Introduction

Allied Reliability partnered with one of North America’s largest energy companies to transform their reliability and maintenance practices. The client is responsible for maintaining and operating an extensive network of pipelines and terminal operations across North America, spanning nine different operating regions in both the U.S. and Canada. They oversee over 70,000 assets, maintained by approximately 500 dedicated maintenance technicians.

The Journey of an Energy Company: Reducing Maintenance Costs and Ensuring Regulatory Compliance

The initial engagement revealed that the client believed their maintenance costs were excessive, though this assumption was unsubstantiated due to poor cost tracking. The organization’s primary focus was ensuring regulatory compliance, maintaining personnel safety, and promoting environmental stewardship. The client utilized an Enterprise Asset ManagementInformation system that integrates all asset-related applications for an entire enterprise. Incorporates at least maintenance management, financial / budgeting, materials management, and reliability functionality. (EAMEnterprise Asset Management) software, but it was primarily used to track preventive maintenance (PM) activities and demonstrate regulatory compliance. Corrective maintenanceMaintenance required to restore an item to a satisfactory condition, usually identified by PM activity. It can be emergency, urgent or planned work. work orders were rarely documented in the EAM, and no formal maintenance planningDetermination of resources needed and the development of anticipated actions necessary to perform a scheduled major job. An orderly appraisal and guarantee of all the prerequisites necessary to ensure completion of a given job at a predetermined time. It covers availability of ordered equipment, stores, materials, production, shutdowns, sketches, prints, specifications, etc. function existed across the enterprise. There were no routine work schedules; each technician determined their daily activities independently every morning.

PMPreventive Maintenance requirements were designed and implemented at the Business Unit (BU) level without a formalized basis for their development. Storerooms were undocumented, and the procurement process relied heavily on credit card transactions executed by individuals. Although some PM technology was in place, the formality and follow-through necessary to achieve meaningful results were largely absent.

The key driver for this improvement effort was to broaden the organization’s focus to include operating efficiency and reducing unplanned downtime without compromising personnel safety, environmental performance, or regulatory compliance.

How Allied Reliability Responded

The project commenced with a comprehensive assessment of maintenance practices. A strict governance structure was established to ensure visibility at the BU senior vice president level. A structured review cycle was implemented, encompassing weekly, monthly, and quarterly reviews, with a formal reassessment conducted every two years. All project objectives and activities were meticulously integrated into the enterprise’s overall annual business plan.

The initial assessment identified three key workstreams for focus:

Asset Health and Reliability EngineeringThat set of design, development and manufacturing tasks by which reliability is achieved. See RELIABILITY. The main objectives of this strategic minded staff function performing reliability engineering are: (1) To apply engineering knowledge and specialist techniques to prevent or reduce the likelihood or frequency of failures. (2) To identify and correct the causes of failures that do occur. (3) To manage identified risk by determining the best ways of coping with (mitigating) the effects of failure if and when they do occur. (4) To apply methods for estimating the likely reliability of assets and for analyzing reliability data. (AHRE)
Work Execution Management (WEM)
Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Organizational Alignment and Change Management (OACM)

This case study will summarize the first two workstreams.

Reliability-Centered Lubrication was initially an area of focus but was postponed due to budget constraints.

Assessments were conducted using Allied Reliability’s established Reliability Systems Model (Figure 1), with each element graded on a 5-point scale and an overall composite score calculated. These scores, along with the underlying narrative and business case, formed the foundation of the annual improvement plan. The same model would be used for the formal reassessment every two years.

Asset Health and Reliability Engineering (AHRE) Workstream

For this workstream, the client collaborated with Allied to establish governance with representation from all regions and enterprise resources. A charter was adopted, outlining objectives, milestones, and metrics. Key efforts included refining the classification of assets in the database, with a Criticality Analysis and Failure Mode and Effects AnalysisIdentifying how equipment can fail, why it might fail, and how best to address potential failure; may or may not include criticality. (FMEAFailure Mode and Effects Analysis) performed across approximately 50 asset classes.

The results of these efforts were used to develop a comprehensive equipment maintenance strategy for each asset class, defining the following:

Proactive MaintenanceMaintenance activities designed to minimize the risk of failure of plant or equipment and keep equipment running as intended. Strategies to be deployed:
- Predictive MaintenanceThe use of instruments and analysis to determine equipment condition in order to predict failure before it takes place so corrective maintenance can be done in a planned and scheduled fashion. Examples include vibration analysis, oil analysis, thermography, airborne ultrasonic’s, NDT, motor current signature analysis, trending of process parameters, etc.,
- Preventive MaintenanceTime or cycle-based actions performed to prevent system functional failure. This proactive maintenance type generally includes scheduled restoration and scheduled discard tasks. Learn more: What is Preventive Maintenance?,
- Run-to-FailureA failure management policy permitting a specific failure mode to occur without any attempt to anticipate or prevent it.
Critical SparesKey parts and/or components of an asset that need to be in stock or readily available because of the potential production, service and/or financial implications of an equipment failure requiring these materials. for Inclusion in the MRO Inventory
Failure CodeCodes used for recording failure types in CMMS. Designations (Problem, Cause, Remedy)
Asset Lifecycle Replacement Expectations

Further efforts included developing quantitative PM task descriptions to support the execution of the equipment maintenance strategy and establishing a “bad actor” program.

