of criteria. It
is based on the answers you acquire
when applying the criteria questions that
allow you to be objective in your decision
making process. It is not what you or
what others perceive the root cause to
be, which leads to subjective decision
making.

Conclusion

In many ways the concept of root

cause, whilst being important in the
broader application, is often a misnomer
when used to describe the critical cause
for a unique incident. It is not the only
cause. Other causes must also exist and
they play just as important role as what is
perceived to be the root cause. Without
the other causes being present, the root
cause will have no impact.
At the end of the day it is your choice
about which causes you wish to control.
Therefore it is important to remain
objective in this decision making process,
via utilising a set of criteria, and applying
them to all possible solutions. Let the
answers to the questions determine
what the best solutions are, not your
perception of root cause.
ARMS Reliability are the global partners

and providers of the Apollo Root Cause

Analysis methodology. To view our
worldwide training schedule or to book a
course, visit www.apollorootcause.com

FREE eBook
PART 1: THE FIRST 25 TIPS

101 TIPS & TRICKS TO IMPROVE YOUR

ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
This four part eBook series will
provide you with RCA Tips for:
Gathering information
Assembling the team
Conducting the RCA
Implementing the solutions
Measuring the success of the corrective actions
Advertising your successes
Plus, tips for the RCA facilitator

DOWNLOAD PART 1

PART 2: Tips 26-50 available

for download in next issue.

THE FIRST 25 TIPS

ARMS Reliability are a global partner & provider of the Apollo Root Cause Analysis
Method. The Apollo Root Cause Analysis Method will help you to solve real world
problems faster, more efficiently & effectively every time.

Root Cause Analysis

Reliability Services

Training

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North America

Latin America

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Asia

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Africa

Australia

Criticality Analysis Based

Maintenance
Identifying the best
maintenance strategy for
complex process plants
Kari Saarinen and Shiva Sander Tavallaey ABB Corporate Research
Patrik M. Westerlund ABB AB, Process Automation,
Sweden

16

Changing from a reactive to a preventive

maintenance strategy can yield substantial cost
savings in many sectors of industry. However, in
the process industries, an installation may have
many thousands of maintenance-worthy elements,
rendering a solely preventive maintenance strategy
impractical or even impossible. How then to
determine the optimal maintenance strategy mix
for such situations?
CRIticality-analysis-based Maintenance
(CRIM) optimization introduces a systematic
maintenance planning methodology for identifying
critical equipment and appropriate preventive
maintenance plans, taking into account
environmental and process conditions. The method
utilizes fast criticality assessment of the plant
equipment prior to life-cycle cost analysis.

AMMJ

Deciding on appropriate maintenance strategies in a plant with many thousands of devices (like this
iron ore pelletizing facility) can be tricky. CRIM helps identify appropriate maintenance plans.

The term maintenance optimization touches

on a wide range of approaches from simple
experience-based, rule-of-thumb methods
to complex systematic methods. Examples
of simple methods include run-to-failure
maintenance, appropriate for redundant
equipment and equipment with very low
failure rate; time-based maintenance (TBM),
most effective when the regular overhaul/replacement of the equipment is cheap
compared with the cost of a failure and a
single, known failure mode dominates; and
condition-based maintenance (CBM), which is
most cost efficient for critical equipment.

The more complex approaches include reliability

centered maintenance (RCM), the most thorough
method to determine the right proactive maintenance
approach to use for high system reliability, and total
productive maintenance (TPM), which combines total
quality management and proactive maintenance policies
in order to achieve maximum production efficiency.
RCM is a rather weighty approach and TPM focuses on
maximizing machine throughput, so neither is appropriate
in the context discussed here. However, ABBs CRIM
methodology does fit the bill as it can deliver a costeffective maintenance strategy for the whole plant by
systematically utilizing criticality analysis (CA), life-cycle
cost analysis (LCCA) and lifetime estimates.

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CRIM

The CRIM process (Fig 1) starts with a Criticality Analysis a key process in any
maintenance and reliability method. CA provides the basis for determining the
value of specific equipment and the impact it has on the safety of people, the
environment and the production process. CA also determines the level of attention
that equipment requires in terms of maintenance strategy and tactics.
The second step in the CRIM process is the LCCA, which is performed for critical
objects to show the benefits of using certain maintenance programs for that object.

Criticality analysis

Criticality is a relative measure of the consequences of a failure. Correspondingly,

a criticality assessment includes the quantitative analysis of events & faults and
the ranking of these in order of the seriousness of the fault consequences. In
other words, only the consequences of failures are assessed in this approach;
probabilities of failure are considered later in the LCCA.
With a well-defined process and proper tools, it is possible to cost-effectively
assess thousands of pieces of equipment.
Figure 1

CRIM Process Flow Chart

Input to TBM
programs

Prior to starting the criticality analysis, ABBs facilitator asks the customer to load a list
of all the equipment positions to be analyzed into the CA tool. In the CA team meeting,
the facilitator asks a set of carefully selected questions for each position and, from
the answers, chooses the properly calibrated criticality levels for each of the tabulated
criticality factors. These factors will have been previously identified in discussions with
the maintenance and process -experts. The final criticality level that is auto-matically
generated for each asset takes downtime, production response time, capacity, quality,
environment, safety and energy losses caused by equipment failure and eventual
secondary effects all into account. From all this, a CA report is generated.

Life-cycle cost analysis

LCCA is a collective activity comprising many kinds of analysis aimed at calculating

the costs and profitability of a system or piece of equipment over its life span,
including research and development, construction, operation, maintenance and
disposal (Fig 2).
Figure 2

- Base line
systems/alternatives
- Optimization

The most
desirable
alternative

(cont./periodic)

Reporting

Life cycle cost analysis {LCCA) and

maintenance optimization

17

Equipment
position specific
analysis

Criticality
analysis

AMMJ

- Scope definition
- Evaluation criteria definiton
(affordability, system
effectiveness, acceptable
risk level)
- Operational philosophy
development

Iteration

Input to CBM
programs
Equipment to be
monitored

Spare part
location analysis

An LCC Concept Map (Ref 1)

Life time
models

- Sensitivity analysis
- Uncertainty analysis
Problem
- Cost drivers
Definition
identification
Cost
- Decision
elements
Evaluation
definition
Cost profile
development
- Model run
- Cost treatment
(inflation, time value
of money, taxes and
depreciation)

Priority lists for

reactive
maintenance

LCC

System
modeling

Data
Collection

- Actual data preparation

- Estimation of data

- Cost breakdown
structure
development
- Cost categories
definiton

- Availability
- Maintenance and
inspection
- Logistics
- Production
regularity
- Risk (hazard,
warranty)
- Human error
- Industrial
ecology

LCC analysis

Nov 2013

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18

LCCA starts with the problem definition process

as shown in the figure and proceeds clockwise
in an iterative fashion until all the criteria defined
in the first process are satisfied.
In the CRIM case, the problem is to determine
the minimum long-term average maintenance
costs per unit time calculated for reactive,
time-based and condition-based maintenance
strategies.
The LCCA concept applied here only
considers those costs that depend on the
selected maintenance strategy for that piece
of equipment. Thus, the only capital cost
considered is the specific equipment cost
required for CBM. Accordingly, there is no
capital cost related to the reactive maintenance
strategy. Operational cost is divided between
fixed annual cost and costs due to reactive
or preventive maintenance actions. The fixed
annual cost includes only costs due to condition
monitoring.
The difference between production losses due
to equipment failure and those due to preventive
maintenance action is the key element in the
analysis.
Proactive or preventive maintenance is initiated
based on predictions of maintenance need and
its definition does not include the diagnostics
stage. If the process is well-designed and
preplanned, the production downtime should be
much shorter than in the reactive process. Also,
any necessary materials can be ordered before
the failure occurs so that they are ready for use
when needed.
Thus, the average maintenance cost during a
period is a sum of different maintenance costs,
each weighted by the frequency of the particular

maintenance type. The frequencies and the

-total number of maintenance actions depend
on the selected maintenance strategy. These
frequencies are estimated by lifetime models
that incorporate the operational conditions of
the maintenance objects. These conditions
temperature, dirtiness, loading, etc. are
assessed during the position -specific analysis
of the critical equipment described above.
The next step in the analysis is to use the
lifetime and cost models to formulate the
life-cycle cost (LCC) model for each of the
maintenance strategies. In one real-life TBM
example, where the component is replaced after
it reaches its planned preventive replacement
age or at failure time, whichever comes first, the
optimum replacement time is found to be 2.8
years, which gives an LCC of $310,000 per year
(Figure 3).
LCCA can also be applied to optimize spare
part location by calculating different LCCs for a
selection of these locations.
The impact of changes in input parameters on
the result can be examined
by sensitivity and uncertainty analysis. Varying
the input parameters over a certain range
can show the impact of the major factors and
tradeoffs on cost.

Figure 3

CRIM figures

A two-day CA at a pilot customer site took in

698 pieces of equipment from two process lines.
The calibration and introduction took about half
a day. Assessment of the first 100 units took
the remaining half of the first day. Afterward, the
speed of assessment varied between 50 and
100 units per hour. The CA feeds the LCCA and
the tool lists -final costs calculated by the LCCA
for identified critical components (Figure 4).

Figure 4

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Figure 6

Figure 5

19

All the LCC results calculated for one object, eg,

a gearbox, can be summarized (Figure 5). The
dashed lines in the figure show the uncertainties
of different LCCA estimates. In this case, there is
an optimum time interval for the TBM strategy to
compete with corresponding CBM strategies. On
the other hand, it is shown that a TBM that does not
occur during the scheduled maintenance breaks
does not have any minimum and is more expensive
than reactive maintenance. Sensitivity analysis is
usually performed to calculate the effect on the LCC
result of a small positive or negative change in every
parameter value.
The spare part list generated by the CA tool is used
for further optimization of spare part locations using
LCCA.
A comparison of the calculated LCC for the listed
objects with two different assumptions about the
spare part locations namely, logistic delays of more
than one day versus one hour shows that, in some
cases, the LCC can be decreased drastically just by
moving the spare part closer to the equipment, or by
increasing the availability of the spare part.

Furthermore, changing
the location of the spare
part may directly affect the
criticality value calculated
in the CA tool a decrease
from the highest value of five
to the noncritical value two was -observed in
the example (Figure 6).
The consequences of such a decrease of
criticality value can be seen in the change
of LCC6. The corresponding spare part cost
used in the calculation is only a fraction of the
LCC cost.

CRIM solution

would be appropriate during the plant design phase or as

part of the factory acceptance test. Moreover, it is of vital
importance that the process involves expertise from all
fields.
Perhaps the strongest endorsement of the CRIM approach
was the customers comment, Can we afford not to do
CRIM analysis for the whole plant?

Authors

Kari Saarinen and Shiva Sander Tavallaey

ABB Corporate Research, Vsters, Sweden
[email protected]
[email protected]
Patrik M. Westerlund
ABB AB, Process Automation, Mining Umea, Sweden
[email protected]

CRIM goes a long way to solve the plant

owners conundrum of finding an optimum
mixture of predictive, preventive and runReferences
to-failure maintenance strategies for the
[1] Y. Kawauchi and M. Rausand. (1999).
thousands of pieces of equipment in his plant.
Life cycle cost analysis in oil and chemical process
In the pilot site, by choosing an appropriate
industries. http://www.ntnu.no/ross/reports/lcc.pdf
CBM strategy and by applying good condition
Article first published in ABB Review 2/13
monitoring methods for critical pump valves
and bearings,
LCC savings of
$620,000 per year
were identified.
Do you run a complex erp but still
One main finding
publish Data in a spreaDsheet?
of the pilot study is
mainstaysoftware.com.au
that CRIM analysis

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Learn to See the

Future of Your
Operation, Plant
and Equipment
Mike Sondalini Lifetime Reliability Solutions Global
Web: www.lifetime-reliability.com

21

Learn to See the Future of Your Operations,

Plant and Equipment. Run charts and
distribution curves predict future performance.
Use them to understand the behaviour of
your operation, plant and equipment and
see what that means for your business. Your
failure run charts and consequent distribution
curves reflect the effects of past operational
and maintenance policies and practices.
They also signal your business future. You
will get the same performance as you got
in the past unless you change operational
and maintenance management policies
and practices to those that produce more
successful outcomes. Read how simple, fast
and easy it is to predict your future operating
and business success.

There are techniques for observing and

forecasting the performance of systems like
whole production processes (A production plant
is a system of machines.), and even entire
businesses (A firm is a system of processes and
people.)
A common reliability prediction method for
systems is the Crow/AMSAA (Army Materiel
Systems Analysis Activity) plot used to show if
improvements are occurring. These plots use
past events to chart the incident dates and build
a cumulative log-log graph of the occurrences
across time. The points usually form a line and
angle of the line tells if the rate of the events
happening is increasing (upward inclined) or
decreasing (downward inclined). The assumption
made is that the past is a valid representation of
the near future. If that assumption is incorrect a
Crow/AMSAA plot is not trustworthy.
The same technique can be used to confirm
the cause of the behaviour it reflects. When you
make one change and keep everything else
constant for several cycles of use the angle will
show the impact of the change.

There are two other very handy and

simple techniques for analysing
system behaviourthe run chart
and the failure distribution curves
developed from the run chart data.
Figure 1 is extracted from
W. Edwards Demings book Out of
the Crisis. It is a run chart of the
number of fire events each month
in an industrial operation during the
1980s. The run chart shows that every year fires happened.
Year after year they recurred. Each year was predictably
much like those before it. Unless the causes of fires were
prevented you can expect 1986 to be similar to the prior five
years.
The run chart of fire events confirms a persistent problem
exists. The fire incidents plotted in Figure 1 are so repetitive
that it is clear a common cause problem(s) is built into the
way the company operates. They make fires as one of their
productsyou can guarantee the place will burn numerous
times each year. This site must have been endless trouble
for its people and management to operate.
Figure 1 Plot of the number of fires per
month in a busines

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Figure 2

Probability Distribution Plot of Number of Fires in Months with Fires

The IET/IAM Asset

Management Conference
27 - 28 November 2013 | Etc. Venues: St Pauls, London, UK
The Asset Management Conference is annually attended by over 250 asset management professionals from around the world representing a wide range
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22

Within the run chart is hidden

information on the probability of the
next fire event, which you extract using
distribution curves. Of the 58 months of
data there was one or more fires in 38
of them. The probability is 38/58 (0.66
chance, or odds of 2 to 1) that there will
be a fire next month.
Figure 2 is a distribution plot the
frequency of fires per month in the
months with fires. In the 38 months with
fires there were a total of 68 fires. There
was one fire per month during 24 of the
38 months. That makes a 24/38 = 0.63
chance of just one fire in months with
fires.
There is a conditional probability of 0.63
x 0.66 = 0.42 that next month will have
just one fire. Five months had two fires,
which reflects a 5/38 = 0.13 chance of
2 fires in months with fires. There is a
conditional chance of 0.66 x 0.13 = 0.09,
odds of about 1 in 11, that you will be

fighting at least two fires next month.

Three months had four fires (3/38 = 0.08
chance of 4 fires in months with fires),
five months had 4 fires (5/38 = 0.13
chance of 4 fires) and one month had
five fires (1/38 = 0.03 chance of 5 fires).
No months had six fires, but past history
tells you the possibility existed that it
would happen one day.
The same probability information could
have been arrived at by taking the
respective areas under the plotted lines
in Figure 2.
There is still more information in the
monthly fires run chart. Note the
frequency and density of occurrence
of those months with one fire versus
the density and frequency of months
with three or more fires. The far
fewer months with three or more fires
compared to those with one fire implies
that something significantly different
happened in the months with many fires.

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During the investigation on the cause

of the fires you would be looking for
why there was such a difference.
Another example of using run charts
is shown in Figure 3. The chart shows
the history of equipment breakdowns
in a plastic pipe manufacturing
business. Each point is the
production downtime hours caused
by equipment breakdowns per week.
Once you create the timeline of the
weekly number of breakdowns, or the
weekly hours spent on breakdowns
(as in the plot shown) you can see
how stable the process of breakdown
generation is in a business.
Notice that every week there were
breakdowns. Some weeks were a
complete disaster, and some were
not so bad; only a few production
hours lost.
Figure 3

The results in the run chart fall within a

normal distribution. It has an average
number of 31 hours lost weekly to
breakdowns. The upper control limit is 90
hours. The least number of breakdowns
can only be zero, so the lower limit is 0.
The fact that all results are within three
sigma limits of a normal distribution tells
us that the process is stable.
This implies a steady process exists
within the operation to create those
pointsyou can mathematically predict
the future breakdown performance of
this operation will be 31 production
hours lost per week plus or minus three
sigma. This is another business in which
failure is normal practisethey too make
breakdowns as one of their products. It
is often a surprise to people to learn that
a business can be designed to destroy
its own machines and prevent its own
success.

