Equipment Walkdown Tool. The Walkdown Tool was designed to support the set up work for commonly used PdM technologies.  This Tool enables the user to define each piece of equipment as it relates to the ISO14224 standard dealing with hierarchy.  The Tool’s primary function is to help facilitate the walk down process by eliminating the time-consuming actions of manually writing down, transcribing and then transferring equipment data into a database.  The Tool further supports this effort by allowing the User to build a TEAM™ database and PdMA MCA import files.  It will also assist technicians in creating technology databases for oil, vibration, infrared and ultrasonic with the nameplate and other relevant information collected on the assets during the walkdown process.

Asset Criticality Tool. The Criticality Tool was designed to assist the User in identifying which assets need focus based on a composite numeral ranking system. The information generated from this Tool can be used to help determine maintenance strategy, prioritize work orders and make better overall risk management decisions. Key features to this tool include the ability for business reliability leaders to customize questions and answers. Many reports and exports are built into this tool including the "Pareto/Histogram" or "Modal Chart" to enable the user to analyze the criticality distribution.

There are 5 key criticality factors in this Tool that each asset is scored on:

1. Safety Impact
2. Environmental Impact
3. Customer and Quality Impact
4. Maintenance Workflow and Cost Impact.
5. Process Impact

Asset Health Matrix (AHM) Tool. The AHM Tool is an instrumental element during the development and progression of any successful maintenance and reliability program. The AHM Tool utilizes a combination of industry benchmark data, asset criticality analysis, equipment type classification and condition based monitoring technology applications to aid in the design of a fully customizable equipment maintenance strategy. 

The AHM Tool allows the end user to get as precise as the available data. If all attribute information is gathered to the “part” level, failure modes can be assigned instantly to those parts.  All pre-defined failure modes have specific technologies and PM tasks assigned that will allow for the identification of those defects.  This includes all lubrication related strategies and procedures.  If specific part information is not available, the user can generate a 100% Theoretical Model for PdM and PM consideration.  Several filtering options and reports are available for the user to include or exclude technologies and PM’s to the desired coverage model.

TEAM™ (Total Equipment Asset Management) Tool. The TEAM™ database will be automatically generated with task assignments being made from the Asset Health Matrix Tool or by individual selection by the end user.  This will allow the execution of PM, PdM and lubrication activities as well as report generation and work order requests within the clients CMMS.  All tasks and assets will be rolled up into individual scorecards and asset health reports as defined by the client.  Upon work order closer within CMMS, closing codes and notes will automatically populate the TEAM™ module and trigger a verification task.  Upon successful completion, this will complete the work order within the CMMS.

Asset Catalog

One of the fundamental starting points for any successful PdM program is having an accurate equipment database.  This is important because, among other things, this database should be used to conduct failure modes to PM and PdM tasks, rank the criticality for each piece of equipment, determine the level of PM and PdM coverage that will be applied throughout the plant and so on.  Accurate asset records are vital when determining a work management process and an overall asset reliability strategy.  With an inaccurate or incomplete equipment list, everything that is built from it is inherently flawed.  You must have the minimum equipment data (such as):

• Equipment number
• Equipment description
• Equipment type
• Area / location of the equipment
• System that the equipment is a part of

Criticality Analysis

An objective criticality ranking analysis of all facility equipment should be conducted.  It is recommended to consider using specific criteria and scoring centered-around safety, environment, maintenance cost, customer & quality and process.  The criticality analysis will aid the work management processes by prioritizing strategies on the most critical equipment in the plant.

Failure Mode Analysis

Just as important as the Criticality Analysis is to differentiating one piece of equipment from another, the success of an equipment maintenance strategy rests foundationally on the understanding of how equipment fails.  Depending on the client’s needs and goals, Equipment Maintenance Plans (EMP) can be developed from a 3-tiered approach:

• Standard EMP. Developed utilizing criticality and benchmark data, each technology is assigned   percent coverage models to populate the asset vs. technology matrix based on the failures modes that are inherent to the equipment design. Deployed for 100% Asset base
• Customized  EMP.  Developed using the RCM Blitz™ process, used to analyze systemic and operating envelope problems at the component level. Deployed for Top 20% of assets by Criticality
• Optimized EMP . Developed using advanced engineering software to determine an accurate failure profile of each targeted asset. This process calculates the optimum task interval for each of the failure modes identified in the previous step using the life cycle costs of all of the tasks. Deployed for Top 10% of assets by criticality.

Corporate Standards

Once the minimum standards have been met for Asset Catalog, Criticality Analysis, and Asset Health Matrix, it is time to adopt formal written standards that outline personnel certifications and qualifications.  In addition, inspection procedures and individual technology standards (Vibration, IR, Oil, etc.) must be agreed upon and adopted.  These standards are often referred to as Operating Practices-1 and Operating Practices-2.

Maturity Spider

The Maturity Spider is designed to give an organization a glimpse of how well it is currently executing a PM/PdM program versus “Best-in-Class” organizations.  This is accomplished by gathering and analyzing information from a specially designed interview process involving personnel members from maintenance, operations and engineering.

Asset Health Report

Once the aforementioned process steps have been achieved, the Asset Health Report can be generated.  The Asset Health Report lists machines monitored in the condition monitoring program and identifies technologies used by equipment.  Statistically based alarm limits are set for each technology in comparison to baselines and target measurements.  Monitored machines are also compared to the total machines in the monitoring program.

Red/Yellow/Green - the question we are trying to answer is: Can we identify a defect that can be eliminated?  Is it to the right of P on the P-F curve?  If the answer is Yes, then we write it up and it is Red.  If the answer is No, then there is no apparent defect in the data or through my mechanical integrity inspection, then it is Green.  If it is in Alarm, but there is no apparent defect, then it is Yellow or a nuisance alarm that needs researched.