A route-based data collection and predictive maintenance program was established, with data collected by local technicians and analyzed by an Allied Reliability analyst. Defects were immediately reported via work order, and necessary repairs were coordinated and performed in the field, as illustrated in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2: Allied Reliability’s Route-Based Data Collection and Analysis Model

Asset Health and Reliability Engineering (AHRE) Workstream Benefits Summary

This initiative significantly contributed to an overall $15 million reduction in repair costs by decreasing equipment failures through the implementation of these maintenance strategies, thereby allowing the organization to avoid costly repairs.

Work Execution Management (WEM) Workstream

For the Work Execution Management (WEM) workstream, the client collaborated with Allied to establish governance with representation from all regions and enterprise resources. This group conducted a visioning exercise to capture both the current state and the desired future state. A charter was adopted, outlining objectives, milestones, and metrics. The charter, a single-page document, outlined the following elements at the project’s inception:

Business Case: The value ($) available to the organization
Current State: A bulleted list describing today’s level of performance
Future State: Where we envision ourselves in three years
Metrics: How we will measure our progress

The team used this charter as an anchor point. As the process evolved, they regularly referred to the charter to ensure that any changes or developments still aligned with the original intent and that adequate, measurable value was being delivered to the organization—not just good ideas, but good ideas that led to measurable improvements.

This charter was then used to develop an enterprise-wide work execution standard, outlining specific details of how each element of the WEM process would be performed, by whom, and how performance would be measured. This standard became the next anchor point, guiding specific role-based training and coaching.

Figure 3: Elements of the Project Charter

Allied coaches embedded themselves within the organization, modeling the changes and providing technical support, encouragement, and praise for successes.

It is important to note that the WEM workstream required organization-wide changes in daily behaviors to achieve success. Unlike the asset health and reliability engineering (AHRE) workstream, where changes could be designed and executed by a small group, the WEM workstream required altering long-held beliefs, changing established ways of working, and overcoming longstanding skepticism about the need for change.

The personal attention and mentorship provided by Allied coaches, both in small groups and on an individual basis, proved to be the critical success factor in driving long-lasting behavioral change. We quickly learned that merely documenting expectations and emailing them to those affected wouldn’t suffice—this was an exercise in changing hearts and minds.

Work Execution Management (WEM) Workstream Benefits Summary

Non-Tangible Benefits

Business Benefits

Reduced planned downtime through improved preparation and bundling of related tasks under the same equipment downtime.
Increased employee productivity.
Enhanced predictability leading to improved decision-making.

Technician Benefits

Reduced risk through better preparation, resulting in a safer work environment.
Reduced travel time from better preparation, allowing employees to focus on tasks and achieve a greater sense of accomplishment.
Technician input led to better outcomes, reducing frustration and improving morale.

Supervisor Benefits

Improved visibility on activities and schedules enhanced the ability to control downtime, productivity, and costs.
Increased workforce engagement enabled delegation while maintaining oversight of actions and outcomes.
Improved historical data supported more effective future problem-solving efforts.

Tangible Benefits

Significant reductions in downtime requirements due to proactive inspections.
Increased revenue exceeding $40 million over a two-year period.
A more than 35% increase in field technician productivity resulted from improved planning and scheduling efforts.

As a result of this effort, a formal planning and scheduling function was established, including planner/schedulers across the BU, supported by planning supervisors. Management transitioned from having no visibility of work performed to 100% of labor hours being accounted for via work orders in Maximo. Weekly schedules were established, with metrics in place for labor utilization, schedule compliance, and the percentage of planned work. While wrench time was not directly measured, improvements in the above metrics were associated with a 35% increase in frontline productivity, largely attributed to an increase in wrench time.

The enhanced outage coordination process contributed to increased revenue, driven by increased pipeline flow. The visibility and regular cadence of discussions on metrics, particularly at the frontline level, were key drivers of success. The process has become self-sustaining, as technicians now demand schedules and work orders to perform tasks and actively participate in improvement efforts tied to metrics.

The higher-quality execution and documentation of proactive work, resulting from the improved planning and scheduling function, contributed to the $15 million in value previously mentioned in the asset health and reliability engineering (AHRE) section.

The Results

Throughout the partnership, $65 million in costs were eliminated through optimized outage coordination ($40 million in savings) and reduced maintenance costs ($15 million). Additionally, frontline technician productivity increased by 35%.

Allied Reliability continues to collaborate with the client to enhance predictive maintenance and data analysis. The client remains committed to continuously improving their maintenance and reliability efforts, with a strong focus on measured benefits, regular reviews, and accountability.

One of the most significant sources of value has been frontline engagement. Due to geographic distance, these efforts must be locally owned, driven, and reported, with support from the business units (BU). Finally, significant knowledge transfer occurred through coaching and skills development.

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Reliability Excellence Initiative Delivers $95M In Business Value