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23

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Figure 5
Figure 4

Effect of Breakdowns on Production

Figure 6

24

Plant Outage Durations

Figure 4 is the frequency distribution curve for the same lost

production hour data. It starts to look like a bell-shaped normal
distribution curve but suddenly there is a discontinuity. This company
has two types of breakdownsthe usual and the severe. The lost
time from their usual breakdowns average about 25 to 40 hours a
week (roughly one sigma spread around the average), but from time
to time they get breakdowns that are catastrophic on production.
In Figure 5 you can see a run chart for five years of production
outage history. Look at the density of the dots. There were years
of frequent trouble and times of less. For each point a cause is
recorded. The last two years show fewer minor trips and some of the
best Uptimes. The reduction in density means things are improving.
Note the stratification of dots; many outages less than 30 hours and
few above. The periods of uninterrupted production, i.e. the times
between outages (the Uptime) were identified and Figure 6 is a
distribution curve of their frequency. The shape of the curve tells a
lot. There are dozens of short duration running periods less than 10
days long. Nineteen Uptime periods from 10 to 20 days duration.
Thirty four uptime periods longer than 20 days. What the company
wants is for all uptime durations to be between 60 and 70 days. It
has no hope to ever reach that goal using its existing operating and
maintenance policies and practices.

AMMJ

Distribution of Uninterrupted Production Day

The whole area under the drawn curve in

Figure 6 is the probability of plant Uptime.
You can estimate by eye that the area
between 0 and 20 days is larger than the
area from 20 to 77 days by about twice as
much. It is two times more likely the next
plant outage will be less than 20 days away
than it will be more than 20. And it looks
about even chance an outage will happen in
less than 10 to 12 days rather than longer.
It is clear from the hump at 2 days that its
causes are a big problem for the business
with random trips regularly stopping
production. It would be valuable to analyse
the reasons for the outages in the hump

to learn what causes make the company so many

stoppages.
The fact that the fitted curve matches the outage
data so well is terrifying for a companys managers.
Its closeness-of-fit is evidence that the outages
are occurring with near mathematical sureness.
This operations production outages are so
predictability that you can estimate them with
close approximation. You can say with certainty
this companys future will be much the same as
the past unless its management makes massive
changes that force longer periods of uptime to
purposely happen in their operation. To get the
Uptime distribution curve to move to between 60
and 70 days involves a massive reliability paradigm

Nov 2013

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Organised by

25

shift and the adoption of true reliability

creation behaviours starting in the
Boardroom and going right down to the
Shopfloor.
To do useful root cause analysis of your
distribution curves it is vital to know the
reason for each data point. Once you
have a distribution of points with known
causes you can identify the impact
of each type of event. If the same
cause keeps occurring, then the total
business-wide losses made by it will
justify starting an improvement project
to solve the problem. Once a problem
causing stoppage or failure is removed
the time and moneys that were once lost
respectively become new Uptime and
new operating profits. It is well worth the
effort to keep full and complete records
of all your production and maintenance
problemsthey will return solid gold to
you in future.
Once you have historic base-line
distribution curves you have a means
to monitor your operations future
performance. Each change you make
will produce a new performance
effect observed in the monitoring key
performance indicators (KPI) you use.
When you superimpose the KPI results
after the change onto the historic
distribution curve you get immediate
feedback on the practical performance
impact from the change. If the plotted
point after the change did not clearly
produce a better result than in the past,
you need a better solution. This is a
simpler and quicker method to detect
the effect of a change compared to use
of Crow-AMSAA plots.

Your historic run charts are more than

simply indicators of the dates when
you had problems in your plant or
with your equipment. They contain
knowledge of the future likely behaviour
of your operation. That behaviour is the
cumulative effects resulting from your
past and current lifecycle, operational
and maintenance management policies
and practices. The natural behaviour of
your operation is seen in the distribution
curves generated from your run chart
data. Whatever you have been doing in
the past is truthfully reflected in the effects
it produced, which are shown in your
distribution curves. If you do not like what
you see you must quickly stop doing what
is causing your distributions and instead
start doing those things that bring the
success you want.
You should make your distribution curves
part of your monthly management KPI
charts. They are especially powerful in
identifying the cost impact of current
practices on your future productivity and
financial performance. They let you see
the causes of your problems and what
those problems will do to your company.
They help you to justify making serious
and deep improvements to your operating
and maintenance processes and
practices so you rapidly lift profitability
with effective solutions. You can even
guarantee your operation will keep getting
the same results in future.
Mike Sondalini
Lifetime Reliability Solutions Global
Web: www.lifetime-reliability.com

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Fault Diagnosis of Hot Metal

Ladle Systems Using Infrared
Thermography
D. Azad
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Aditya Institute of Technology and
Management, Tekkali, A.P., India
*Corresponding Author E-mail: [email protected]
Dr V.R.K Raju
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National
Institute of Technology Warangal, Andhra Pradesh,
India.
Dr K. Ramji
Professor and Tequip Nodal Officer, Department
of Mechanical Engineering, A.U.C.E. (A), Andhra
University, Vishakapatnam, A.P., India

26

Thermal Imaging is a predictive technology

available to thermograph the hot metal ladle
shell area and measures shell temperature,
and also useful to analyse the pattern of
refractory erosion. It discusses the innovative
and practical method for assessment of
vessel from zero age to till its discard. With
the available Infrared thermography (IRT)
data and numerical simulation data norms
have been developed for acceptable high
temperature ranges depending on the age of
the ladle. Data from these thermal images is
analyzed to take decision for continuing the
ladle for further use/discard. This predictive
methodology has helped in preventing
catastrophic failures and in ascertaining the
life expectancy of the vessel.

Introduction
Steel Container lined with layers of refractory material
is used to transport molten metal( pig iron/ steel) at a
temperature above 1450C, from one process area to
other in any steel plant. Steel container is expected
to be in service for quite a few cycles of operation.
Refractory material erodes and degrades with usage
and leads to a high shell temperature and may lead
to catastrophic failure of vessel by forming a hole
and draining of entire molten metal without any prior
indication. Hence the prediction of these vessels is
important to ensure process reliability and safety of
both personnel and equipment.
IRT has played an important role in the refractory lined
equipment. Many process industries like petrochemical
Industries, Steel industries, Oil and refineries etc.
use the refractory lined equipment and these are
categorized as a heavyweight industry with high
investment cost, operational cost, maintenance cost,
along with high requirement for safety.
Any problem found in refractory lined equipment should
be detected earlier since breakdown of equipment will
affect other equipments and men at work or even the
entire operation of the plant. Maintenance should be
scheduled properly and regularly because shutdown
or start-up equipment cannot be done suddenly as it is
related to operational cost.

Fig-1 .Cross sectional view of molten

metal carrying vessel (Ladle)

Refractory lined
equipment with
high process
temperatures above
10000C is a hazardous site; therefore entering this site
should adhere to the safety standard.
Because of these conditions, IRT with its remote
access capability have more advantageous. Inspection
of refractory lined equipments is one of the popular
applications of IRT. This is a passive thermography
application. Blast furnace, molten metal carrying vessel
(Ladle), Lagged Pipes, cracking furnace, boiler and
incinerator etc. are the equipments that use refractory
materials in their construction.
Integrated steel plants make molten steel from basic
raw material using blast furnace and basic oxygen
furnace technologies. Cross section of the ladle is
shown in Fig 1. The molten metal is poured into the
vessel and drained from bottom hole at a required
process point by opening a sliding gate arrangement.
Depending on the refractory material used and process
conditions, the ladle is expected to last for few tens
of operations. The data collected from a specific steel
plant, indicates highest ladle life of 90 heats. (One
filling and one empty operation).
Refractory engineering has made tremendous progress
to increase the life of lining and also reduce wall
thickness, so that the useful volume of the vessel
increases. Different grades and materials are being

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Fig-2. Thermograph of Ladle

Fig-3. Thermograph of Torpedo Ladle

used for making refractory bricks, mostly dolomite

bonded with tar/pitch etc., are used in steel plants to
increase various mechanical and thermal properties of
refractory bricks.
Refractory material erodes with usage, since the
chemical action of the molten metal is inevitable due to
reduction process of the molten metal and basicity of the
slag generated during the process.

Infrared thermography basic concepts and

literature review

27

The output data captured by a thermal camera is

in the form of temperature values. Thermal camera
manufacturers usually have their own software to read
this data and display them as a thermal image. When
converting temperature values into thermal image, a
pseudo-coloring or false-coloring technique [3] used. The
difference in temperature can be imaged and measured
using an infrared camera. The recorded visual image is a
thermogram or thermal scan.
Essentially this device captures electromagnetic
spectrum within infrared bands (0.78 1000 m), a
thermal image is a function of radiated energyof an
inspected object (Kaplan, 1993) [4].The energy emitted by
a surface at a given temperature is the spectral radiance
and is defined by Plancks Law [3]. Surface temperature
distribution can thus be used to detect thermal
anomalies. A thermal anomaly is defined as a thermal
pattern of a surface that varies from a uniform color or
tone when viewed with an infrared imaging system.
The SW camera is best suited for warmer objects
(Maldague, 2001)5].Based on how the thermogram is
produced, there are two types of IRT: active and passive
thermography.
In case of an Active thermography[6].an external heat
source is applied when capturing thermogram. One

common heat source is a flash lamp or pulse

generator. In a normal condition, the temperature
gradient between the defective and non defective
(sound) area is undistinguishable. Immediately
after applying the heat flash, the infrared thermal
camera can record the difference between these
two areas.
Active thermography is divided into simple and
complex. In simple AT the approach is one of
applying heat and looking for a defining delta T on
the surface of a target.
Complex active thermography generally employs
one or more requirements for time, intensity,
sequence synching, heat generation/application
and temperature data/view in correlation with
observed Delta Ts on the targets surface. The
additional features of complex AT[7] allow its use in
material irregularities that otherwise might not be
visible in simple AT. The additional features may
also provide more definition, depth and site detail.
Passive thermography[5], no external heat source
is applied when capturing the Thermogram since
the temperature difference between defective
and sound area is so obvious already. Passive
thermography is usually employed to a hot
inspected object.

Passive Infrared thermography is one of the

techniques for Condition based maintenance
.Among others, advantage of this technique lies
in its contact less, large area of inspection in
less time and easy to interpret thermal image
and remote inspection is possible. Infrared
Thermography has been successfully applied
to the areas of mechanical[8], electrical[9],
,building & structures[12], medical diagnosis[13],
petrochemical[10][11] material testing[14], Industries
like paper[15], Landmine Detection[16],Steel
plant[17], power plants[18], refineries[19] etc.

Thermal imaging of Refractory System

The basic purpose of the refractory is to with
hold the process heat. Any degradation of
refractory material will allow the heat transfer
to the outer surface, thereby increasing the
surface temperature. Mapping of the whole
surface gives the picture of hot-zones/spots.
These hot-zones/spots may be inferred as loss
of energy/ damaged refractory. Steel making
process involves handling of molten metal at
many places which is done through open top
(Fig 2) and torpedo ladles (Fig 3). Thermography
helped in better ladle management by not
only identifying hot spot. But also has given
confidence to the maintenance staff to take a call
on condition of ladle.

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Case study

28

Equipment:
LMMM Furnace - 2,
Capacity:
200T/hr
Material size:
250x320mmx5.5-6.6Mt.
Fuel:
Mixed Gas.
No. Of burners: 60
There are two furnaces for reheating blooms, with
double row charging. The walls of the furnace are
lined with refractory, mainly Precast-pre fired, high
Alumina, Fireclay, and Alumina castable & ceramic
paper. The burners are located on Roof top, Bottom &
in the tunnel. Furnace is divided into six temperature
zones with varying temperatures where the billets are
gradually heated up to 12000 C.
The furnace is broadly having three areas namely
charging area where billets are charged, Central
bull nose which is the central part of furnace and
discharge bull nose where the reheated blooms are
discharged. During regular inspection it was observed
that there was a crack at central bull nose area inside
furnace.
Thermography of the furnace revealed high
temperatures at some places of central bull nose
(> 6000 C). However on furnace 1 it was below
3500 C with furnace temperature of 12000 C. It was
decided to reline the central bull nose area. Even
after re- lining the furnace, temperatures have not
reduced.
There was a steady increase in temperatures in
this area during the heating up of the furnace.
Temperature of central bull nose crossed 5000 C With
furnace temperature of 8000 C only. During the root
cause analysis study it was found that gaps are being
formed in between refractory bricks and hot fumes
along with flames are leaking through these gaps.
These gaps are developed because of the beam on
which brackets, carrying refractory bricks are housed
has sagged.

Numerical simulation of Hot metal Ladle

During the running of furnace these gaps are
widening and resulting in leakage of flame which is
contributing to further sagging of beam. A survey was
done and it was found that sagging of 55mm was
observed.
This is causing disturbance in positioning brackets,
which in turn is leading to gaps during heating of
furnace. This phenomenon is intensifying with every
stop & start of furnace. Since the changing of central
beam is a major job and requires shutdown of furnace
for at least a month which will reduce the production
of LMMM by half. Hence it was decided to run the
furnace till next capital repair, thermography is taken
as a predictive tool to prolong eliminated by patching
them with suitable refractory material. There by
limiting the furnace top temperature to less than 3700
C. Hence the sagging of the main column is also
restricted to 30 mm since the generation of flames is
eliminated.

At very high temperature, refractory become

more and more porous, allowing the hot
materials inside to attack the chemistry of
the refractory. Over the time, this attack
reduces the surface strength of the refractory
and causes their melting temperatures to be
lowered which may then cause the spalling.
Spalling is defined as the breaking or cracking
of refractory brick in service, to such an extent
that pieces are separated or fall away, leaving
new surfaces of the brick exposed
In Fig-4, the defective area or hot spots are
indicated with bright colour in thermograph.
The hot spot temperature is around 408.90C,
these temperatures are very critical and signs
to refractory failure. These cracks will make the
heat loss by conduction through the furnace
walls and then by radiation and convection from
outside the surface,

Fig-4 IR thermographs of Ladle for various positions

Celsius
750.6 336.4
300.0
250.0
200.0
150.0
100.0
-17.1

50.4

Camera
336.4

Spot 3
325.9
Spot 6
320.9

Spot 4
334.6
Spot 2
328.1

Spot 5
331.6

Celsius
750.6 409.0
300.0
200.0
100.0
-17.1

44.1

Spot 1
408.9

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i. Discretizing the governing equation using

Finite Difference method.
ii. Defining the boundary conditions
iii. Initializing the temperatures at the internal
grid points.
iv. Solving the Finite Difference Equation at
all internal grid points using old values at the
neighboring points.
v. Checking for the convergence.
vi. If convergence is achieved then final
solution is obtained else update the values
of the internal grid points with newly
calculated values and go to step iv and
repeat till convergence.

Results and Discussion

29

Uniform wear
In the beginning computation has been carried
out for uniform wear. This analysis was carried out
using 2D code. In this computation first the heat
flux was calculated when there is no wear of the
original block (using the properties of the original
object). Then putting Dirichlet boundary condition
on the inner side i.e. inner side temperature has

200mm 2.630C /mm,200-220mm 4.180C /mm, 220230mm 6.50C /mm,230-245mm 13.60C /mm of wear
It has been observed that on the outer surface near
the slot position the temperature is maximum where
as the temperature decreases as one move away from
the slot. The peak temperature on the outer surface
increases as the slot size increases either in width or
depth. The surface temperature variation with height
for different depth size slots is shown in Fig-6. For
the same size of defect, if slot depth increases T (T
defect area T sound area) increases, for slot depth
150 mm T= 820C, for slot depth 180 mm T= 1260C
and for slot depth 200mm T=1660C,
Fig-5. Ladle wall maximum temperature with defect depth
variation for a uniform slot
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0

Temperature (0C)

Algorithm of present analysis

been assigned a predefined value which is used to

calculate the heat flux. On the outer wall Neumann
boundary condition was imposed which is equal to the
heat flux calculated earlier. The variation of surface
temperature for different values of uniform wear has
been computed.
As expected there is a rise of surface temperature as
the wear magnitude increases. Computation has been
carried out for different wear values with an increment
of 5 mm. The variation of temperature with wear is
linear and from the computed values intermediate
values can be interpolated. The variation of outer
surface temperature with uniform wear of inner
refractory material is determined.
For the wear of 45mm the maximum surface
temperature on the ladle would be 4260C,
for uniform wear, rise of 50C of surface
temperature per each mm of wear
The ladle surface temperatures are
estimated by introducing the deferent defects
in the refractory wall and by the obtained
results variations of surface temperatures for
the various modes of defects are plotted and
explained in subsequent sections.
Uniform slot Axis symmetric
Next 2D computation has been carried out
for the
slab with a rectangular slot of 20mm height
on
inner side. Since the slot is on inner side, the
surface temperature on the surface of the
slot is equal to the inner surface temperature.
On the outer surface constant
heat flux boundary condition is used as
calculated previously. Computation has
been carried out for different depths of the
slots are shown in Fig-5. Slopes obtained
are 60mm depth 0.310C /mm, 60-120mm
0.850C /mm,120-170mm 1.590C /mm,170Ladle surface temperature (0C)

Another unwanted possibility is the refractory

failure which can cause catastrophic equipment
damage, unscheduled or early turn-around and
pose serious safety concerns for employees. By
considering all these possibilities, it is critical to
know current condition of the furnace walls and
early warning of refractory breakdown indicated
by hotspot or abnormal temperature distribution at
certain location.
By mapping the abnormal temperature data with
the numerical simulation data failure and condition
can be predicted. Hot metal ladle modeled and
CFD techniques applied to know the ladle surface
thermal data.

