Maintworld 2/2020

More documents

Recommendations

Info

ASSET MANAGEMENT Managing the Crisis Effectively: How to Develop a Successful Asset Management Strategy During the Coronavirus Downturn FRANK UWE HESS, Chairman and Co-Founder at T.A. Cook Consultants. COVID-19 is disrupting all sectors including the process industry – plants around the world are operating in emergency mode or are shut down completely. 52 maintworld 2/2020 There is no hint about how long the situation will last nor can anyone realistically predict the scope of the economic impact it will have. Therefore, it is crucial to minimize costs while not compromising the effectiveness of the plants. The "bull market" has collapsed. For eleven years, stock market prices knew only one direction: up. COVID-19 suddenly put an end to the seemingly eternal upward trend. A global recession seems inevitable. The only question that no one can seriously answer now is: Which development will the recession take? Economists distinguish between so-called "V", "L" or "U" movements depending on the curve shape. Within a few days, companies had to drastically limit their supply capacities. Airlines, travel agencies, hotels, car manufacturers, suppliers – all sectors are increasingly affected. But what does the dramatic situation mean for asset management in the process industry? Currently, the maintenance community is no longer concerned with optimizing availability. Instead, those involved are fighting to cut costs without jeopardizing the reliability and safety of the assets. In order to make this balancing act – and thus the crisis – as successful as possible, clear and unambiguous leadership is required. But what does good crisis management look
ASSET MANAGEMENT like during these times when COVID-19 is dictating all aspects of human activity? We present six recommendations to help you optimize your asset management decisions during this unprecedented time and to emerge from the COVID-19 slowdown unscathed and ready when business returns. 1. Advance planned plant shutdowns (turnarounds, cleaning, etc.) Prepare your organization for earlier, legally or technically required plant shutdowns that were originally scheduled for late 2020 or 2021. Above all, check whether the necessary requirements are met. In other words, enough staff must be available both at your ser-vice providers and in your own company as soon as the current lockdown ends. If we have learned one thing from the 2008/2009 financial crisis, it is that the global economy will need around two years to fully recover from a shock of this magnitude. Conversely, demand and product prices will drop significantly over the next few months. The advantage: This also applies to almost all service and material costs. Use this “window of opportunity” wisely. 2. Avoid random budget cuts We all know that maintenance must help reduce costs in times of tight budgets. How-ever, if you reduce your maintenance costs across the board, you will feel the effects more clearly in a year or two – exactly in the period when the economy – presumably – is slowly picking up speed again. For you, this would mean that if the demand on the market picked up again, you would not be able THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS REQUIRES A COST-CENTERED ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY. to deliver the required plant availability that is in demand. So, check very carefully and systematically where you can reduce your costs with the least possible risk so as not to accidentally cause longterm competitive disadvantages. 3. Reduce plant downtime (TA Scope) to a maximum Turnaround (TA) work packages related to expansive capital investments should be challenged immediately. However, all work packages that serve cost-effective production should remain in the TA- Scope. Investments that don’t reduce cost in the near-term should be delayed until the economic forecasts look brighter. The same analysis should be applied to work packages that exceed the legally required examinations. So, minimize your TA-Scope as much as possible. Due to probable resource bottlenecks, it may be more cost-effective to run two small Turnarounds, rather than one big, complex one. 4. Maximize precision in maintenance and inspection work Nothing increases Mean Time Between Failures more than the consistent monitoring of wear and tear, the main cause of most system failures. If assets are bucking, make noises, become hot or dirty, they will not last as long as their quiet, cool and clean counterparts. Let your plant operators know the optimal reference conditions for fasteners, lubrication, alignment and balance, and improve communication between production and maintenance. 5. PdM optimization and system troubleshooting Almost every company that we have worked for in the past 25 years routinely performs PdM (Predictive Maintenance) work that is inefficient. Optimize all maintenance and inspection plans that have a high proportion of corrective 2/2020 maintworld 53
Page 1 and 2: 2/2020 www.maintworld.com maintenan
Page 3 and 4: Find Your Learning Path
Page 5 and 6: Automatically Detect Faults ROI Typ
Page 7 and 8: IN THIS ISSUE 2/2020 20 With the on
Page 10 and 11: HSE an infected surface and then to
Page 12 and 13: ASSET MANAGEMENT To the Bravest Ass
Page 14 and 15: ASSET MANAGEMENT satisfaction. Some
Page 16: NEWS Value Driven Maintenance is Mo
Page 19 and 20: PARTNER ARTICLE For more informatio
Page 22 and 23: PARTNER ARTICLE ing data that could
Page 24 and 25: PARTNER ARTICLE Text and photos: DI
Page 26 and 27: ASSET MANAGEMENT ADAPTIVE ALIGNMENT
Page 28 and 29: ASSET MANAGEMENT cally reacts to ev
Page 30 and 31: ASSET MANAGEMENT Ultrasound and the
Page 32 and 33: ASSET MANAGEMENT The Surge of Ultra
Page 34: ASSET MANAGEMENT In this article I
Page 37 and 38: ASSET MANAGEMENT THE BEARING FAULT
Page 39 and 40: ASSET MANAGEMENT THERE ARE MANY ELE
Page 41 and 42: ASSET MANAGEMENT equipment. For exa
Page 43 and 44: PARTNER ARTICLE or materials needed
Page 45 and 46: 1. Master the Virtual Meeting: virt
Page 47 and 48: WE’VE GOT WHAT YOU’RE SEARCHING
Page 49 and 50: ASSET MANAGEMENT Figure 3: Spare pa
Page 51: HSE MANAGEMENT If entering a Confin
Page 55 and 56: VIBRATION ANALYSIS THERMAL IMAGING

Maintworld 2/2020

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?