Shared Learning Library

Risk Based Work Selection (RBWS) is a work process that has been used in industry for >20 years by some owner-operators, however; it remains a little-known process industry wide.  In recent years there has been an increasing awareness of and interest in RBWS as owner-operators have focused on reducing cost and duration of STO (Shutdown, Turnaround & Outage) while maintaining safe and reliable operation. Our experience has shown that a reduction in the overall STO work scope of approximately 20% is routinely accomplished.RBWS is a multi-discipline work process that includes all key stakeholders in the STO, Operations and the Subject Matter Experts (SME) from individual equipment disciplines.  The intent of the RBWS is to determine if there is risk-based justification (H/S/E or Financial) to complete the worklist item during the STO.  A threshold for unacceptable H/S/E risks is determined by the Site using a Risk Matrix.  For discretionary items (Financial Risk only) a Benefit to Cost threshold or “Hurdle Rate” is set to ensure an adequate return on investment and that a cost effective solution has been chosen.  Hurdle rates typically increase after the worklist freeze date as the time for planning decreases. In order to justify items, it must first be determined that they cannot be done outside of STO.  Once this is completed the worklist items are reviewed to determine what failure they are intended to prevent from occurring.  Typically the timeframe considered is the run length between turnarounds. The consequence and probability of the failure is then determined with input from the team and combined on the Risk Matrix to determine the Risk Level.    When RBWS is used with Fixed Equipment, it can utilize RBI data to validate or reject STO tasks that are included in the STO Work List (WL). RBI assessments focus on equipment integrity and loss of containment, while the RBWS methodology supplements these assessments with consideration of operational failures in vessel internals which may cause an unplanned outage, and impact on equipment performance.Methodology for assessing risks can vary from qualitative to quantitative.  The methodology is semi-quantitative which provides teams with a structured process that produces consistent results without too burdensome an amount of data required.  When Risk levels are assigned to each item it allows owner-operators to make informed decisions on what is “In” and what is “Out” of the Turnaround Scope.The end-product of an RBWS is a justified worklist that will help the organization create a competitive workshop to meet its turnaround and reliability goals.Key take aways:How owner-operator organizations successfully execute STO’s by removing or deferring tens of millions of dollars of unjustified work from turnaround scopes. How focus facilitation tailored to the make-up of each STO Worklist and site data collection helps ensure the client is prepared for a successful and efficient RBWS WorkshopResults is a competitive scope to meet site’s units’ budgets, downtime, run length and reliability targets. 

Join us for an opportunity to learn about what we must consider for asset management with new constraints to the supply chain. We will delve into shipping restrictions, budget changes and planning considerations. We will also touch on opportunities that have risen out of the learns from the past two years and moving forward with the risks in mind. 

Asset Criticality is an important input to production system design, maintenance strategy definition and short term work execution management processes. The value the supporting FEMA exercises provide in determining these categorizations is well understood in the Reliability Community. Less common is the extension of this analytical rigor to the spare parts required to maintain equipment. Establishing and maintaining robust part criticality values can be an invaluable link between operations and the supporting supply chain, helping to set stocking strategies, inform alternative material management approaches and quickly flag when expediting is required. Despite the value, part criticality values (or Risk Priority Numbers) are rarely objectively derived and even less frequently maintained. This presentation is intended to: 1. Establish the link between asset health and spare part availability 2. Illustrate common item criticality practices 3. Provide an overview of a robust item criticality assessment approach 4. Highlight the benefits to be gained from an enhanced approach to item criticality determination.

We all love to solution and check off that win for the team, but moving too quickly may result in introducing new problems or even amplifying previously smaller issues. The latter is common particularly in technology implementation where the hope is for efficiency improvement, but the results sometimes don’t meet the desired outcome. Although root cause analysis was informally practiced at the SMCDSB, the implementation of a formal program using a process approach to problem solve, define requirements, and solution has strengthened troubleshooting and preventing future problems. By taking a very focused stance on identifying the problem or need clearly and leveraging the Kepner-Tregoe Analytical Troubleshooting method, there is improved clarity, definition, and logic in how the analysis completed. I wish to share the journey of RCA program implementation for the SMCDSB with examples and successes we've achieved.