50

100

150

200

250

Defect depth in Refractory (mm)

Fig 6 Variation of surface temperature with defect

depth variation for a uniform slot
450
400
350

Sd150

Sd180

300
250
200

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

Ladle height (m)

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300

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Sd200

Fig-8.

Operators monitoring chart to know the

condition of the Ladle

Ladle surface
temperature (0C)

Fig-7. Variation of Temperature with crack

propogation across the refractory wall
400
300
200
100
0

Sound Area
Defective Area

50

100

150

200

250

300

DeltaT (TdefTsound)

Defective Length across the refractory wall (mm)

30

Uniform stepped slot Axis symmetric

Next 2D computation has been carried out for the slab with a
rectangular slot of 100mm height on inner side with a step of
20mm height to a constant depth of 200mm. Since the slot is
on inner side, the surface temperature on the surface of the
slot is equal to the inner surface temperature. On the outer
surface constant heat flux boundary condition is used as
calculated previously. Computation has been carried out for
different depths of the second slot by keeping first step depth
constant.
It has been observed that on the outer surface near the
slot position the temperature is maximum where as the
temperature decreases as one move away from the slot.
The peak temperature on the outer surface increases as
the slot size increases either in width or depth. The surface
temperature variation with height for different depth size slots
are determined.
Crack propagation across the wall
At last to make the computation more realistic 3D
computation has been carried out for few dimensions in z
direction. Since now there is dissipation in z direction also,
so the peak temperature near the slot decreases as compare
to the 2D code.
As the crack propagates in depth the temperatures on
the outer surface are increased. The surface temperature
variation for different crack propagation is computed for the

same size of crack, if depth increases T (T

defect area T sound area) increases as
shown in Figure-7.
Delta T below 100mm depth is 6.60C ,
between 100-150 mm depth is 17.5 0C,
between 150-200 mm depth is 39.50C,
between 200-225 mm is 61, between 225245 is 1380C.
Using the above numerical simulation data
mapping with thermograph data, ladle
reliability and life can be estimated for any
given time. It is found that the numerical
model is adequate to develop full scale real
time application to use with online thermal imaging
process. This application methodology involves
installation of the thermal imaging system at a
specified place to thermograph ladles during normal
process.
Online data from the imager can be given as input
to the real time computer application software to
inform the operator about the condition of the ladle
at every use and prompt reliability and expected life
on the computer screen.
Since this method involves high initial cost,
organizations may volunteer to install such system.
But, the cost of the system can be recovered in 3 or
4 successful forecasts of ladle failures. A chart has
been developed with the base line, simulation data
to know the condition of the ladle at any point of
time is shown in Fig-8.

Conclusions
Infrared or thermographic analysis provides
a high-resolution, non contact means
of monitoring the condition of refractory
management. Thermographic analysis detects
cracks or deterioration in wall insulation or
refractoy deterioration before a failure. In this
study an attempt has been made to address
the issue of failure of ladle in steel industry. In
this context numerical computation has been
carried out for a rectangular laminated slab of
two different materials such as refractory and
steel.
A 2D analysis for uniform wear shows that the
outer temperature increases with increase in
magnitude of wear. The 2D and 3D analysis

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References
for the a rectangular and step shape slot type
defect on the inner surface of the material shows
there is a rise in outer surface temperature
adjacent to the slot portion.
The surface temperature achieves peak at
the adjacent point of slot and it decreases
monotonically along its height. In comparison
to 2D the magnitude of peak temperature in 3D
analysis is less because of additional dissipation
in z-direction.
The hot spots in thermographs indicate the
degradation of refractory failure. In order to
know the severity of refractory failure the
important parameters are summarized from the
experimental investigations and simulation studies
are:
1. Hot spot temperature of Present heat cycle
2. Hot spot area of present heat cycle
3. Maximum T of present heat cycle (T is
difference in temperature of defective and non
defective i.e. sound areas)
4. Maximum T of present and immediate
previous heat cycles.
With the numerical simulation data Operators
chart is developed to monitor the condition of
the ladle at every cycle and from the informative
parameters remaining life are predicted.
Infrared thermography has tremendously helped
Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) in identifying
defects in refractory management.
31

1. W.Wang, P.A. Scarf, M.A.J.Smith, on the

application of a model of condition based
maintenance, Journal of the operational
Research Society 51(2000)1218-1227.
2. A.K.S Jardine, Optimizing condition based
maintenance decisions, in Proceedings of the
Annual Reliability and Maintainability
Symposium, 2002 pp90-97
3. Chandra. And Majumder, D.D.Digital Image
Processing and Analysis, New Delhi: Prentice
Hall of India Private Ltd, 2002
4. Infrared Thermography errors and Uncertainties
Waldemar Minkina and Sebastian Dudzik,
CzeStochowa University of Technology, Poland
John wiley&sons, Ltd (2009)
5. Thermography handbook, Coxmoor Publishing
Company, U.K, March 2000
6. ldague X.P. and Marinetti S. Pulse Phase
Infrared Thermography, J. Appl. Phys., 79(5):
2694-2698, 1996.
7. ldague X.P, Galmiche F.and Ziadi A. Advances
in Pulsed Phase Thermography, Infrared Physics
&Technology, 43: 175-181, 2002.
8. Terumi Inagaki, Toshimitsu Ishii, Toshikatsu
Iwamoto On the NDT&E for the diagnosis
of defects using infrared thermography.NDT&E
International 32(1999)247-257
9. Ying-Chieh Chou, Leehter Yao, Automatic
Diagnostic System of Electrical Equipment Using
Infrared Thermography, socpar, pp.155-160,
2009 International Conference of Soft Computing
and Pattern Recognition, 2009

10. Nyholt, J. J. (2000). Infrared Thermography in BP

Amoco Petrochemical Applications. Proceedings of
InfraMation 2000.
11. Rudi Heriansyah, S.A.R. Abu-Bakar, Defect Detection
in Thermal Image for Nondestructive Evaluation of
Petrochemical Equipments. Journal of Non
Destructive Testing & Evaluation (NDT&E), (2009).
12. H.Wiggenhauser Active IR applications in civil
engineering Infrared physics & Technology, Volume
43, Issue 3-5, June 2002, Pages 233-238
13. Kuruganti, P.T., and Liu, Z. (2002).Early Detection of
Breast Cancer using Thermal Texture Maps.
Proceedings of IEEE.309-312
14. Emery, Trystan Ross (2007) Identification of
damage in composite materials using thermo elastic
stress analysis. University of Southampton, School of
Engineering Sciences, Doctoral Thesis, 218pp.
15. Verma anuj Kumar, Ray A.K,Singh S.P,Banerjee
D.,Schabel SamuelA review of recent advances in the
use of thermography in pulp and paper industry
IPPTA J.Vol 21,No.2,pp 55-58, April-June 2009.
16. Francois Galmiche and Xavier Maldague,Active
Infrared Thermography for Land mine detection. in
SPIE: Diagnosis Imaging, Technologies and Industrial
Applications pp.146-154, Euro-Opto, 1999
17. H.B. Phillips, K.F. WilliamsThermography for Iron and
steel plant Non-Destructive Testing, Volume 7, Issue
3, June 1974, Pages 152-156
18. M.A.Yadav, M.B.Jadav, A.K.Deshmukh and
C.Awasti.Infrared Thrmography-An Emerging
Technique in Indian Nuclear Power Plants
Proceedings of the National seminar & Exhibition.
pp96-100
19. Ohliger, A. A. (2002). Using Infrared Thermography on
Offshore Platform Equipment. Proceedings of
InfraMation 2004.

AMMJ

Nov 2013

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The Maintenance
Workshops
Workshop 1

Asset Maintenance -

Planning, Doing & Improving

(1 Day)

Workshop 2

Asset Management & Reliability -

Creating Better Assets, Services & Outputs

Len Bradshaw is available
to run these workshops
anywhere in the World

There has been a revolution in the way we

now think about maintenance and its role in
improving plant reliability.

Owners and Managers of Plant, Buildings, Mobile

Equipment and any other Assets are demanding
more productive use of their assets, longer asset life,
less total cost of owning those assets and less safety
risks to their employees and the general public.
These important workshops introduce the wide
range of Reliability, Maintenance, and Asset
Management activities and techniques that will help
your organisation improve the Reliability of its Assets
and Plant and so increase the profitability, service
and life from those assets.

Whatever assets and plant you have

these workshops are important for your
organisation.

You may be a city struggling to provide good

Infrastructure, water supply or roads - with an ever
increasing population. You may be a profitable
company - but how much more profits could be
made from more reliable plant and safer operating
conditions and longer use of your assets?

These Workshops are presented by

Len Bradshaw

Added to Your Conference

or
In Your Organisation

These workshops can be modified

to suite your organisation.

Contact Len Bradshaw for details:

[email protected]
32

Len Bradshaw is a specialist in maintenance

management, maintenance planning/control and asset
management, with over 35 years of experience in these
fields.
Len has a Masters Degree in Maintenance Management
from Manchester University, he helped create the
Maintenance Management programs at Monash
University and also was a member of the panel for the
Australian Maintenance Excellence Awards.

AMMJ

Nov 2013

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Maintenance
& Reliability

News

SKF Wireless Machine Condition Sensor Economical and Safe Condition Monitoring
Innovation For Non-critical Equipment
Condition monitoring and machine protection has long
been an established practice to increase reliability,
safety and extend service life for critical equipment.

33

With downtime costing hundreds of thousands to millions

of dollars, machine diagnostics and analysis of critical
equipment for potential faults is crucial. However, the
practice has not proliferated to noncritical, balance-of-theplant equipment,
primarily based on the economics of
required hard-wiring, installation and
safety concerns about walk-around
data collection in difficult-to-reach
locations. Now there is a new wireless
machine condition sensor that can
prove efficient, economical and safe to
monitor and maintain the large amounts
of plant equipment that currently
goes unmonitored or is monitored on
a periodic basis. The SKF Wireless
Machine Condition Sensor is designed
for monitoring non-critical machines,
such as motors, fans and pumps and
ideal for use in hard-to-reach locations
and hazardous atmospheres found in
chemical and petrochemical plants.
With ATEX Zone 0 certification, the
sensor can also be used in hazardous
environments.

With the introduction of the wireless sensor,

users can benefit from an improved maintenance
program, reduced maintenance costs, reduced
installation costs and enhanced employee and
machine safety, says Jan Hendrik van der Linden,
Product Line Manager, SKF. And because the unit
is battery powered there is no need for wiring and
complex installation that can be especially costly in
hazardous areas.

Network communication technology

in a compact footprint

The SKF Wireless Machine Condition Sensor uses

the WirelessHART communication protocol and
provides dynamic vibration and temperature data
for condition monitoring and machinery diagnostics.
The device combines both sensor and node into
one compact, battery-operated unit the size of a
typical industrial accelerometer. The SKF Wireless
Machine Condition Sensor operates in a low power
consumption mode, enabling the battery to last
multiple years in the field.
Communication capabilities include routing data
from other nodes to and from the gateway, and
receiving automated commands from the Wireless
Sensor Device Manager software that initiates
the measurement and processing circuits to take
data and transmit it back over the network. If a
node is unable to receive signals directly from the
WirelessHART gateway, it will instead send and
receive its data through a nearby node that can
pass the data to and from the gateway ultimately
creating a mesh network.

WANTED
Your maintenance & reliability News:
News items must be sent to the AMMJ at least 2

weeks before the publication date. Submit News

items as PDFs or Word Docs.
[email protected]

SKF Wireless Machine Condition Sensor

combines a sensor, data collector and radio
into one compact, battery-operated unit
The SKF Wireless Machine Condition Sensor also
offers compatibility with the established SKF @ptitude
Analyst software, a component of the SKF @ptitude
Monitoring Suite, a comprehensive software suite that
integrates data from a wide range of SKF portable and
on-line data acquisition devices.
Once data is collected, the WirelessHART gateway
communicates with the Wireless Sensor Device
Manager software supplied by SKF. Device Manager
then automatically exports the data into SKF @ptitude
Analyst, where a maintenance manager or reliability
engineer can analyse the data and determine a
course of action.
This is the first SKF product to use the WirelessHART
communication protocol, which was unanimously
approved by the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC) in 2010, and to provide a batterypowered wireless condition monitoring solution
suitable for use in an ATEX Zone 0 environment. The
excellent battery management gives the device a long
operating life, and the mesh network capability makes
it a practical alternative to wired on-line systems for
monitoring balance-of-theplant machinery.

To learn more about the advantages of the SKF

Wireless Machine Condition Sensor, visit
www.skf.com/wireless.

AMMJ

Nov 2013
October 2012

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Maintenance & Reliability News

Make Asset Health More Predictable
with Meridiums Latest Version of
Asset Performance Management Software

34

Using advanced machine-to-machine (M2M)

interfaces, Meridium provides actionable
analytics to expose unknown operating risks
Meridium Inc. has announced the release
of v3.5.1 of its innovative Asset Performance
Management (APM) software to help companies
improve efficiency while reducing risk.
Enhancements to Meridium APM v3.5.1 include
new work process dashboards for the end-toend management of performance improvement
opportunities, expanded monitoring policies
to address process excursions and enhanced
integration capabilities to enable machine-tomachine (M2M) communications.
Every Meridium product release is a reflection
of fulfilling customer needs, said Bob DeMaria,
Maintenance Engineering Technical Advisor at
Dakota Gasification Co. As a Meridium user,
it amazes me how every release offers a new
solution to our challenges. For example, in
v3.5.1 they added a new analytical model, which
allows us to see the impact performing an
inspection has on an assets risk ranking. This
added functionality will provide huge efficiency
gains by allowing us to optimize our inspection
intervals.
v3.5.1 offers new dashboards that are
mapped to each of the five Meridium APM
Work Processes - APM Foundation, Failure
Elimination, Asset Strategy, Mechanical Integrity
and Asset Safety. Key measurements are
displayed in an easy to use format for rapid
information delivery across a wide range of
computing platforms and mobile devices.

This functionality allows users to have a

360-degree view of critical assets and their
associated goals to increase equipment
availability.
We spend a lot of time listening to our
customers. They asked us to develop
standard performance indicators to help them
visualize asset program data. In v3.5.1, we
are delivering on this request with defined
focal points for asset management decisions,
said Meridium Chief Technology Officer
Eddie Amos. Weve developed dashboards
to measure all critical points in the APM
workflows, in a very intuitive visualization
layer. This functionality combined with Policy
Manager and our advanced M2M capabilities
gives an organization the ability to identify and
manage performance improvements while
exposing unknown risk.
Meridium v3.5.1 Policy Manager boosts your
M2M integration with advanced analytics
to drive the right actions from the wealth of
information collected. This includes new
monitoring capabilities to automatically trigger,
close and analyze integrity operating window
(IOW) excursions or other critical events.
Operation of assets outside the defined
integrity operating window introduces unknown
operating risk, said Louise Pattison, Meridium
Product Manager. Conditions change, and if
you are not tracking process excursions, you
may be living under a veil of false security.
Meridiums Policy Manager delivers on the
promise of Actionable Analytics by monitoring
an assets characteristics and conditions to
identify emerging trends so immediate action
can be taken to mitigate risk and possible
equipment failures. www.meridium.com

SPM Instruments latest LineLazer

Shaft Alignment System!

