Water Utility Adopts Reliability Solution to Improve Efficiency

Project Highlights

The implementation of a reliability program was foundational to the project’s goal of improving wastewater treatment reliability via more structured 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. and scheduling of maintenance work, as well as developing meaningful maintenance strategies based on well-defined failure modes. A crucial step was to compile an accurate, robust Asset Register in the computerized maintenance management systemComputerized systems that schedule, track and monitor maintenance activities and provide cost, component item, tooling, personnel and other reporting data and history. (CMMSComputerized Maintenance Management System) that included:

• An equipment hierarchy
• Asset criticality ranking
• Attributes list for each piece of critical equipment

Once implemented, the operational reliability program brought the 40-year-old facility’s reliability practices up to date with preventative, lower cost maintenance; minimal downtime losses; and scalability for future expansion. A corporate culture change, from reactive to proactive, also contributed to the project’s success. This mindset was communicated across the workforce and leadership team through Change Management and Reliability Fundamentals trainings. The establishment of an enterprise-wide governance structure was a natural next step to ensure changes to company-wide processes and procedures are sustained.

The overall reliability journey and cultural transformation was supported by the company’s top-down commitment, and its mission to safely provide environmental and economic stewardship through reliability, innovation, and adaptability benefitting residents, industries, and contributing partners.

Successful Outcome

Allied Reliability applies a Reliability Systems Model (RSM), with before and after scores from 1 to 5, to measure progress in clients’ reliability journeys. The model looks at these parameters: governance, proactive enablers, loss elimination, engineered reliability, and operational excellence. The water treatment plant’s overall score initially fell at Level 2-Experimenting. Upon project completion, that score went up to Level 3-Enlightened.

The accomplishments set forth in the project’s charter and client’s business plan are on track to meet the specified objectives. For instance, the plant will realize $5.1MM in cost improvement over three years, followed by a year-over-year maintenance savings of $470K. And with continuous improvements, they are positioned to further reduce corrective maintenanceMaintenance required to restore an item to a satisfactory condition, usually identified by PM activity. It can be emergency, urgent or planned work. costs.

In summary, the successful Operational Reliability Improvement program will elevate the water utility’s capability to deliver superior service to its customer base, protect the surrounding environment, and support the city’s anticipated growth.

Allied Reliability is the industrial and manufacturing sector’s leading Holistic Reliability Solutions provider, bringing together processes, content, knowledge, and data to optimize the asset reliability journey for its customers.