Traditional asset management historically prioritized infrastructure over the natural environment. This approach has led to many conflicts between the natural and built environment (e.g., flooding, pipeline exposures, property loss, etc.). As we respond to these conflicts and experience new weather patterns related to climate change, the design approaches of the past are transitioning to techniques that re-frame water and natural systems as valuable assets. Natural systems provide value to communities through the provision of ecosystem services. The realm of ecosystem services is diverse and includes flood mitigation, mental well-being, wildlife habitat, and pollution control. Understanding these services and systems allows proponents to manage and maximize the value of their natural assets. This presentation will describe two types of approach for managing natural systems as assets. The natural system type used for this discussion will be surface water drainage systems (creeks, channels, rivers, or ditches). The first approach to management is using proactive planning around natural systems to prevent conflicts between watercourses and infrastructure from occurring in the future. The second approach is used to manage existing conflicts in and around watercourses when built infrastructure cannot be relocated according to the recommended planning measures. In this case, existing conflicts can be resolved through applying knowledge of natural system function and design. Examples will be used to explore how these approaches benefit communities and project proponents alike.

Business improvements require changes. In reliability and maintenance, some of the change factors are within our control, but many are not. If we stick with small changes, they can often happen but they often fail to achieve their full potential. Why? The short answer is that there are many factors we can’t control and usually we have limited influence. Some of those are related to people and are dealt with by “change management”, but others are related to how our businesses are structured and organized. If we want to make big changes we need to get past that! This presentation will give you something to think about and share with your senior management. If they want miracles from you, then they will need to make it possible!

The presentation will show the 21 specific harms to business that arise from ad hoc, weak, and unstructured spare parts (MRO materials) identities. The focus will be on the 6 specific harms to the maintenance. 1. Confusing material searches in WO planning 2. Extra validations used in WO planning 3. Work scheduling delays when planned parts are out of stock but are available under a different number in the warehouse 4. Job schedule interruptions from mis-identified materials 5. Production loss from wrong parts issued to a job (bigger impact than just work schedule impact) 6. Work to return wrong materials to the warehouse from a job The presentation will cover what the identifying elements of an MRO material or item record are. The necessary elements to solve the MRO material identity problem will be discussed. Useful MRO identities are structured based on rationalized noun classes. Applying the taxonomy to an MRO catalogue makes items comparable in a way that was not possible before. This allows for the removal of duplicates, assignment of items to equipment / functional locations and then removal of clutter items. Finally, the beauty of life in the Maintenance Department with a rational effective MRO material catalogue will be revealed!

Recent developments in AI, ML and related techniques see wide adoption in many industries. However, in the asset management area, such technical advances are still in their infancy, especially in the maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) area. Part of the reason is that, contrary to production, MRO data has its unique characteristics (e.g. incompleteness, inconsistency and heterogeneous), and most organizations are still planning to introduce diagnostic sensors dedicated to maintenance and equipment reliability. We face both challenges and opportunities in advancing data-driven continuous improvements within the asset management world. This presentation shares the findings of our current research and development focus. Titled “How to use historical data to find opportunities to improve the effectiveness of equipment reliability programs, optimize MRO inventory operations, and enhance MRO workflow management processes”, we will first examine the characteristics of MRO data as their uniqueness to a specific company, plant or equipment and their commonality across all sectors. Then we evaluate the feasibility of applying AI/ML techniques with MRO history for better operational efficiencies. We need to understand what data is related to human knowledge, human interaction and process, and what data is associated with the actual condition of the asset, and if there are patterns and models that can be learned. Last, we will demonstrate that AI/ML can find equipment agnostic models and patterns which help continuously improve MRO operations across different industries. Based on the findings, we will also show how AI/ML models learned from historical MRO data can be translated into prescribed actions for improvements in equipment reliability, MRO inventory and workflow operations for individual organizations.

Within the mining industry, the library of KPIs has not kept up with data that has become increasingly available through digitization, therefore leading to an overuse of lagging performance indicators. Additionally, due to the fact that strategic corporate goals are oftentimes built on the basis of soft or perceptual measures from stakeholders, which are subjective in nature, organizations struggle with the process of linking strategic level goals to KPIs on the shop floor. Therefore, creating a communication gap between technical teams and senior management. As a consequence, maintenance leaders have a difficult time demonstrating the added value that maintenance activities create with an organization, leading to challenges in securing the resources required for things such as continuous improvement projects. Considering that the implementation of a robust KPI framework is an alignment of three key areas: people, process, and technology, the first portion of this presentation will be investigating a holistic approach to developing maintenance KPIs that are integrated into corporate strategic goals. Therefore, outlining the steps required for organizational leaders to begin standardizing data gathering procedures and creating a trustworthy system that can be leveraged for decision making. Aside from the previously discussed administrative challenges associated with data gathering within organizations, it must also be highlighted that KPIs are collected on a monthly or quarterly basis, meaning that training sets for forecasting models are extremely limited. Therefore, in order to address the reliance on lagging performance indicators within maintenance departments, a variety of time series models capable of achieving high accuracy on small datasets will be discussed along with direct business applications. Through achieving these goals, the intended outcome is to create a more contemporary data driven methodology for selecting organizational KPIs, as well as directly demonstrating the added value that the various business units create within the organization.