The LineLazer from SPM Instrument AB has advanced features not

available in other reasonably priced shaft alignment kits.
LineLazer software is configured for horizontal and vertical shaft
alignment. It measures soft foot and uses thermal compensation.
The display is updated in real-time and the graphical interface guides the
user through the alignment process to the easily understood results.
The laser beam is spread horizontally and directed towards a 35 mm
vertical detector. This makes the effective target size larger compared with
other high performance measuring units using pencil beams.
The laser beam is modulated and thus easily and automatically
distinguished from interfering light sources.
The laser beam is not mirrored, both measuring units are true transmitters/
detectors. Wireless communication between the measuring units makes
the communication cable between the heads redundant.
Using precision inclinometers, the angle of rotation of both sensors is
known at all times. This allows measurement in fully automatic mode, with
much less than a half-turn of the shaft.
For further information, please contact:
apt Technology Pty Ltd (part of the apt Group) +61 (2) 9269 1500 or
[email protected]
www.aptgroup.com.au

AMMJ

Nov 2013
October 2012

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Maintenance & Reliability News

FLIR Systems launches updated
version of its successful
FLIR Exx series

New, affordable FLIR Exx series thermal

imaging cameras offer best-in-class
performance.
Thermal imaging leader FLIR Systems
announces the launch of its new, improved
FLIR Exx series of thermal imaging cameras.
The FLIR Exx series offers industrial
professionals an affordable, yet ergonomic
and feature-rich thermal imaging camera
that will significantly speed up electrical and
mechanical inspections.
FLIR Exx series thermal imaging cameras are
equipped with Meterlink and Bluetooth
connections that allow doing inspections fast
and accurately. Connecting thermal imaging
cameras with other devices or measurement
tools allows for easy information exchange
with customers or colleagues. That is why the
FLIR MeterLink technology allows FLIR Exx
series users to save time by transferring, via
Bluetooth, the data acquired by an Extech
clamp meter or multifunction moisture meter
into the thermal imaging camera. In addition,
they can easily transfer images wirelessly to a
smart phone or tablet PC.
FLIR Systems has even further improved its
FLIR Exx series in the following ways:

Even easier to use than before

35

The FLIR Exx series have a new user interface

and key pad that make these cameras
extremely simple to operate. Measuring

temperatures up to +650C, they produce

instant, point-and-shoot JPEG thermal imagery
and video recording/streaming with all required
temperature data included.

FLIR patented MSX

FLIRs patented MSX technology provides

thermal images of exceptional quality in real
time. This results in sharper-looking thermal
images, quicker target orientation and clutterfree reports. The camera also offers combined
storage of MSX, thermal, Picture-in-Picture
(PiP) and visual images.

Auto-orientation

The FLIR Exx series has an auto-orientation

feature, which means that the camera
automatically adjusts the measurement
information on the display to the vertical or
horizontal position of the camera.
About thermal imaging
Thermal imaging is the use of cameras
constructed with special sensors that see
thermal energy emitted from an object. Thermal
or infrared energy is light that is not visible
to the human eye because its wavelength is
too long to be detected. It is the part of the
electromagnetic spectrum that we perceive as
heat. Infrared allows us to see what our eyes

cannot. Thermal imaging cameras produce

images of invisible infrared or heat
radiation. Based on temperature differences
between objects, thermal imaging
produces a clear image. It is an excellent
tool for predictive maintenance, building
inspections, research & development and
automation applications. It can see in total
darkness, in the darkest of nights, through
fog, in the far distance and through smoke.
It is also used for security and surveillance,
maritime, automotive, firefighting and many
other applications.
[email protected]
www.flir.com
Today, FLIR Systems is offering the following models:

Thermal image quality

Sees temperature
differences as small as
Built-in visual camera
FLIR patented MSX
technology
Auto-orientation feature
MeterLink and Wifi

FLIR E40
160x120 pixels
0.07C

FLIR E50
240x180 pixels
0.05C

FLIR E60
320x240 pixels
0.05C

3.1 Mpixel
Yes

3.1 Mpixel
Yes

3.1 Mpixel
Yes

Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes

AMMJ

Nov 2013
October 2012

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Maintenance & Reliability News

New white paper:
Unlocking FM
Software with the
power of self-service

36

Leading Facility Management

software provider Service
Works Group, has published
an FM software guide
which explains the concept
of self service technology
and explores the significant
operational benefits that it
delivers for FM professionals. Advantages of self-service include
enabling a more proactive FM helpdesk, improving service delivery
and delivering enterprise-wide 24/7 visibility of FM performance.
The model represents a dramatic shift in working practices
for facilities departments, building occupants and contractors,
particularly for reactive and planned maintenance jobs and booking
shared resources such as hot-desks and meeting rooms.
The guide identifies why self-service is increasingly being used
to either supplement or replace traditional FM helpdesk models;
evaluates the importance of developing a concise implementation
plan; and explains the need to promote and publicise the service
to end-users, customers and building occupants in order to ensure
long-term success.
With increasing prevalence in the adoption of a mobile working
strategy to enhance self-service, the guide also discusses how
using a smart device and an FM software solution to manage
workload on the move, offers significant benefits to organisations
from improved staff productivity to a reduction in operational and
administrative costs
The guide concludes with a list of the key benefits for selfservice implementation and also provides concise best practice
recommendations for both staff and organisations.
To receive a complimentary copy of Service Works guide Unlock
FM Software with the Power of Self-Service, please email
[email protected] or

The Woodhouse Partnership Ltd certifies

UK Power Networks to PAS 55-1:2008
asset management standard

The Woodhouse Partnership Ltd (TWPL) is delighted

to announce that UK Power Networks has retained its
accreditation and been awarded the PAS 55-1:2008
certificate for the optimal management of physical
assets. The electricity distribution company is already
demonstrating leading practice beyond PAS 55 in
several areas. This keeps the power company at the
forefront of international standards, at a time when
intelligent infrastructure investments, performance
demands and service standards are all becoming
increasingly critical.
Leisha Krandoo, Engineering Standards Compliance
Manager, at UK Power Networks, said: The
accreditation demonstrates our determination to pursue
excellence in asset management. We chose TWPL
because they have a proven and established audit
approach, and were able to provide a team with a depth
of electricity distribution experience, which will help us
reach a higher level of asset optimization.
The contract with UK Power Networks also involved
developing a strategic Asset Management Roadmap TM.
The roadmap identified and prioritised opportunities to
refine and improve the asset management system in
order to deliver further value from asset management
consistent with this challenge. The exercise included
consideration and alignment of ongoing major
improvement initiatives.
The TWPL assessment process also included
identification of areas of opportunity beyond PAS 55
compliance which were reported and presented to
the UK Power Networks senior management team.
Our experienced consultants then worked with a cross
organisational working party to develop a programme
of improvements that supported the coming regulatory
price review (ED1), which will be the first to incorporate
the RIIO model (Revenue = Incentives + Innovation +
Outputs).

Peter Jay, Principal Consultant, TWPL,

(pictured right) presenting the PAS 55:2008
Certificate to Barry Hatton, Asset Management
Director, UK Power Networks

Peter Jay, TWPL lead assessor, said: Our methodology

develops a comprehensive picture of the current
strengths and weaknesses. We then use a well-proven,
step-wise method for sorting out priorities, opportunities
and action plans with a multi-disciplinary team to take the
company forward over a three-to-five-year time horizon.
The resulting holistic Asset Management Roadmap will
take UK Power Networks efficiency and effectiveness up
to the next level as it faces (like many utilities), increasing
performance demands, environmental uncertainties and
investment challenges.
Peter was assisted by Alan Laird, Principal Consultant.
Both he and Peter are members of the international TWPL
team of PAS 55 Assessors and Trainers as endorsed by
the Institute of Asset Management (IAM).
The review also complied with the audit standards set by
the IAM for assessment against PAS 55. This includes
over 120 specific questions, each considered against
a 5-level maturity scale, ranging from Innocence to
Excellence
www.twpl.com.
www.PAS55.net

AMMJ

Nov 2013
October 2012

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Maintenance & Reliability News

MMX Connect - Cloud-Based Asset Maintenance

Management Software for Any Size Facility

37

Proteus MMX is now available in three levels, starting at

only $49/month per user
Eagle Technology, Inc. has announced a new, three-tier pricing structure on
their Proteus MMX cloud-hosted Asset Maintenance Management software.
The new structure is dubbed MMX Connect and promises maintenance
management for any size facility, at any budget.
Proteus MMXs introductory price point will start at $49 per month per user.
This standard edition will include Asset Management and Work Order
Management functionality. It also includes over 30 management reports.
The business edition, at $99 per user per month, will add Inventory and
Vendor modules, as well as the capability to add on optional modules, such
as mobile capabilities, audit trail, and service request.
Finally, the premium edition will add Purchasing and Administrative
Services functionality. It is ideal for multi-site facilities with a large number of
users and/or assets. It is available for $149 per user per month. All prices are
based on a yearly commitment. Month-to-month plans are also available.
All software editions include technical support, software updates, and
database backup and recovery.
Every facility has assets, and all assets need to be maintained. We wanted
to make sure that even the smallest facility on the smallest budget had
access to an intelligent maintenance management software solution. MMX
Connect was conceived as the answer to that problem , said Harshad Shah,
President of Eagle Technology.
Besides cost savings, cloud-hosted maintenance software offers additional
benefits to the end user. Traditional costs of software maintenance, including
server and database maintenance, are eliminated, since Proteus MMX
is hosted and maintained by Eagle Technology. Because cloud-hosted
software is hosted online, facility employees can access the software from
any computer or mobile device.
[email protected] www.eaglecmms.com

SPM Instrument announces its clearance

Sale of the remaining Leonova Infinity!
SPM Instrument AB is very proud and happy to offer the condition monitoring
community a deal of a lifetime, for existing SPM customers to purchase an
extra instrument or, for new users the opportunity to join the SPM world.
The instrument will be configured with maximum functionality, accessories
and optional software IE.:
- SPM Spectrum
- 2 channel simultaneously vibration
- ISO 10816
- Run Up/Coast Down and Bump Test
- Balancing
- Orbit
- Recording
- Order tracking
- 12 800 lines and 40 kHz - Extended Memory 4 GB
- Condmaster Ruby Software
This is a never to be repeated offer, valid up until 31 Dec. 2013.
For further information, please contact:
apt Technology Pty Ltd (part of the apt Group) Telephone +61 (2) 9269 1500
or [email protected] www.aptgroup.com.au

SPM Instrument announces of its Intrinsically Safe (IS) data collectors

SPM Instrument announces the release the release of its Intrinsically Safe (IS)

data collectors

SPM Instrument, Sweden, announces the launch of its widely anticipated Intrinsically Safe handheld condition monitoring data
collectors / analysers, the Leonova Diamond & Emerald.
Featuring state-of-the-art digital technology and a robust, rugged design, these
instruments provide for high performance and supreme accuracy.
From inception, these instruments were designed to be IS rated, tested to P65, they
weigh-in at just over 800g and are now Certified to IECEx and ATEX (Mining and Gas,
zones 0, 1 and 2 - see below).
Zones in ATEX Directory

Zone 0 = Flammable material

present continuously

Zone 1 = Flammable material

present intermittently

Zone 2 = Flammable material

present abnormally

Leonova Diamond

I/II M1/G1

Leonova Emerald

DIA500IS

EME600IS

For further information, please contact:

apt Technology Pty Ltd (part of the apt Group) Telephone +61 (2) 9269 1500 or [email protected] www.aptgroup.com.au

AMMJ

Nov 2013
October 2012

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VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.fleminggulf.com

Maintenance & Reliability News

38

AMMJ

Smartware Group, Inc., provider of cloud-based

Bigfoot CMMS (Computerized Maintenance
Management Software), introduced Bigfoot OSH
(Occupational Safety and Health) as an add-on
solution to help maintenance organizations ensure
worker health and safety, pass regulatory inspections
and avoid fines. With the addition of Bigfoot OSH,
maintenance and safety data are now centralized in
one system.
Setting up a preventive maintenance schedule for
routine safety checks should be part of a high-quality
CMMS product, said Paul Lachance, President
and CTO of Smartware Group. But customer
demand prompted us to build an integrated solution
that automates and tracks the whole spectrum of
safety tasks, programs and procedures, and helps
prevent safety hazards. Bigfoot OSH serves as our
customers internal inspector.
The OSH add-on solution for Bigfoot CMMS
empowers our facilities to implement and monitor
best-practice safety programs: schedule, monitor
and record audits and inspections, store employee
trainings and certifications, and track OSHArecordable incidents, said Michael Godoy, vice
president of operations, SMG World. Integrating
OSH with Bigfoot CMMS is a real bonus especially
with JSAs and MSDS sheets. Were able to tie
this critical safety information to our corrective and
preventive maintenance work orders.
www.bigfootcmms.com

HURRY FREE VIP Passes

to Plant Shutdown and
Turnaround 2013
We are glad to announce that Fleming
Gulf Conferences who has partnered
with AMMJ, as a gift offer to our
subscribers will provide VIP Passes to
attend the 3rd Annual Plant Shutdown &
Turnaround Forum.
It will be held on 18 - 20 November
2013 at Crowne Plaza Doha Qatar.
The pass will entitle you to be part of :
5 Meetings & Networking Sessions
6 Expert Panel Discussions
8 Interactive Workshops
3 Strategic Planning Round Tables
For more inforation about the
conference Download the agenda
with the following promo code:
AMMJPSTA13
Email us your details to register for the
free pass: Name; Company Name;
Job Title; Country; Phone Number and
email id.
Offer is only valid till 5th November
2013 so hurry!
Disclaimer: Fleming Gulf Conferences
reserves the right to pre qualify the details
before registration.

[email protected]

IMPROVING GROUND ZERO REALITIES THROUGH EFFECTIVE OUTAGE MANAGEMENT

FORUM & TECHNICAL INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS

18 20 November 2013, Crowne Plaza- Business Park, Doha, Qatar

KEY FEATURES

Bigfoot OSH Arms Maintenance

Organizations with CMMS Solution to
Meet Regulatory Safety Compliance
Occupational Safety & Health Solution for
EAM helps to serve as a companys internal
inspector.

15
8
6
3

Meeting & Networking Sessions

Strategic Partner

Shutdown and Rental Management Partner

Interactive Workshops
Expert Panel Discussions
Lunch Sponsor

Bronze Sponsor

Strategic Planning Round Tables

19

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Supporting Sponsor

Networking Sponsor

Supporting Association

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Register to win
the Delegates Smart Phone
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Contact Us To Know More

Tanaya Priya | E: tanaya.priya.fleminggulf.com
T: 971 4609 1570 | W: bit.ly/psta2013

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Maintenance & Reliability News

New Fluke 1730 three-phase electrical energy logger
simplifies the discovery of electrical energy waste

Intuitive energy logger helps facility managers and electrical

professionals develop and implement cost-saving strategies

39

Fluke Corporation introduces the Fluke 1730 Three-Phase Energy Logger,

an intuitive, easy-to-use tool with professional-level, energy-data gathering
capabilities. The Fluke 1730 breaks new ground by enabling a broader category
of multi-disciplinary maintenance professionals to confidently gather energy
data, while the accompanying Fluke Energy Analyse software scales from the
analysis and reporting needs of the facility manager to the advanced analytical
requirements of electrical engineers.
Even well-run facilities can experience energy waste, most commonly through
equipment and system inefficiencies or by operating at expensive times of day
on the utility rate schedule. Detecting those wastes requires logging energy
consumption over time, using expensive power quality analysers operated by
engineers with advanced training. Unfortunately, those cost and skill barriers
have made energy audits impractical for many facilities.
The Fluke 1730 Energy Logger changes that; a streamlined energy logging
tool with a straightforward, intuitive design, the Fluke 1730 lets technicians
load studies and energy logging right out of the box. The results provide facility
managers with the information necessary to identify and prioritise energy saving
projects.
The compact energy logger conducts key measurements of voltage, current,
power and power factor to identify areas of energy waste. All measured values
are logged automatically and can be reviewed during logging. Common setup
errors are rectified, through re-engineered cables, digital check and auto-correct
of all connections and an on-screen wizard for interval setup. It has the highest
safety rating in the industry (600 V CAT IV/1000 V CAT III), can be powered
directly from the measured circuit eliminating the need to find a power outlet and
has two USB ports for fast data downloads to PCs or standard thumb drives.
Data logged by the 1730 can be imported into the Fluke Energy Analyse
software for further processing and archiving. The software lets users analyse
energy or load profiles including zoom-in and zoom-out on details, add
comments, pictures and other information to data, overlay different logging
sessions, create reports and export measurement results.
[email protected]
www.fluke.com.au

Essential Insight.mesh Starter Kits

If you have been considering wireless condition monitoring for some
time, now is the perfect opportunity with the availability of pre-packaged
ISA-100 Starter Kits from GE Bently Nevada. NVMS can supply the kit
and assist you with installation and commissioning to get you up and
running fast.
The starter kit gives you 4 x wSIMs (with 16 accelerometers),
1 repeater, ISA-100 gateway, mounting accessories, cables and
System 1 software to get you onto the worlds benchmark for condition
monitoring!

Add GPS co-ordinates to your data!

Did you know that the latest version of Brel & Kjrs Type 2250
Handheld Analyser can accept GPS coordinates as an input signal?
Simply plug one of the approved Globalsat USB GPS receivers into the
USB socket on your Generation 4 sound level meter, and the Longitude,
Latitude and Altitude appear as display options on the meter screen
automatically.
GPS information can be annotated in the field or back in the office, and
the co-ordinates are automatically appended to each measurement file
for transfer to BZ-5503 Measurement Partner Suite for post-processing
and reporting. Not only that, but with a simple click, BZ-5503 will show
your measurement location in Google Maps.

Introducing the Commtest Spotcheck!

The Spotcheck device provides a cost-effective introduction to vibrationbased condition monitoring. It has a simple four-button user interface,
a compact yet rugged IP64 certified case, and a long-life (>48 hour)
rechargeable battery pack. Its automated ISO alarm features require no
specialist user training or external software.
By comparing vibration velocity levels against international ISO standards,
the Spotcheck device can automatically display simple, easy to understand
machinery health alarms that quickly indicate the fitness of machinery to
operate.
In addition to its vibration measurement capabilities, the Spotcheck device
includes an integrated non-contact IR thermal sensor and laser pointer.

For more information on any of the above products visit:

NVMS Measurement Systems
www.nvms.com.au
[email protected]

AMMJ

Nov 2013
October 2012

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Maintenance & Reliability News

Cathay Pacific Airways selects ULTRAMAIN
efbTechLogs for industry-first cross-fleet
ELB Implementation

40

Hong Kong-based, Cathay Pacific Airways, has begun an implementation

of efbTechLogs Electronic Logbook (ELB) software developed by
Ultramain Systems. ELB software is new technology that replaces the longstanding paper-based aircraft technical log. Cathay Pacific will implement
the Ultramain ELB on its Class 3 Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) installation
to a common standard across all its aircraft types comprising 170 aircraft.
The ELB software operates on Electronic Flight Bag hardware, which itself
constitutes new technology, and is classified by aviation authorities from
least to most integrated with the aircraft: Class 1, 2, or 3 EFB respectively.
The majority of airlines are still using paper-based aircraft technical
logs, so the use of ELB software is in its infancy, says Tim Spears, Vice
President of Ultramain and head of Ultramains Onboard Systems division.
When you look at airlines actually operating Electronic Logbooks, the
majority are flying with efbTechLogs provided by Ultramain Systems.
Cathay Pacific Airways is set to be the first industry operator with a
common Electronic Logbook across all fleet types.
Replacement of paper with the real-time capture of structured
maintenance information through an Electronic Logbook will dramatically
improve the efficiency of processes in Line Maintenance operations, says
Rob Saunders, Cathays Head of Engineering Cost Management and
Business Improvement. Working closely with HAECO, our MRO partner,
we have looked much further than just replacing the paper. To realize
the benefits, we needed a proven ELB solution integrated with our M&E
system.
Mark McCausland, President of Ultramain Systems, says, efbTechLogs
operates on Class 1 (mobile devices), as well as Class 2 and 3 EFB,
and has been in continuous approved use on Class 3 EFB since 2008.
efbTechLogs has a great deal of experience incorporated into the software
and has been installed by more operators than all other ELB offerings
combined. McCausland said, No other ELB has the cross-fleet and crossmanufacturer capabilities that efbTechLogs has.
Christopher Gibbs, Director of Engineering for Cathay Pacific, said, Similar
ELB software that spans all of our fleet types is essential in managing an
e-enabled fleet. Commonality of software makes sense on many levels,
from training to ground systems integration. e-Operations can provide
incremental benefits for individual aircraft, but we see a significantly
stronger business case for full fleet enablement.
www.ultramain.com

Mobility technology improves asset

management efficiency
Mainpac has just launched Mainpac Mobility, a new
module for managing work orders and inspections,
designed to improve productivity and enable better,
faster decision making.
Competitive organisations recognise that to improve
productivity, they must move business information
quickly from the field to the desktop, and back
again, James says. Giving workers instant access
to information like machinery diagrams and parts
availability makes it much easier for them to complete
tasks effectively. We live in a 24/7 world. For smarter,
quicker, better operational asset management, youve
simply got to be mobile.
James says mobility within asset management is not
just about being able to see reports and data, but
about interactivity and having the right tools available
when you need them.
Power companies and manufacturers operate round
the clock, while ports and terminals and mining
operations have staff and assets in various locations,
and often across multiple sites.
That means the person who needs to make the call
on asset decisions wont always be on site. In the past,
that person would get a call, then they might need to
drive out to take a look at the equipment or machinery,
then head back to the office to search for drawings
and historical data before determining the best course
of action.
With a mobile asset management solution, that
person doesnt even need to be in the same town as
the facility theyre looking after. They can use a mobile
device and Mainpac Mobility to quickly access the
information they need, as well as receive images and
other condition information immediately.
Mainpac Mobility integrates with Mainpac EAM
(Enterprise Asset Management) software to improve
the benefits the system delivers, and improve the
softwares return on investment.

Our customers can use mobile devices to capture

information about asset condition that can be
used for predictive analysis, or for distribution to
engineers to collaborate on identifying faults and
resolving outages quickly. Theres also the ability
to access historical work orders and inspection
information for quicker root-cause analysis.
Ultimately, this means customers can reduce
outages and downtime.
James says many asset-intensive companies
currently use paper-based work order systems that
contain inherent inefficiencies.
Using a paper based system, field staff might go
into the office to print out a work order, fill it out on
site, then go back to the office and manually copy
their written notes into a maintenance system.
And they do this repeatedly every day. This adds
up to a vast amount of worker inefficiency. With a
mobility solution, that inefficiency just disappears,
and you end up with better, more accurate data
captured in your EAM, he says.
Better data not only enable better responses to
faults and maintenance issues. It also enables
management to glean greater insights into
operations, and produce better reports.
Choosing the Mainpac Mobility option will allow
our customers to get the very best value from
their EAM. The lifeblood of an EAM system is the
ongoing entry of accurate asset information, and
Mainpac Mobility makes it simple. Its easy-to-use,
intuitive and secure, James says.
www.mainpac.com.au [email protected]

AMMJ

Nov 2013
October 2012

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Equipment & Services for

Assets, Plant & Buildings

ARTICLES

Thermal imaging
cameras: a cost
effective solution
for perimeter
protection

41

Today the challenge to security professionals is to ensure

video footage is effective on a 24/7 basis, 365 days a
year. Securing an area during the daytime is one thing, but
what happens during the night; or in weather conditions
like fog, rain and snow? What can be detected if CCTV
cameras are blinded by the sun?
A number of tools are available to help detect potential
intruders in the dark. Often different technologies are
being combined to create a secure perimeter. Whatever
solution or technology is chosen for securing an area,
they all have their advantages and disadvantages. Some
solutions consume a lot of power and need a lot of
replacement parts.
Environmental and energy consumption issues are today
high on the global agenda. Given that globally S1 in every
$5 spent is on lighting with much of this on inefficient
and unnecessary lighting the focus to save energy
by looking at running costs will continue to increase.
Local authorities and private industries are all looking at
methods to save energy costs and lighting is one area due
particular attention.

Quite a number of technologies are available to help

detect potential intruders.

Surveillance at night

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) combined with

traditional lighting
CCTV systems have been
an effective tool for security
and surveillance applications.
However, just like the human
eye, CCTV cameras do not
see much in total darkness.
So in order to detect intruders
at night they are often
complemented with traditional
lights by mains driven bulbs.
While some bulbs are more
efficient than others the
operational cost remains
very high. Light can only
penetrate a certain distance

and completely illuminating an area, so that it can be

kept under surveillance of CCTV cameras, is not always
possible. CCTVs with traditional lamp lighting require lamp
replacement every 2000 to 4000 hours or about every
8 months. There is significant labour and material cost
associated with lamp replacement.
Light pollution is a global problem caused by inefficient,
intrusive and unnecessary use of artificial light. Symptoms
include glare, clutter over-illumination and sky glow.
Light pollution is an increasingly hot political topic given
recent government legislation to control and punish light
pollution. In some locations light is also considered to be
too intrusive. Furthermore, lighting essentially lays out a
route of attack for intruders, creating shadows in which
they can hide and access undetected.

Closed-circuit television (CCTV)

combined with LEDs

Compared to any bulb, LEDs provide significant savings

on electrical consumption. LEDs also provide long life
performance with little ongoing maintenance costs.
Infrared illumination with LEDs, sometime also called
active infrared, beams infrared radiation into the area in
front of a camera. The LEDs are often placed around the
lens of the camera.

LED illumination is compromised by limited range

performance. Also, providing lighting for domes has long
been a challenge for CCTV professionals as the lighting
cannot be fitted to move with the camera.

AMMJ

Nov 2013

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Electrified fences

In order to keep
intruders out of
certain areas fences
can be constructed.
To further increase
security, fences
can be equipped
with sensors that
generate an automatic
alarm when someone touches the fence. Or they
can be electrified, to keep intruders away. In all
cases, fences need to be complemented by other
technologies such as CCTV cameras or walking
patrols in order to see what is happening around the
fence.

Radio Frequency Intruder detection (RAFID)

RAFID systems work on signal frequency. If the

amount of signal changes, this is due to someone
or something passing between the transmitter and
receiver, tripping an alarm.

Thermal imaging

A new tool for seeing

in total darkness, and
in the diverse weather
conditions, is thermal
imaging. Thermal
imaging is the use of a
thermal imaging camera
to see thermal energy emitted from an object. Thermal
imaging cameras produce images of invisible infrared or
heat radiation. Thermal
imaging produces a
crisp image on which the
smallest of details can
be seen and the work in
the darkest of nights or
blinding sunlight.
FLIR Systems thermal
imaging cameras not only
produce excellent quality
thermal images the technology requires no additional
lighting or illumination and has no regular maintenance
costs.

Deciding which technology to use

42

AMMJ

However, the system cannot detect the difference

between a human and, for example, a dog/
kangaroo, so in a lot of cases CCTV cameras still
required in order to see what is generating a real, or
false alarm.

CCTV with traditional lighting or LED

- High power consumption
- High maintenance cost for replacing the lights
(material and manpower)
Electrified Fence
- Power consumption
- Needs to be complemented with CCTV to see if
alarm is false or not. Light or infrared illumination
needed during the night to do this.
RAFID or Sensor Cable
- Many unwanted alarms
- Needs to be complemented with CCTV to see if
alarm is false or not. Light or infrared illumination
needed during the night to do this.

Thermal imaging - Full awareness

- Can be used day and night
- Works in practically all weather conditions. Can
see through light fog, rain, smoke, ...
- Low maintenance
- Low power consumption
- Extremely difficult to hide from since thermal
contrast is practically impossible to mask
Thermal imaging cameras have many advantages for
perimeter protection. Studies show that shows that even
though the price of one single thermal imaging camera
might be higher than the price of a CCTV camera, the
overall investment costs for a thermal imaging camera
perimeter protection system is actually lower. The larger
the perimeter, the bigger this difference will become. Since
thermal imaging cameras require no lighting to function
and given the fact that fewer cameras are needed with the
thermal imaging solution, this system will also consume far
less electricity than the CCTV solution, making the thermal
solution less expensive to run, eco-friendly by reducing
carbon emissions and their related penalties.

Conclusion

Although all technologies have advantages and

disadvantages a small calculation makes it clear that
thermal imaging is a very good and cost effective solution
for protecting a perimeter, particularly at night.
Whilst a thermal imaging camera is more expensive than
a CCTV camera, fewer cameras need to be deployed to
cover the same area. Furthermore, since thermal imaging
cameras produce a clear image in the darkest of nights,
no complementary technologies like lighting or infrared
illuminators need to be installed. Not only does this limit the
amount of civil works that needs to be carried out, it also
reduces the maintenance cost.
Thermal imaging cameras also generate fewer false alarms.
Although thermal imaging cameras are more expensive
than CCTV cameras at initial purchase they are often not
only the best, but also the most cost effective solution.
[email protected] www.flir.com.au

Nov 2013

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The New Leader

You have probably heard the
story of the stone-cutter.

Creating
Meaning
and Engagement
The intention of this article is to share with
you a summary of a tiny portion of the
latest research in neuroscience as it applies
to both leadership and culture, and outline
some practical ways in which you can apply
insights from this field to your leadership
and organisation.
Many of the competencies that underpin
these insights are becoming imperative
now, given what is happening around the
world. You cant afford to wait.
Jon Pratlett
Jon Pratlett & Assocoates
Australia
Minding the gap between intentions & success
43

Insights from
Neuroscience

It has been said that people judge their

leaders by their behaviour, and the
organisation by its systems. Think about that
for a moment. If this is even half accurate,
then both leadership behaviour and
organisational systems require the leaders
attention. Organisational systems are for
another article.
Leadership and culture are key foundations
for an effective quality management
framework and support increased
productivity at an organisational and
individual level.
A progressive leadership style is essential
to fostering a supportive culture in which
peoples productivity is developed and is
underpinned by specific leadership and
culture attributes, which are essential for an
organisation to achieve their stated outputs.
What will the leader of the next decade look
like? What competencies will characterise
this individual?
If you want your people to go the extra
mile, be highly engaged, contribute their
discretionary effort and take pride in their
work, then having a meaningful bigger
picture, or vision, that is positive, compelling
and relevant is crucial.

In the days of misty towers, distressed maidens

and stalwart knights, a young man was walking
down a road when he came upon a labourer
fiercely pounding away at a stone with hammer
and chisel. The lad asked the worker, who
looked frustrated and angry, What are you
doing? The labourer said in a pained voice: Im
trying to shape this stone and it is back-breaking
work.
The youth continued his journey and soon came
upon another man chipping away at a similar
stone; he looked neither angry nor happy. What
are you doing? the young man asked. Im
shaping a stone for a building.
The young man went on and before long came
upon a third worker who was singing happily.
What are you doing? the young man asked.
The worker smiled and replied, Im building a
cathedral.
Survey after survey, year in year out, show a high
percentage of staff that report not being engaged, or
even feeling actively disengaged (Gallup Consulting,
2011). Recent research from Palladium Consulting
highlights that people embrace accountability when
their jobs and their roles, are clear and have meaning
for them.
However, having a clear vision isnt enough. It needs
to be communicated in a way that challenges people
but avoids over-challenging them. If you are not
engaging your people, then either the vision is off,
not relevant or poorly thought through, or it isnt being
communicated effectively. Neuroscience confirms that
our brains vary from person to person, and that our
attempts to influence, inspire and engage may work
for one and yet fail with someone else.

AMMJ

Nov 2013

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Almost all of the leaders I have worked with find the

following statement sobering and a call to action:

The MEANING of my
COMMUNICATION
is the
RESPONSE I GET

44

The brain is a meaning-maker. It works by association.

What does that mean? Well, it has now been well
established that Neurons that fire together, wire
together known as Hebbs Law.
When an engaged team member is asked What
motivates you to work so hard? typical responses
include I love my work. Few things are more
interesting to me than piecing this huge puzzle together.
I have a lot of freedom to decide how I do it and I love
the autonomy. I work with great people, Even when its
crazy, its still fun!
These positive associations between our job, and being
challenged; feeling capable; having autonomy (within
limits); and relating well to others, demonstrate that
we are engaged and willing to go the extra mile on a
consistent basis when our basic psychological needs are
being met.
When negative associations are made such as The
work is boring. My leader couldnt give a damn about us.
Im only here for the money, it is not hard to predict the
level of commitment and outcome.
So when you, as a leader, can consistently explain
how the actions of an individual or the team contribute
toward the vision, or your meaningful version of it, your
staffs brains are then able to associate the two and, with
repetition, the same neurons keep firing together and
form neural maps.
People are able to associate their work with the vision,
and thus make meaning, hopefully positive meaning,
from this. An association of increasing shareholder
value is unlikely to truly engage someone.

Finding an authentic way to help each individual make

an appropriate association is part of a leaders role.
You, as their leader, provide the context, the reason,
behind what is to be done. It gives people a bigger
picture in regard to each piece of work they are given,
and therefore it is critical that leaders, in assigning tasks,
ensure that putting a task in context is a key element.
Sometimes, as a leader, you have to challenge your
team to do what might seem impossible, given the
available resources. Providing the appropriate context
for them to buy-in can make all the difference in terms of
engagement.
Heres an extreme example from the popular movie
Henry V with Kenneth Branagh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-yZNMWFqvM

Context and meaning can make all the difference.

If you placed a plank of wood on the ground and
said to your team that you would give $50 to anyone
who walks the length of this plank, who would do it?
Almost everyone will... its an easy $50!
What if you took this same plank and placed it
between 2 buildings, up at the twelfth floor. $50 to
anyone who will walk across the plank!
Would they do it? Not a chance.
Okay... now the other building is on fire and their
child is laying unconscious at the other end of that
plank and the flames will reach them in just a few
moments. Would they go across the plank now?
Most would say yes.
So what is the difference? Its the same danger, the
same variables pretty much, but the difference is .
why.
If you provide a good enough reason, your team
members really can achieve things that they may
not have thought possible. It all comes down to how
strong and relevant that WHY is.

In over two decades of being involved in developing

leaders, they have told me that context, including level of
priority, is often missing, or is thin at best, in many tasks
that they, as leaders, assign. It is not done with any malice,
but purely to save time explaining Just do it! replaces
Why I need this done is .
Without context, you might be encouraging them to either
plow on, and do the best they can, or come back to
you seeking more information. If they plow on without
context, they will probably not provide the outcome you
were looking for. This could result in either poor work
quality, rework, extra cost and having to performance
manage them. This will likely undermine trust, encourage
disengagement, and increase the amounts of stress you
are both experiencing.