Maintenance Turnaround events involve major expenditures of time and money for any large continuous process plant. Without careful planning and preparation they can quickly and easily overrun their target cost and schedule. The larger and more complex the scope to be executed in the turnaround, the greater the risk is, of cost and schedule overruns. For this reason, it has, in recent years, become the norm for turnaround teams to use a “scope challenge” process, just before freezing the scope list. The purpose of the challenge being to review every work item and decide whether it should be in the scope of the turnaround event. Some of these “scope challenge” sessions can get quite sophisticated, involving a risk assessment, balancing the cost of doing the maintenance repair in the turnaround against the cost of doing it after a (probability weighted) breakdown during normal running. Many turnaround teams stop there, and assume that if they’ve had a “scope challenge”, then they’ve done what they can to optimize and control the scope. But more and more are beginning to realise that a “Risk Based Work Selection” Scope challenge session, while useful and necessary, is only one element in a process for choosing and controlling the work scope at an optimum level. This paper will describe a successful and more holistic approach, using scope control methods that start with the premise document (reference earlier article), include the scope gathering phase, go through the “Risk Based Work Selection” process and carry on to the “Additional Work Request” process after scope freeze. Along the way it will also discuss how to ensure that site leadership and plant operations staff “buy in” to the need to control the scope.

Imagine your production facility as a 1950s pickup truck. It’s functional, but a lack of available parts, new regulatory standards, and an absence of modern sensors and electronics make diagnosing problems and improving performance difficult. Commissioned in 1954, Sherritt International Corporation faces many challenges characteristic of a classic car—challenges that not only include equipment lifecycles, but also human resources, software, workflows, and asset obsolescence. This case study will review the training, business process transformation projects, organizational design changes, and continuous improvement initiatives that Sherritt is implementing to modernize their work management processes. See how optimization of these processes have helped address the challenges presented by an aging site, and learn how projects were prioritized, which initiatives helped build organizational capability and improve performance, and what wasn’t worth the effort.

We’ve all heard time and time again the value that Planning and Scheduling brings to a Maintenance organization. But, is your organization fully realizing this value? If Planning and Scheduling is intended to be a “wrench time multiplier” of you Maintenance Technicians, have you looked at the “wrench time” of your Planners and Schedulers? What are the potential barriers preventing them from achieving the ultimate goals of their roles? Can one Maintenance Planner really bring the same effective value as 15-17 tradespersons in your organization? Likely not, and it isn’t the fault of your Planners and Schedulers. In this presentation we’ll review the planning and scheduling function, define what it really is, and more importantly what it is NOT. We’ll also take a close look at many of the “value vampires” common in Planning and Scheduling that detract from the intended value generation. We’ll compare what an ideal Day-in-the-life of a Maintenance Planner should be against the realities they so commonly face. The intent of this presentation is to help you understand Why Planning and Scheduling is likely less effective than it could be in your organization. More importantly, this will hopefully trigger changes that help the Planners and Schedulers in your teams do more of what they do best.

3D printing has important advantages over traditional manufacturing processes. However, as it is a relatively new class of manufacturing technologies, problems of reliability and parameter optimization remain largely unresolved. Our work focuses on addressing some of these issues through in-situ monitoring and closed-loop control, using machine learning as a tool for the endeavour. The idea is to analyze the condition of the process by predicting key characteristics of the final product, and then to use this analysis for adjusting process parameters on the fly. We imagine that this framework of predictive analysis leading to closed-loop control can be extended to a variety of applications outside of 3D printing. In a more general maintenance scenario, sensor readings can be used to assess the condition of equipment and to predict the condition at a future time. This information can then be used to determine appropriate maintenance activities, such as triggering preventive maintenance, scaling back on the intensity of use, and ordering replacement parts, as well as the timing of these events. For our case study in 3D printing, we have implemented in-situ monitoring hardware for a fused deposition modelling (FDM) printer and have constructed a dataset for modelling the process. The dataset consists of in-situ observations (photographs) and select mechanical property measurements for 359 fabricated parts. With this data, we demonstrate the ability of machine learning methods to capture the complex dynamics of a 3D printing process. Specifically, we train a neural network-based model which is able to predict mechanical properties of the final product based on in-situ photographs as well as parameter information. Predictions made by these models can then be used to assess the quality of products as they are being fabricated, thereby making it possible to correct errors or to improve the expected outcome through online parameter adjustments.