Stress without Meaning

leads to feelings of
Cynicism, Apathy, Futility &
Despair
High levels of stress show up in our attitude and behaviors,
as I am sure you have experienced. Neuroscience
has demonstrated how contagious such attitudes and
behaviours can be. This, known as emotional contagion
in the literature, spreads rapidly, particularly when coming
from a leader due to their perceived importance.
When emotional contagion is negative, it is perceived
as a threat; this perception, whether consciously or nonconsciously, releases cortisol and adrenaline and sets
up the fight/flight/freeze response initiated by our limbic
system.
Oxygenated blood, the energy source for the brain and
necessary for clear thinking, is automatically shunted
away from the neo-cortex as well as the digestive and

AMMJ

Nov 2013

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reproductive areas to our arms and legs, readying

us for action. This system is highly appropriate from
a survival perspective. Confronted by a hungry tiger,
it prompts us to respond rapidly and provides our
muscles with the energy with which to do that. If we
survive, cortisol levels return to normal.
However, today, you are likely faced with so many
situations that can be interpreted as threatening
being ignored by the boss in a meeting; not making
budget; an upcoming performance review; being late
for work; poor work/life balance; strain on relationships;
interrupted or lack of sleep; poor diet; lack of exercise
etc.that your cortisol and adrenaline levels can
remain chronically high.
This can reduce your resilience, in turn heightening
your perception of threat, creating a vicious cycle that
has been associated with damage to the hippocampus,
where new neurons are produced (through
neurogenesis) and memories are stored.
Reduced memory function, risky decision making,
impaired relationships, poor well-being and a reduced
lifespan have all been linked to these chronically high
stress levels. Given the growing number of research
findings confirming such negative health outcomes,
organisations will need to address such matters to
mitigate liability. Think asbestos and James Hardy
Industries.
How the new leader might take personal responsibility
for their own well-being and that of their team will be
touched on next and expanded on in the extended
version of this article.

So how does the brain work?

45

Neuroscientist Dr Gordon, one of the wise elders of

neuroscience, distilled hundreds of theories of brain
operation into this one model, that he termed Brain
1-2-4 (Gordon et al., 2008).
Dr Gordon explains this in terms of the brain working off
one key principle: it wants to minimize danger and
maximize reward.

It has two modes of operation, Non-Conscious and

Conscious, with most of its operations occurring at
the non-conscious level, which is far quicker and more
energy efficient than its conscious mode.
It involves four methods of processing: Emotion,
Thinking, Feeling and Self Regulation. You can
view Dr Gordon explaining the model in his own words
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYU1WgteWKU. It
runs for 8 minutes.
In this model, emotion occurs automatically (nonconsciously), by basic signals of danger and reward
(feedforward), e.g. a car backfires and you jump. At
around 200 milliseconds (1/5th
second) thinking and feeling emerge
in conscious awareness providing
feedback from the body and
brain. You might notice your heart
thumping or your palms sweating.
Thinking allows for the initiation
of voluntary actions and selective
attention to significant input, which
can then be communicated to
longer-term memory. Long-term
memory confirms Its OK. It was just
a car backfiring!
The new-generation of leaders will
have learned explicit emotional
regulation strategies that enable
them to have effective control over
their emotions.
What seems likely to prove
essential is having a rich palette of
emotion regulatory response options
that can be flexibly employed,
with a clear appreciation of the
relative costs and benefits of using
any given regulatory strategy in a
particular situation
(Gross, 2002, p.289).

A systemic exploration of key strategies with which to

make up this rich palette of emotion regulation response
options, with a case study, follows in Article 2.
Interested in learning more? Jon Pratlett is a high
performance coach and leadership specialist. He
facilitates workshops, on-line training, one-on-one and
senior executive team coaching, applying the latest
neuroscience findings, amongst other insights, to
personal, team and organisation effectiveness.
Email [email protected] to set up a meeting to
learn more. Visit Jons website at www.jonpratlett.com.

AMMJ

Nov 2013

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Equipment & Services for

Assets, Plant & Buildings
The SALVO Project:
Public Launch of Results
The SALVO Project (Strategic Assets: Lifecycle Value

Optimization) is a multi-national, multi-industry consortium

that has been addressing the perfect storm headaches of
aging infrastructure, capital constraints, uncertain data and
risks, while facing growing performance.
London Underground, Sasol, Scottish Water, National
Grid, Cambridge University and others, have been
working together for 3 years to research and develop new
approaches and are pleased to share their remarkable
findings.
John Woodhouse, SALVO Programme Director said: We
are delighted to announce that SALVO has broken some
significant new ground in helping people to make better
decisions about what to do, when, and why, in managing
their aging assets. These techniques have now been fieldproven and are delivering big cost savings, increased
transparency and consistency in critical risk-based
decisions, and are showing major improvements in whole
life cycle asset value.
The SALVO process comprises 6 essential steps, covering
the sorting and prioritizing of problems, understanding their
true nature, identifying options (including options that do
not include expenditure or asset interventions), evaluating

46

NEWS
their business value-for-money (including how to
convince others of the justifications and optimal
timings) and programme assembly with total cost,
risk, performance and resource implications.
The overall process is supported by an extensive
toolbox of recommended best practices, training,
decision-support software tools, guidance and
templates. These also (uniquely) include extensive
methods for capturing and quantifying expert
knowledge, quantifying risks and economic impact,
and making better decisions even when hard data
is limited or unavailable.
The SALVO processes are explained and
illustrated in a Process Guidebook (estimated
publication date: December 2013). This provides
practical and detailed storyboards for 42 decision
types, ranging from optimal inspection intervals, to
justifications for planned maintenance to extend
asset life, and optimal replacement timing.
Such individual decisions provide the necessary
material to construct and optimize a composite
(whole asset life cycle) management plan, and
the final module of the SALVO suite the StAMP
stage represents a practical mechanism for
constructing the fully optimized Strategic Asset
Management Plan required by the ISO 55001
standard for Asset
Management.
Recognising the
achievements of
the SALVO project,
Keith Hamer, Vice
President, Global

WANTED your news on plant engineering, assets,

plant equipment, tools, energy, HVAC, plant services,
bearings, compressed air systems, lighting, training,
environment, etc..
Send to: [email protected]

Asset Management, Sodexo said: Our clients need

processes like SALVO, which enable better decisionmaking through better analysis and a process approach,
to determine the performance of those assets and the
value that those assets then represent to the business.
Sasols site in Secunda, South Africa

Christine Pretorius, Industrial Engineering Leader, Sasol

Synfuels, has been implementing the SALVO processes
in the 2nd largest oil refinery in the world. In one case
study We were facing the apparently urgent replacement
of our obsolete control systems, at a cost of R608million
(c.55million). With SALVO we were able to reduce
this by 60% and renegotiate support arrangements for a
further 20 years.
Other examples and case studies include railway track
re-profiling to extend rail life (and reduce vibration/
noise nuisance), the optimal cleaning programme for
wastewater filters, optimal replacement timings for aging
pumps of different designs and criticalities, the best
painting regime for steelwork, and the optimal life cycle
management strategy for over 300 HV Motors.
In all cases, irrespective of industry sector, asset type or
available current information, SALVO has yielded new
insights, triggered fresh thinking and made tangible cost,
risk or asset life extension benefits.

AMMJ

Nov 2013
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Part of the success of SALVO is the merger

of three interdependent elements: the human
factors (knowledge, motivation, cross-disciplinary
collaboration methods) with disciplined and preresearched best practice processes, and leadingedge what if? analytical tools.
The combination has been developed into a suite of
integrated solutions: the DST ASSET STRATEGY
EVALUATOR suite, now available for licensed usage,
training or expert facilitation services.
This suite comprises seven modules:

47

SALVO processes are now available worldwide

under license as a combination of the following:
Process Guidebook (with case studies), due for
publication December 2013
Modular training courses at basic, expert and
facilitator levels
Modular suite of decision-support software tools
Technical Playbook of step-by-step guidance
(licensed with the decision toolkit)
* Library of case studies
For more information contact:
[email protected]

Fast XRF elemental analysis from Olympus

Geochemical analysis of minerals and non-destructive testing
(NDT) of manufactured materials by X-ray fluorescence
(XRF) is a crucial tool in many industries. XRF can be used
for applications ranging from measuring the concentrations of
elements in soil or rock samples, or identifying the grade of
stainless steel in a section of pipeline. They can be used for
detection, identification and analysis of elements at a range of
concentrations.
Safety first
One important consideration when utilising hand-held XRF
analysers is the amount of radiation to which an operator is
exposed. The design and features of the Olympus devices
combine to minimise the equivalent radiation dose to which a
technician may be exposed.
An XRF analyser uses a controlled beam of radiation to excite
the electrons in a sample causing the elements to fluoresce.
Each element fluoresces at a specific energy level, which can
be identified as a characteristic peak. A higher peak indicates
a greater concentration of an element.
Choosing a model
Andrew Taylor, Regional Sales Manager with Olympus,
announced that the company had released two new handheld XRF models. The Delta Premium Plus is aimed at
the mineral exploration and mining sector, he said. The
Delta Professional has been developed for the Alloy and
NDT sectors, especially companies conducting analysis of
manufactured and scrap materials such as stainless steel and
a wide range of other alloy types.
The Premium Plus is most commonly used by field geologists
to determine elemental concentrations in a particular soil,
rock or ore sample. This type of work is regularly carried
out by mining companies in remote areas, so the ability to
measure samples on location and thereby minimising the
number that need to be sent to a laboratory for analysis saves
both time and money.

When a Delta Premium is calibrated with Geochem

mode, it looks for specific elements and can accurately
measure concentrations from parts per million (PPM) up to
percentages. It can detect elements in the periodic table
ranging from Magnesium to Uranium. Used on location
for immediate results, the Premium can help determine
the next course of action, when time is a critical factor or
materials cannot be transported, damaged, or altered.
The Window Guard system is also available for specific
models of the Delta analyser range. It is an economical,
easy to mount and remove accessory designed to protect
the instruments sensitive components from damage by
sharp objects, dirt and debris. The Window Guard can
minimise costly repair bills and down time, especially
when testing metal turnings, shavings and protruding
components.
Looking into the future
Early XRF analysers were large, floor-mounted devices
that required lots of power. A consequence of this was
that the cost of early devices was prohibitive for all but
the largest analysis laboratories. XRF technology has
advanced such that the size of the todays portable units
has become much smaller and their cost has dropped
significantly.
For further information, please contact:
www.olympus-ims.com

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Equipment & Services for Assets, Plant & Buildings

Use of mobile devices to record JSA

(Job Safety Analysis)

48

The popularity of mobile phones and tablets has changed

the market with an estimated over 50 million monthly
global activations of mobile devices for the past 3 months.
Despite the huge popularity of the smart phone and
tablets, only few applications seemed to be focused on
business needs; in specific, managing and recording JSA
in the field.
The demand for JSA software running on tablets and
phones has increased due to the low cost and the
availability of the mobile devices. Since the majority of
field workers already carry phones, using their phones
for completing JSAs during their field activities does not
require additional expenditures.
When using the appropriate implementation of a JSA
App, the process of collecting data in the field is easy and
captures all the required information:
1. The Application must be easy to use. As it is used in
the field, field workers must be able to rapidly master the
Application, learn how to navigate to their desired screen/
function, and adopt the App as an extension of their
business tools/gadgets.
2. Offline mode- I am a strong fan of offline mode field
applications, in which employees can
use their App without being dependent
on connectivity. The JSA App is
therefore replacing paper forms with
a significantly better tool but without
the need for continuous connectivity
and increased costs. So, how would
an offline App work without the need
for connectivity? Its pretty simple.
The user can send and receive all
the required information and pictures
wirelessly at any time; but once data
is sent or received, users can record
all required information directly onto

their device while it is offline. Similar to an email client,

the field worker control when and how data is sent back
to the office. This eliminating dependency on connectivity
in remote locations or in areas without connectivity (e.g.
basements) and reducing costs since data can also be
transmitted using Wi-Fi.
3. Picture-taking and integrating the image with the JSA
results and/or Hazards is essential. Employees must
be able to snap images and doodle on their pictures
as required (e.g. identifying the hazard or the noncompliance). In addition, wireless transmission of pictures
must be done efficiently and securely without exposing
your server to security breaches.
4. Simplifying data collection by standardizing functions
and drop-down lists is essential. The employee must be
able to select values from as many drop-down lists as
possible for example- (Hazard identification, precautions,
equipment required, environmental hazards, ,and
therefore minimize data entry.
5. Voice recording- the JSA application should also allow
for voice recording of findings and recommendation to
save time while entering the data in the field.
6. Signature sign on the glass by the employee
completing the JSA.-

The Desktop / Database / Server

and the JSA application

To maximize utilisation and return-on-investment, JSA

applications should not be stand-alone. They should be
designed from the outset to collect information, display
and manipulate information, and transfer information to
and from a desktop database and back to the mobile
device seamlessly. The desktop/server application should
provide a variety of operational and management functions
including scheduling, tracking, real time notifications,
management functions, reports, and analysis tools.
Naaman Shibi Techs4biz Australia
www.pervidi.com.au

Link Festival 2013

Design. Technology. Social Change.

25/26 November, 2013 Melbourne, Australia

Engineers Without Borderss (EWBs) National Conference
is Bigger than Ever!
Link Festival will bring together Australias leading and
emerging social innovators to explore how humanitarian
engineering, design and technology can create change in
our backyard and on a global scale. The event will be held
at Federation Square - one of Melbournes most iconic
locations.
The Festival will attract 400+ leading and emerging social
innovators to explore how technology and design can lead
to sustainability and social innovation into the future. This
is the perfect event for designers, social entrepreneurs,
engineers, architects, makers, coders, hackers and anyone
wanting to apply their skills make an impact in world.
Link is all about facilitating meaningful connections, so also
included on the program are interactive workshops with
titles such as: The Pitch, Co-Creating Change, Learning
from Failure, Stories from the Field, Career How To, and
Local Social Change.
To register or find out more
visit www.linkfestival.com.au.

AMMJ

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Equipment & Services for Assets, Plant & Buildings

Snap-on Industrial releases

Tools@Height safety system

49

Iconic automotive brand Snap-on Tools has extended its foray

into the Australian industrial market, launching Tools@Height,
the only system in the country customised to provide safe
working conditions at heights.
From small screwdrivers to sledge hammers covering both high
level and low level use, The Tools@Height range includes Snapon Tools that have been specifically designed to accept lanyards
that can be attached either to the operator, or to a suitable site
tether point. The range prevents tools being lost or dropped,
reducing the risk of potential injury to people or equipment
below.
The concept was first developed by Snap-on to prevent tools
being dropped by oil workers into the North Sea.
Tools@Height has now been launched to key Australian
industries including oil and gas, mining, construction, defence
and aviation.
Tools@Height is already the
tool of choice for many highprofile international customers
including the likes of BP,
Transocean, Dolphin and
Balfour Beatty, said Peter
Marinovic, National Sales
Manager of Snap-on Industrial
Division.
Tools@Height will assist
a wide selection of local
companies across a range of
important industries to ensure
their worksites and employees
are properly protected in line
with Work Health and Safety
standards.
The electrical range of
Tools@Height products are

Power-Safe, meaning they are isolated from

electronic currents, and also come with several
improved features, such as Lock-on safety
sockets and Snap-coil weldless fittings. While a
normal socket could easily be detached from a
ratchet, Lock-On sockets are unable to accidently
release, so there is no possibility of components
injuring people or equipment. More importantly,
while welded links could fail in service, stainless
steel Snap-Coil tool links have no welds to
inspect or break.
Other Tools@Height safety features include:
Power-Safe Insulated Tools with a
new designed lanyard attachment that
is fully integrated with the tools handle
Integrated hammerheads
Lockable lanyard snap-hooks
Lanyards tested and certified
Bags, pouches and tool keepers
Standard and custom kit building
In-house design and engineering
Prototypes and special tools
ISO 9001 quality management
The expanding Tools@Height range includes:
Water Pump Pliers
Linesman Pliers
Diagonal Cutters
Cable Cutters
Adjustable Pliers
Needle Nose Plier
Wire Stripping Pliers
Adjustable Wrench
Core Croppers
The Tools@Height range is fitted by our
technicians on site and comes with an extensive
support package, such as face-to-face product
training and technical support. Tools@Height is
now available from the Snap-On Industrial sales
team. More information can be found at:
http://www.snapontools.com.au/industrial