Formal asset management has a relevancy problem when it comes to practical application in operations-heavy industrial sectors. It is a major reason the uptake of holistic and strategic formal asset management has been so slow in North America. As asset management practitioners we are failing to offer and deliver AM in a way that is aligned to and integrated with the incumbent operational management system. To have utility and add value we must see the challenges from the senior operational leaders' perspective and offer AM in a practical way that is seen as the solution to their problems. Join Paul Daoust as he threads the needle and binds great asset management into great operational management.

Reliability and Maintenance (R&M) teams at manufacturing facilities employ different maintenance strategies on their physical assets to achieve the desired reliability and maximize the availability of the assets. Most of the production downtime in manufacturing facilities is because of unexpected (or) random failures of equipment and the associated reactive maintenance work. One of the factors that affects the total time to fix failed equipment is spare parts availability. The increasing complexity to minimize production downtime with aging assets demands problem-specific decision models. In this study, a multi-criteria decision model is proposed to assist the R&M stakeholders at manufacturing facilities in making decisions on stocking the right parts. The proposed model will help facilities to stock the spare parts required to maintain the system with-in acceptable and manageable risk. Two case studies from a pulp mill will be presented to demonstrate the use of the proposed decision model. The first case study deals with “Pulp Machine Process Area” with historical data on equipment failures and spare parts usage while the second one focuses on a newly commissioned plant without failure information. The proposed decision model helped to identify the right parts to stock and minimized the risk and inventory costs in both cases.

Presentation highlights the importance and interdependency of three pillars of success (people, processes, and technology) and Cameco’s asset management improvement efforts through each of these, including lessons learned. Audience will learn about the importance of organizational change management, business process management and agile methodologies, some of the technologies supporting asset maintenance and reliability, and its new Asset Management & Reliability Center of Excellence.

We are in unprecedented times. Covid-19 wreaked havoc on supply chains; decreased production during times of increased demand. Labor shortages, chip shortages, long lead items turning into “maybe next year, if you’re lucky” items. The Russia Ukraine war added further stress to supply chains through sanctions, port closures, fuel shortages and much more. What once was reliable is now unreliable. So how can companies overcome an unreliable supply chain to maintain their reliability? There are several ways to mitigate unreliability; scenario planning, supplier management, and technology. There is no one size fits all and what may work for one company will not necessarily work for another. Scenario planning involves reviewing every potential situation that could occur, then working through to see how the company would be impacted. Ultimately this results in mitigation plans for each scenario. These can then be reviewed and implemented. Proper Supplier Management includes ensuring all suppliers have their scorecards reviewed on a regular basis. Their information updated and kept current. It can also include reviewing which suppliers can become substitutes for others in the event one is not able to provide the required product in time. Technology is important as it links all the information together. Algorithms can be created to let management know that certain parts are low, equipment is wearing out sooner, it also collects information on suppliers for the scorecards. Overall technology is the glue that binds and provides real time information updates. This presentation will review how to best use technology to help mitigate reliability and supply chain issues.

Are we converting our data to decisions? What is the state of digital adoption in asset management? What has changed since the onset of Covid? What has stayed the same? Using the DIKW Pyramid as our guide, combined with the experience and insights of our panelists; we will explore best practices in data-informed decision-making. Are we now in a much different place on our digital adoption journey?  

Seeing information on PEMAC’s new certifications? Wondering how the new globally accredited CSAM, CPAM, and CTAM compliment the well established MMP and CAMP? and how they fit with the WPiAM CAMA certification? This presentation will clear up the mystery by outlining the ins and outs of - MMP and CAMP knowledge-based certifications - CSAM, CPAM and CTAM competency-based certifications (plus future levels) - WPiAM’s CAMA exam and associated certification - How all these certifications fit together and which one(s) might be right for your career path - Application how-to’s This presentation is envisioned to be coupled with a panel discussion with 3, maybe 4, PEMAC members who can share their career journeys and how their certifications have enabled both advancement and recognition. The specific panel participants will be named if this topic is accepted as a MainTrain presentation.

The ultimate maintenance KPI must show if we are keeping assets from breaking and not just fixing them after they break. While our maintenance forces are responsible for fixing things that break, we have really failed in our primary mission to keep them working in the first place! In Six Sigma terminology, the ultimate maintenance KPI should be about eliminating defects. Emergency and urgent work requests are “defects.” How many do we have? Are we getting better at eliminating them? Simply put, that’s what it’s all about. Modern maintenance knows that the key to reducing emergency and urgent work orders is doing more proactive work such as PM, PdM, and project work to head off reactive work. However, because many plants are overwhelmed with reactive work, planning and scheduling are critical to help us complete the extra proactive work. We track and manage simple supporting planning and scheduling KPIs to achieve super-high productivity and quality of work. These easy-to-measure KPIs are schedule compliance, schedule loading, work order completion rate, planned coverage, creation of reusable job plans, keeping a minimal unplanned backlog, and amount of helpful feedbacks received.

The energy landscape is shifting with the rise in electrification of transit and the rise of renewable energy shaping a new energy era that is changing the way we think about infrastructure decision making. This presentation will articulate how electrification of transit and an increase in renewables will impact medium and long-term infrastructure planning by providing examples and a practical perspective (case study) to demonstrate how Asset Management decision-making played a vital role in a utility company’s response to this change. This utility company is a key contributor to several electrification initiatives. They recognized the challenge associated with these initiatives and the overall success of the first implementation phase with minimal disruption to current operations. They are also preparing for electrification of the government transit’s first all-electric bus garage to support future procurements of battery-electric buses (eBuses) and will be working on the design and implementation of charging systems infrastructure across the city(?). Over the past 20 years, more than 50 renewable energy systems have been installed on City buildings and properties. In 2020, the city developed recommendations for the utility to achieve greater outcomes for energy efficiency, demand management, and renewable energy. The city also mandated installation of renewable energy systems on all buildings, where feasible, by 2020. The rate of development in electrification and technology in the transit sector is faster than implementation of major infrastructure developments; changes in demand patterns impact everything from the transmission and distribution networks to generation, dispatch and peak-load system capacity design; so it is not possible to “wait and see” before committing to infrastructure investment decisions. This presentation will cover how the utility is dealing with these changes by ensuring an appropriate long-term decision-making framework is in place to assure business continuity and reduce the impact on climate because it poses a particular risk for asset owners and operators. AMCL will present best practices for long-term decision-making and how the impact of change should be taken into account during the development of long-term infrastructure planning processes, in the context of a public utility.

A road map to excellence, connect, learn, contribute (share the driving and revise your trip along the way!) AND Take a detour once in a while... Road trips are a great way to see a country. You start with a reason for the trip and then you map out the route. Along the way you discover that your original route may not be the one you still want to be taking. The PEMAC and Northern Lakes College partnership is like that. In 2004 it started with delivering the Maintenance Management Professional (MMP) program, live online, and from there it has flourished to delivering all PEMAC programs/courses to participants across Canada and around the world. In an 18 year partnership you learn a lot together. This presentation will focus on how 3 small words, connect, learn, contribute, have continued to drive the partnership through all the years and what lessons we learned along the way. These lessons are ones that apply to all partnerships - in your workplace, with your customers, in your community - excellence is a shared learning journey.

The Irving Pulp & Paper maintenance team was the recipient of the PEMAC Maintenance Team of the Year Award for 2021. The team was honored to be nominated based upon long term sustained performance improvements, professional development, controlling reactive maintenance and continuous improvement.

Continuous processing or manufacturing facilities will occasionally require planned outages to primarily address reliability or maintenance issues. Due to the high cost of these outages (opportunity and real), careful planning and scheduling practices are used to come up with detailed execution plans to reduce the planned duration as much as possible. While outage duration is typically determined using the critical path methodology, large quantities of smaller but similar in nature jobs can lead to unexpected schedule extension. A planning team recently applied this lesson-learned by calculating the schedule impact of such critical mass work. During inspections and maintenance outages, labor cost is usually a significant expense. In order to meet the required cost and duration goals, worker efficiency is critical. As part of the job plans and schedule creation, a planning team was able to model one crucial feature of labor efficiency – worker density, that is the maximum number of workers that can be allocated to a specific work area over a given time span with minimum productivity losses. As a result, small changes were made to the scheduling of individual tasks. This case study will illustrate how both constraints were considered when planning & scheduling a major maintenance outage.