Ladders Out Of Step With Safety Standards

Load bearing capability is critical in the safety performance of
products like builders scaffolding, trench supports, industrial
racking, barriers and elevated walkways, which are all required
to comply with stringent Australian Standards*.
Azuma Design has been kept increasingly busy over the
past year testing a diverse range of load-bearing products for
compliance with the standard, an area critical for worker safety.
As soon as you put workers into a situation where they are
elevated off the ground or working in or under the ground, the
opportunity for injury greatly increases, Azuma Director of
Design Mike Alchin says.
You cannot afford to have load failures in things like scaffolding
or trench supports, so the Standard is stringent for good
reason. Mechanical engineering is at the heart of the testing
regimes at Azuma Design, it enables us to design and build test
equipment to measure the capability and compliance of virtually
any product.
Azuma Design has two extensively-equipped NATA-accredited
test laboratories, in Sydney and Perth.
Measuring against the Standard is pretty straight forward,
though we are constantly surprised and disturbed by the number
of failures we see.
Take ladders, for example. Azuma recently tested a range of
major brand ladders, all imported from different suppliers, and
all supposedly compliant with the Australian Standard. All failed!
Scarily, every single ladder failed during testing, and all
well short of the Standard required by our laws, Mike Alchin
explained.It was certainly a surprise and made everyone
involved think harder about product quality and safety the
ramifications of a failure in this type of product dont bare
thinking about.
* AS1657 Fixed platforms, walkways, stairways & ladders
* AS4687 Temporary Fencing
* ASNZS1170-1 Structural Design Actions
* AS/NZS1892.1,.2,.3 Performance & Dimensional Tests
on portable ladders
Azuma Designs customer base includes those from many
industries across Australia and New Zealand, plus from
Germany, Russia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Canada, Japan
and Taiwan.
www.azumadesign.com.au

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Equipment & Services for Assets, Plant & Buildings

Bentley Map Mobile App, further enhancing

information mobility

50

Bentley Map Mobile, empowers users to view and act

upon Bentley Map geospatial information through mobile
devices. With this powerful new Bentley App, infrastructure
professionals can readily share geospatial data with
non-GIS specialists in the field, including installation
and maintenance teams, construction and engineering
technicians, and inspectors.
This enhanced information mobility provides these
specialists with continuous, real-time access to up-todate geospatial information about the landbase; utility,
telecommunications, and transportation networks; and
other spatially managed infrastructure that they support in
the field. The first release of Bentley Map Mobile runs on
Android-based devices.
Commenting on why the Philadelphia Water Department is
looking forward to employing Bentley Map Mobile, Thomas
Kaufmann, PWDs engineering plans design supervisor,
said, We will have the ability to take our infrastructure
geospatial data out in the field, with all the attribution
attached and searchable. The map is geocoded so it uses
the tablets GPS capabilities to move the map to where
you are located all without WiFi or a data plan!
Harry Vitelli, Bentley vice president, construction and
field, said, A few years ago even we at Bentley couldnt
have imagined having a tablet device in the field that
contains the full landbase for an entire country and that
offers lightning-fast queries in an easy-to-use form factor.
Bentley Map Mobile supports our mission of sustaining
infrastructure by ensuring that field professionals need not
sacrifice even a small level of performance for the sake of
information mobility that enables them to find and improve
infrastructure assets, anytime, anywhere whether or not
they are connected.
Bentley Map Mobile works with Bentleys next generation
of i-models (containers for open infrastructure information
exchange) that can now package geospatial information

for use on mobile devices. The new i-models use the

SQLite software library to deliver unmatched performance
on virtually all mobile devices. Representative applications
that can publish i-models include Bentley Map Enterprise,
Bentley Utilities Designer, and Bentleys communications
products, including Bentley Coax, Bentley Copper, Bentley
Fiber, and Bentley Inside Plant.
Bentley Map Mobile provides the following functionality:
fast access to large geospatial data sets;
easy-to-use, standard tablet-based gestures such as
pinch to zoom, swipe to drag, point to select features;
simple query mechanism to look up features quickly;
GPS integration for fast location in the field;
Google Maps integration for directions to located
features (with network connection);
disconnected, view-only operation for access anywhere,
without a network connection;
raster and vector display.
The advantages of Bentley Map Mobile include:
improving the quality of decisions made by field
personnel by providing quick access to accurate,
up-to-date asset information;
increasing worker safety by having access to current
information as well as information on adjacent
utilities that might have an impact on the work they
are completing;
increasing the return on investment in geospatial data
by making this valuable data available to an entirely new
group of users.
Bentley Map Mobile empowers field technicians by giving
them untethered access to the most recent geospatial
asset information on their mobile devices. It also helps
them respond to emergencies and maintenance issues
more quickly, reducing disruptions and increasing uptime
for utilities and other infrastructure assets.
Bentley Map Mobile is available to all Bentley Passport
holders at no additional charge and can be accessed at
www.bentley.com/BentleyMapMobile.

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Equipment & Services for Assets, Plant & Buildings s

3D Scan your whole factory to an accuracy

of 2mm. View, Share & Measure Online

51

Problem
In an ideal world every factory would have accurate, fully
dimensioned 2D/3D drawings of every part of the facility,
so that plant modifications can be easily assessed and
defined. In reality the first steps in plant remodeling to
meet demands for new products is often a time consuming
measurement and drawing process.
For complex plants this takes too long and it can be
difficult to attain high levels of accuracy. This lack of
visibility often means that initial discussions of new
layouts, at a senior level, are delayed or made worse by
relying on inaccurate layouts.
3 Steps to Design Excellence
1. Scan to Pointcloud
We arrive on site and
scan the entire facility
to an accuracy of 2mm.
Scanning produces a
point cloud that is then
colourised with the
high definition images
captured during the
scan.
2. View & Share
Securely share your
factory with the web
viewer giving unprecedented collaboration between
teams and sites. Best practice examples can be shared
across the group anytime, anywhere. All elements are
measurable and can be annotated allowing items to be
asset tracked for maintenance.
3. Design in CAD
Post process the point cloud into SolidWorks and remodel/
design whole areas of your factory.

3D Scan to CAD is 12 times faster than manual

measurement
Results
The PDX 3D scan can reduce design and installation
time, project costs and increase the quality of the solution.
Assets can be viewed and tracked anywhere anytime. The
innovative engineering techniques involved in the PDX 3D
scan means that:
Solutions are based on complete, accurate information
Time on site is dramatically reduced
Solutions will be right first time
Potential suppliers can be given restricted remote access
What can be accomplished
Complete 3D model of a facility to an accuracy of 2mm
Savings across the board in the design & implementation
phases of projects
Sharing of best practices across groups
Asset track objects for maintenanc
http://www.olympus-automation.co.uk

3 STEPS TO DESIGN EXCELLENCE

Keg filled with beer

Keg filled with beer

Keg filled with lye

Keg filled with lye

Thermal imaging ensures that kegs

contain beer and nothing else!
The infrared image clearly shows that a keg filled with beer is cooler than a keg filled with lye.

Erdinger Weissbru is one of Germanys largest and most

successful private breweries which brews its beers six
days a week around the clock, and without ever deviating
from its high quality standard.
Consequently, Erdinger Weissbru maintains a permanent
chain of security controls for its keg filling and packing
process. Simulation and risk analysis have shown that
however careful the production, it was conceivable that
customers could take delivery of a keg filled with lye a
caustic chemical used in the cleaning process instead
of beer. Drawing on its exceptional quality and brand
awareness, Erdinger Weissbru decided to ensure a
100% protection of its keg cleaning and filling process.
Risk analysis demonstrated the need to set up an
additional control point to ensure that a keg filled with lye
could not slip through the conventional control points.
As a keg containing lye has a considerably higher
temperature than a keg filled with beer, continuous
monitoring of temperatures proved to be the optimum
solution. So now an infrared camera checks each
passing keg. When correctly adjusted and interpreted,
the cameras images enable a virtually error-free
measurement. A FLIR Systems A-Series thermal imaging
camera now measures the temperature of every keg
before it leaves the conveyor belt of the filling installation.
If the infrared camera identifies a keg with a different
temperature, it sets off an alarm and the conveyor belt is
automatically halted. The keg is then manually removed.
The infrared aided monitoring system has proven to be
extremely successful.
www.flir.com

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Stores, Purchasing,
Parts, and Materials.

ARTICLES

Spare Parts Inventory:

An Exercise in Risk Management
Joel Levitt

[email protected]

What do your car insurance, creating backups

of your computer files, and spare parts inventory
have in common? They are each an example of
risk management.

According to Wikipedia, risk management is: the

identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks
followed by coordinated and economical application
of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the
probability and/or impact of events.
So just like your car insurance is a way to minimize
the financial consequence of a car crash, backing
up your files is a way to minimize the consequence
of a computer crash and spare parts inventory is a
way to minimize the consequence of an equipment
crash. Its all about risk management.

Investment vs. Risk Management

52

[email protected]

Despite the fact that an inventory of spare parts

costs a good amount of money, and that
accountants classify your inventory as an asset,
and that some spare parts have been increasing in
cost faster than inflation, they are still not a great
investment. Some parts become obsolete before

AMMJ

Phillip Slater - Editor SPP & M

Part 1

[email protected]

Phillip Slater

Each edition of the AMMJ will now bring you articles, news
and case studies relating to the management, procurement
and use of spare parts & materials in the world of asset
management & maintenance.
If you have any comments or would like to contribute an
Article or Case Study or News to a future edition please
feel free to contact me directly at:

we can use them, some parts get damaged, and some

even go bad. To add insult to injury, we can buy a part
today and not collect the return on investment (ROI), by
using the part, for many years. With other investments
we like to see a ROI of 30-50%, starting immediately.
So, why would any business, that is supposed to
operate in a way to make a profit, ever want to make
that investment? The answer is risk management and
to understand that better we need to look at the real
function of maintenance spare parts and understand
why we might inventory them in the first place.
When we dissect the spare parts use it is clear that
there are only two reasons to hold a supply of spare
parts. But more on that in a minute.
First, here is one thing that you need to know before
we go ahead: Having the part available does not
necessarily mean that you are stocking it. In all the
scenarios that follow having the part available is the
issue, not owning the part. It is critical that this is
understood.
There are a couple of well used strategies that you can
use to have a part available without having it in stock:
The most common internal method is for a plant to
share the part with other plants (belonging to the
same company) with similar equipment. The unusual

variation is where factories of different companies

share some parts. This is more common in regions
with a lot of specific activity such as mining in
Western Australia or carpet manufacturing in
Dalton, Georgia.
The most common external method is to make
an agreement with a vendor to supply a part within
X number of hours. Variations include consignment
stock where the part is kept at your warehouse but
is owned by the vendor until you use it.

Big and Little Reasons

To Hold A Supply of Spare Parts
The little reasons
Sometimes vendor packaging creates inventory
meaning that you cant always buy the exact quantity
you need. You want six, it sells in eights, and bingo
youve got inventory! Sometimes we can obtain parts
more cheaply if we buy them in economic quantities
just be sure that you use them all. Sometimes we
need to purchase in advance because maintenance
workers are more productive if they have all the parts
required before starting work.
The big reason
Machines occasionally fail. In spite of intense PM
(preventive maintenance inspection) scrutiny we miss
the symptoms and the asset fails. In some cases

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Stores, Purchasing, Parts, and Materials.

the consequence is small and easily manageable

(both practically and financially). We might have a
warehouse full of product, a full distribution chain,
a sister plant that can take up the slack or we
are not sold out of capacity and can make up the
production. But if the consequences of waiting to
put the asset back into service are dire, expensive,
disruptive, harmful, disruptive to a customer, or
dangerous then we must do what is in our power
to manage that potential risk. Often that means
ensuring access to spare parts so that we dont
have to wait an extended length of time before
commencing the repair.
This means that the real reason that you need to
stock the part in inventory is that you cant reliably
get the supply within your planning horizon. The
planning horizon might be zero for break downs, or
a month with condition monitoring, or six months for
a major PM but you only hold stock because you
cant get it within the time that your planning allows.
Of course, if you do no planning than you need to
hold lots of stock!

Understanding The Consequences

Of A Breakdown

53

There are several consequences of breakdown and

they are usually classified as safety, environmental
and/or economic. Some breakdowns, like Bhopal
Indias MIC leak that killed upwards of 2,500
civilians and wounded over 100,000 others, are
completely unacceptable at any cost. Others such
as the battery fires experienced during the roll out
of the Boeing 787 are unacceptable from both a
safety and loss of asset points of view.
In almost all cases, after the safety & environmental
consequences are evaluated and eliminated,
as much as possible, all the subsequent

consequences are really variations on economic

themes. Here are some examples of the cost of
downtime:
Power plant downtime
$160,000 /hour
Oil Refinery 400,000/ b/d
$100,000 /hour
(just the refiners margin)
Automobile assembly line
$500,000 /hour
Cigarette manufacturing
$240,000 /hour
From a risk management point of view the evaluation
of consequence goes like this: With the right parts
in stock (or otherwise available) it may take (for
example) 2 days to put a failed power plant back online. Without the part available it takes 4 weeks (lead
time) and 2 days (for the repair). If the kit of parts to
do the repair is $100,000 is it worth it to stock? The
answer really depends on the probability. Would you
pay $100,000 as an insurance premium against that
particular failure? Is it worth it even if we never have
the failure?
Having the right parts helps keep the consequences
of breakdown to a manageable level. This is just like
the thinking you use for insurance. You contract with
a company to pay the premium to have them shoulder
the consequences you are unwilling to take. Of course
if you are will to take the risk then you dont insure it!
These questions and considerations are at the heart of
risk management.

Risk Management Functions

There are four basic functions to manage risk - risk

identification, risk quantification, risk probability,
and risk response. The first three, identification,
quantification and probability, are sometimes grouped
together under Risk Analysis or Risk Assessment.
With these functions completed, the last is to exercise
risk vigilance. Risk vigilance is simply the recognition
of the risk conditions, the ongoing response to the risk
conditions on the ground, and implementation of the
appropriate risk responses.

Vigilance requires you to identify an appropriate trigger

and this defines the parameters for your vigilance. We
say appropriate risk responses because different risks
require different approaches. For example, you might
have a smoke detector to monitor for the risk of fire and
machine guards to manage the risk of injury.

Here is an example of the application of this

thinking:
Risk identification:
Failure of the bearings on a turbine is a risk.
Risk quantification:
In the event of a failure, will anyone get hurt and how
hurt? How much money will the event cost per hour or
day of downtime? What if the repair takes a few weeks
or months instead of a few hours or days?
Risk probability:
What is the chance this risk will happen? Has it
happened before? Does the manufacturer warn us
about the risk? Do we have statistics about MTBF
(Mean Time Between Failures) for the bearings in
question?
Risk response:
Can we eliminate or anticipate the failure? What parts
will be needed? How costly is the kit? Can the risk be
transferred to someone else (by using supply contracts
or buying insurance)? Does the waiting time for the part
introduce any unanticipated risk?
Risk vigilance:
How do we organize our team and maintenance
strategy so that an event becomes apparent quickly
enough that we have time to respond? In addition to
vigilance this aspect includes responding to changes in
the character of the risks over the life span of the plant.

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Stores, Purchasing, Parts, and Materials.

Risk Management Process

54

Now that we have identified the key functions, lets put that into
the context of the whole process. Each of the following steps is
important and you must apply them in sequence. If you dont have
the data for any step that is a sign that your risk management is
under-developed and a trigger to collect the required data.
Before proceeding you should consider the value of spares to which
you apply his process. All risk management reviews require time
and attention and for low values of spares holdings it may be a
better choice to just stock the required spares. We suggest that at a
minimum this assessment be carried out for all spares requiring an
investment of more than $1,000.
Step 1:
Identify the specific spare part that you will be considering for this
process.
Step 2:
Determine the criticality of the systems, machines, and processes
in your plant. Usually we segment criticality into breakdowns that
can shut the whole plant or stop distribution, breakdowns that take
out a single line, and breakdowns that reduce output. You can also
develop other criticality levels to suit your layout and plant design.
Step 3:
Identify any significant safety and environmental risks. This should
include risks from simple slips, trips and falls, all the way up to a
safety or environmental catastrophe.
Step 4:
Interview other stakeholders to identify risks (such as operations,
engineering, and supply chain) and weigh the risks they see. This
would include impacts on other operations downstream, disruptions
and delays to the supply chain etc.
Step 5:
Convert the consequence of the risk into the potential financial
impact based on the downtime effect and other losses.

AMMJ

Step 6:
Using the matrix in Table 1 identify for each
category the score for the consequence in the
event that the spare part is not available when
required. Note that this does not automatically
assume that the part should be in stock.
Purchasing a spare should be considered only
as the last resort, firstly consider the following:
Can you repair the failed item in a suitable
time frame?
Can you use an alternative item?
Consequence
Category

Can you delay replacement until the

vendor delivers the spare?
Can you control the plant/process
without the part for the lead time for
delivery?
If the answer is yes to any of the above
questions then follow that process first and
document any required controlling measures.
If more than one category applies, use the
highest Consequence Score.
Table 1

Consequence Score for Non Availability When Required

1

Safety
(potential for injury
should the plant
operate without
the spare part)

No Safety
Concerns

Manageable
safety issues
Use of temporary
safety procedures

Environment

Minor Leakages
Relatively easy to
clean.

Significant
Leakages

Significant
Pollution

Some clean up
costs and
operational
inconvenience.

Significant clean
up costs.
High likelihood of
EPA notification.
May attract
public/media
attention.

Minor Product
Defect
Minor process
control
adjustments
required.

Significant
Product Defect
Significant
process changes
required.

$0 - $999

$1,000 - $9,999

Not noticeable to
the public/media.

Quality

Finance/Business
Impact

5
Genuine potential
for injury

Major
Environmental
event
Significant clean
up costs
High likelihood of
EPA fine or action
Will attract
public/media
attention

Major
Environmental
Event
Major release of
pollutants.
Public/media
concern.
Company
reputation
damaged.

Serious Product
Defect
Defect localized to
batch or product.

Major Product
Defect
Scrapping of large
batches of
product.

Total Product
Defect
Total product
recall.

$10,000 - $99,999

$100,000 - $1M

Nov 2013

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>$1M

Stores, Purchasing, Parts, and Materials.

Table 2
Probability Score
1

+5 years to failure

3 -5 Years to
Failure

1 3 Years to
Failure

Could fail in next

12 months

Step 7:
Using the matrix in Table 2 identify the probability
score based on the expected frequency or potential
for failure. Please note that by its nature this will be
an estimate based on your current maintenance/
engineering understanding.
Step 8:
Use the decision matrix in Table 3 to determine the
required course of action.
In most cases this matrix will indicate whether you
should or should not purchase the spare. What
this process cannot do is tell you how many to
purchase. To use this risk management approach
for different spare parts holding levels just rerun the process based on that holding level but

5
Has failed or will
fail in next 12
months

remember that justifying more than one spare requires

that for the subsequent spares your time frame for
failure is limited to the lead time for re-stocking as this
is the period of risk exposure.
In approximately one quarter of situations the matrix
does not make a definite suggestion and leaves
the decision to a judgment call. This reflects the
borderline cases where specific company local
knowledge will inform the answer.
In part 2 of this article we will take the ideas discussed
above and explore the impact of your maintenance
policy on your spare parts inventory holdings and
subsequent risk exposure.

About the Authors

Joel Levitt, is the Director of International Projects
at Life Cycle Engineering, he has written standardsetting books on maintenance management, planning,
shutdowns, and other maintenance topics for factories,
fleets and major industrial facilities. Find out more
about Joel at www.LCE.com
Phillip Slater specializes in Materials and Spare Parts
Management. He is the founder of the online training
and information site SparePartsKnowHow.com, and the
author of 8 books, including Smart Inventory Solutions
and The Optimization Trap. For a complimentary copy
of the ebook 5 Myths of Inventory Reduction please
visit http://www.PhillipSlater.com
Part 2 of this article will be published in the

January 2014 AMMJ

Table 3
Probability
Score

Consequence Score
2

Do not
Purchase

Do not
Purchase

Do not
Purchase

Snr Mgr
Decision

Snr Mgr
Decision

Do not
Purchase

Do not
Purchase

Do not
Purchase

Snr Mgr
Decision

Purchase
Spare

Do not
Purchase

Do not
Purchase

Snr Mgr
Decision

Purchase
Spare

Purchase
Spare

Snr Mgr
Decision

Snr Mgr
Decision

Purchase
Spare

Purchase
Spare

Purchase
Spare

55

Snr Mgr
Decision

Purchase
Spare

Purchase
Spare

Purchase
Spare

Purchase
Spare

AMMJ

Nvv 2013

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Warehouse Safety:
Part 2 Selecting The Right PPE
Phil Mendelowitz

USA

Part 1 Warehouse Safety was in the Sept 13 AMMJ

56

Warehouse management is a critical function of

your overall spare parts inventory management
and, of course, safety is job #1. So in Part 1 of
this series, we began our review of warehouse
safety by exploring the process and approach to job
safety analysis. We identified where storeroom and
warehouse safety hazards are usually located.
The next step in the process then is to determine
what kind of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
you need to provide appropriate protection to
employees as they carry out their tasks.
PPE protects workers from serious workplace
injuries or illnesses resulting from contact with
chemical, radiological, physical, electrical,
mechanical, or other workplace hazards. One way
to think of this is imagine what a Knight from the
middle ages might have worn a suit of armor! A
Knights job description included protecting his
King from enemies of the realm and this probably
meant fighting many battles. So his PPE had to
help protect him from swords, lances, and arrows
so that he could continue doing his job and save the
kingdom.
The same also applies to an athlete getting ready for
a football game. In American Football players wear
shin guards, shoulder pads and helmets to give them
the protection they need to get through the game.
Now apply this same thinking as you look at where
the hazards in your warehouse intersect with the
employees and from that determine what protection
will keep them from injury or long term disability.

Of course, a safety professional should usually undertake

this task, however because safety is job #1, I believe that all
employees, whether management or worker, should be aware
of what is available to ensure the safety of themselves & their
peers. Here is my guide to appropriate warehouse PPE.
Hands/Gloves
There are many types of gloves available for any job function.
For moving and handling cartons or stacking pallets the gloves
will give you a very good grip as well as protect from splinters.
If your job includes using sharp blades or cutting instruments
there are gloves made from Kevlar that prevent lacerations.
There are gloves that protect you from acid and chemical burns
and other corrosive materials, as well as thermal gloves for
extreme temperature use. You have many to choose from to
properly protect your workers.
Head/Bump-Cap
Sometimes employees have to work in cramped spaces or
areas with low hanging obstacles. A bump-cap can prevent
head impact and penetration injuries in those situations. It is
also highly recommended that staff cover & protect long hair.
Eyes/Safety Glasses
Sight is one of your critical five senses and you must protect
your sight from any potential danger. Employees that work in
areas where there is the potential for flying fragments, large
chips, sparks and splashes should wear face shields. Goggles,
safety glasses, and prescription glasses with side shields may
be effective enough for areas with particles, sand, dirt, dust,
and glare.
Ears/Hearing Protection
Hearing is another crucial sense to protect and it is important
to realize that damage can occur gradually over time. Working
an 8 hour shift in an environment where the noise level is 90dB
or higher will cause irreversible damage to your hearing. How
noisy is 90dB? Think of standard city traffic or of a hearing a

train whistle from 160m (500ft). It doesnt seem too loud and is
certainly not unbearable and thats why it is important to wear ear
plugs or ear muffs to protect your hearing, even though there is no
immediate impact from exposure to the noise. Ear plugs come as
daily disposable types that conform to the shape of your ear canal
or permanent ear plugs specifically molded for your ears by a
professional. Some high noise areas may require a combination
of ear plugs and muffs.
Feet/Leg Protection
Requiring that warehouse staff wear steel tipped shoes or boots
will help prevent crushed toes and broken bones in the foot. They
protect not only from a run-over hazard but dropping heavy items
as well. If you work in a cold warehouse the proper shoes will
also prevent slips and falls.
Lungs/Dust Masks & Respirators
Are there areas of your facility where heavy dust is an issue?
Or maybe there is smoke, gas vapors, paints and other sprays.
Depending on the amount of contaminant particles in the air and
toxicity of the vapors there are many items available. From simple
dust masks to respirators and other breathing apparatus for use
in confined spaces where toxic fumes collect. This is one area
where you really must take advice from a qualified person.
Adverse Conditions & Other Environmental Concerns
Depending upon your business, warehouse, and location there
may also be the need to protect against adverse conditions and
other environmental concerns isolation, heat, cold, and so on.
Finally, while PPE is important, equally important is to realize
that training on the correct use of PPE must be also be provided.
None of the above will work correctly if you do not educate your
employees on how to properly use the PPE, how to recognize and
understand the limitations of the PPE, how to adjust and wear the
PPE, and how to maintain the PPE. With your warehouse training
is the key for developing a safe workplace. There should never
be an excuse for not holding at least a monthly safety meeting
and including in that a discussion on the correct use of PPE.
Phil Mendelowitz is a San Francisco area based workplace
safety & productivity consultant with over 25 years of warehouse/
distribution experience. Phill authors the WitzShared blog
which spotlights issues like safety, continuous improvement,
warehousing and coaching.
Contact Phil via [email protected]

AMMJ

Nov 2013
October 2012

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Stores, Purchasing,
Parts, and Materials.

NEWS

Fight against Product Piracy

Schaeffler destroys 26 tons of counterfeit

rolling bearings

57

Counterfeit rolling bearings of

various types and sizes with a value
of more than one million euros were
scrapped at INTERSEROH.

Rolling bearings of various types and sizes are

conveyed by the gripper arm of an excavator into
a scrap press with a loud crash. The bearings
leave the press chopped and broken into pieces
or so badly damaged that they are rendered
unusable. Large-size bearings with an outside
diameter of more than one meter, which are even
too big for the scrap press, are destroyed with a
cutting torch. All these bearings are counterfeit
products marked with the INA and FAG brand,
which were confiscated in raids. The objective
of this operation is to make these bearings
unusable.
After a spectacular operation in 2007, in which
around 40 tons of counterfeit bearings were
destroyed at the Schaeffler company site in
Schweinfurt, and numerous other operations
to destroy counterfeit goods worldwide, around
26 tons of counterfeit bearings with a value of
more than one million euros were destroyed
this time at the premises of INTERSEROH
Franken Rohstoff GmbH in Schweinfurt. A large
proportion of the counterfeit products originate
from raids at bearing distributors in Europe, for
example, in Italy and Great Britain. But some of
the counterfeit bearings are also from Germany.
Brand and product piracy is not a phenomenon
that is limited to Asia or South East Europe. It
also takes place right on our doorstep, says

Ingrid Bichelmeir-Bhn, leader of

the Global Brand Protection Team
at Schaeffler. The German and
European markets are no longer
only flooded with counterfeit luxury
or consumer goods, there is also
an increase in counterfeit industrial
products that are relevant to safety
such as rolling bearings.
The spindle bearings, spherical
roller bearings, ball bearings &
needle roller bearings scrapped
during this operation are only
part of the confiscated counterfeit
products.
The majority were disposed of
locally under the supervision of the
relevant national authorities.
The counterfeiting of rolling
bearings and the distribution of these products are
consistently pursued by Schaeffler worldwide and may
lead to prosecution in some cases. Not only is there
the threat of claims under civil law for cease and desist
orders, damages and the submission of counterfeit
products for destruction, but also the threat of prosecution
under criminal law in conjunction with a fine and/or
imprisonment if necessary.
The economic losses caused by counterfeit products are
very difficult to estimate. In addition to lost sales proceeds
and the damage to the companys image due to lowquality goods, high costs are incurred for the investigation,
confiscation and correct disposal of bearings.

Not only are the companies that manufacture brand name

products and conduct complex research, development and
quality assurance damaged, but also the companies who
install counterfeit parts and their customers. A current case
from Switzerland proves once again that significant damage
can be caused by the failure of a rolling bearing when it is
a safety-relevant part in machines and facilities. Due to a
customer complaint by a Swiss company, it became apparent
that a counterfeit cylindrical roller bearing was fitted during
the repair of a machine. Hot running occurred after only six
months, despite regular maintenance.

AMMJ

Nov 2013

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Stores, Purchasing, Parts, and Materials.

Counterfeit largesize bearings (here

a spherical roller
bearing with an
outside diameter
of 1.40 meters) are
made unusable using
a cutting torch.

58

This was noticed

in good time by
the customer,
however, it still
resulted in repair
costs of around
17,000 euros, which
exceeded the value
of the bearing many
times.
Associations such as the World Bearing Association,
the German Anti-Counterfeiting Association and the
Quality Brands Protection Committee ensure that the
public is informed about the risks caused by the use of
counterfeit industrial products. These organizations also
work in conjunction with the authorities with the objective
of creating the legal and organizational prerequisites
to effectively fight counterfeit products and protect
manufacturers and customers as a result. In general, it
is always best to purchase goods from a source that is
100% reliable, i.e. from manufacturers and authorized
distributors.
Schaeffler with its product brands INA, LuK and FAG is
a leading provider of rolling bearing and plain bearing
solutions and of linear and direct drive technology, as
well as a renowned supplier to the automotive industry
of high-precision products and systems for engines,
transmissions, and chassis.
http://www.schaeffler.com

JLG Delivers On Commitment To Customers

With Delivery Of New Online Ordering System
Customers of JLG Industries (world leading
designer, manufacturer and marketer of access
equipment) are set to enjoy further support from
the company with the launch of JLGs Online
Express, a convenient new online ordering
system offering a range of features to benefit
customers and make ordering parts much faster
and easier.
By registering with Online Express, customers
will be able to quickly order parts by downloading
the Online Express app to smart phones and
tablets or by logging in on their computer
browser.
They will then be able to view interactive parts
manuals for parts identification, plus their
machine specifications, and order the products
they need at any time, from anywhere, for
delivery to any location in Australia.
Michael Buxton, JLGs National Spare Parts
Manager, sees Online Express as a valuable tool
for customers and says development is ongoing
as JLG adds more offerings to the system.
Our customers can now enjoy interactive parts
viewing 24/7, look at parts availability and pricing
and quickly and conveniently order the parts they
need for prompt delivery, Michael said.
We are already working to expand the Online
Express system, adding features including
purchase and service history searches to ensure
Online Express delivers a range of real benefits
to our customers now and into the future.
Online Express is further evidence of JLGs
ongoing commitment to bringing superior service,
technologies and support to their customers and
complements the Ground Support field service
initiatives and workshop capabilities that JLG has
been introducing over the past couple of years.

These have included the fast roll-out of more

specialist vans featuring JLGs industry-leading InVan Technology (IVT) into an increasing number of
regional centres and the expansion of our national
workshop capabilities with all our facilities now able
to undertake major repairs and rebuilds.
Ground Support is all about JLG being responsive
to our customers needs, whether it be servicing
or breakdowns or, in the case of Online Express,
easier access to the parts they need as and when
they need them, JLG General Manager, Bob
Mules, said.
To this end, JLG is constantly focussing on
our infrastructure to ensure we are where our
customers need us to be, in the field and online,
delivering valuable services that genuinely assist
their businesses.
For more on JLGs Online Express or Ground
Support, visit www.jlg.com.au

AMMJ

Nov 2013
October 2012

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Research Papers and

Detailed Technical
Reports
Each issue of the AMMJ includes a section dedicated
to research and new technology in the fields of asset
management, maintenance, maintenance engineering,
reliability, condition monitoring, plant engineering, general plant
equipment, tools, energy, HVAC, plant services, bearings,
compressed air systems, lighting, training, environment, etc..
The publication of technical reports, thesis and project reports
in the fields of maintenance and reliability has in the past been
very much neglected.
The AMMJ can now provide an outlet for your work in these
fields. Each selected Paper or Report will be published in full
(as received) in the form of a Downloadable PDF.
The AMMJ does not ask for exclusivity and you are free to
publish your papers in other publications as well as the AMMJ.
To Submit your Research Paper or Technical Report to the AMMJ email
as a PDF to: [email protected]

Assessment and Measurement of Asset

Deterioration of typical flood and coastal
defence assets and their residual life.

Download
88 Pages
PDF Size 2.0 MB

This new guidance from the UK Environment Agency will

help support asset managers in all Flood and Coastal Risk
Management operating authorities in assessing the residual risk of assets
under different conditions and maintenance regimes. It will also help them to
determine the timing of required interventions and eventual replacement of
assets. To ensure you read the latest version of this report the link is direct to
the agency source of the report (at their site click on Project Documents)
Carried out by Halcrow Group Ltd for the Environment Agency UK

Maintenance and Occupational Safety

and Health

Download

This article aims to provide an overview of maintenance

workers with regard to their exposure to hazards and the main
risks and health problems. It also gives some indication as to
appropriate prevention measures.
By Anantha Narayan, Consultant Engineering & EHS
[email protected]

22 Pages
PDF Size 150KB

Six Ways To Improve Your Oil

Analysis Program

Download

17 Pages
The success of any lube analysis program is often
PDF Size 600KB
dependant on proper planning and execution. Much like
an airline flight whose crew must perform a detailed
checklist of activities before the plane is approved for takeoff, a lube
analysis program should be designed with various checks and balances,
standards, procedures, and other verifications to ensure its success.

By Tim Nelson is the Technical Services Manager for TESTOIL. www.testoils.com

The AMMJ publishes these papers as received and does not accept
any liabilities in regards to the contents of the above papers.

59

AMMJ

Nov 2013

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AMMJ
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ISSN 1835-7903 (Online)

60

Articles and News From Around The World of

Maintenance, Reliability, Asset Management,
Plant Engineering, MRO and Stores. Readers
from Over 130 Countries.

A NEW Section to The AMMJ Was

Started in the September 2013 Issue:

Stores, Purchasing, Parts & Materials

Len Bradshaw
Chief Editor
[email protected]

Send your Articles and News for

this Section to Phillip Slater at
[email protected]

Phillip Slater
Editor

MRO & Spare Parts Management

[email protected]

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Engineering Information Transfer Pty Ltd
Publication Dates:
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1st week of each bimonthly period.

Next Issue - January 2014

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