SMRP Guide To The Maintenance and Reliability Body of Knowledge
SMRP Guide To The Maintenance and Reliability Body of Knowledge
SMRP Guide To The Maintenance and Reliability Body of Knowledge
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2009 by SMRP PUBLICATION DATE: August 17, 2009
Maintenance and Reliability
Body of Knowledge Pillar Descriptions
Pillar 1 - Business and Management
This subject area describes the skills used to translate an organizations
business goals into appropriate maintenance and reliability goals that support
and contribute to the organizations business results.
1.1 Create strategic direction and plan for Maintenance and Reliability
operations (provide vision, provide clear and measurable goals, develop
business case, etc.)
Maintenance and reliability leaders create a vision, mission, and strategic plan to
guide implementation of appropriate maintenance and reliability processes in
order to achieve organizational business goals. The strategic plan provides clear
purpose (a demonstrated need), defined goals, and in turn, benefits to the
organization. Goals should be clear, measurable and established in a top-down
(cascading) manner. Maintenance and reliability leaders utilize their knowledge of
industry benchmarks to establish these goals, provide a measurement system,
and determine gaps in their maintenance and reliability processes. It is important
for operations, maintenance, and other involved disciplines to agree on the goals
and the measures used to quantify them. Equally important is an understanding
of roles and responsibilities in the strategic plan. Routine review and discussion
of progress will ensure team commitment and provide an opportunity to make
periodic adjustments to the plan that may be required.
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this vision to those with a stake in the process to garner commitment to
implementation and execution of the plan. This requires champions positioned to
lead the effort and enlist support of customers, stakeholders and staff.
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2.3 Manage effects of change to processes and equipment (establish
change protocol, update documentation and procedures, etc.)
The success of a maintenance or reliability program can be greatly hampered
when changes made to the process or equipment they govern is not properly
managed. Change can occur intentionally, such as a process modification or
improvement, or by unintentional means, such as component wear or general
equipment degradation over time. The effects of these changes must be
analyzed and managed in order to ensure the desired level of reliability is
maintained. A formal change management process is needed to identify any
significant changes to the process, equipment capability, and/or inventory items.
A basic component of an effective change management program is the
requirement that all intentional changes (this should include temporary changes
and engineered experiments) to the process must be submitted and approved
before the change can occur. After a proper application has been submitted, it is
reviewed by all affected parties within the organization. This includes
management, engineering, maintenance, safety, production, environmental, and
possibly others. The review insures that the effects of the change are properly
evaluated and all stakeholders are properly prepared.
The change management process also insures that all effected documents are
updated. This includes: a) drawings such as plant layouts, P&IDs, PFDs, etc. b.)
Maintenance documents such as MELs, PMs, FMEAs, parts lists and others. c.)
a variety of others including production control documents, safety documents,
asset lists and other documents. Upon approval of the requested change, the
change can then be implemented. The management-of-change process must
include devices to monitor the progress of the implementation. This includes
ensuring that documentation is created, collected and stored in an appropriate
manner. Upon completion of the change, devices must be in place to insure that
the change has achieved its desired effect and that all subsequent changes to
methods and documentation have been properly addressed.
At issue in one plant is the potential liability a planner may have should that
individual make an unapproved change to the facility. Liability may include
personnel as well as process safety.
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2.4 Maintain processes in accordance with applicable standards and
regulations (understand industry standards, understand regulatory
requirements, ensure compliance, etc.)
Maintenance & Reliability professionals use standards and specifications as a
way of translating the efforts of the reliability program into improved performance.
One approach is to use comparative analysis (benchmarking) between internal
results and the results of others, particularly if their performance is seen as a
world class. Gaps in performance of the reliability program must be identified,
quantified, interpreted, and communicated to other functions, e.g. financial,
operational and other service departments. Action plans to close the gaps are
created, reviewed, and improved on a continuous basis as part of a "living
program" approach to reliability. Measurements and action plans are posted in
designated areas of the company for all employees to review.
Regulations specify legal requirements that are mandatory. They include such
topics as environmental effects, safety, product safety, health or other matters in
the employee, consumer or public interest. A regulation usually consists of either
a federal, state or local government technical specification or requirement but on
occasion permit the use of a particular private sector standard as a means of
compliance. Regulations may seem a bit confusing and intimidating but having a
proper understanding of them and how they affect a business model may actually
save companies money and be more productive. The integration of regulatory
requirements with operational best practices in a continuous improvement culture
is the best way to ensure that compliance is achieved and that risk and potential
liabilities are also managed.
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the equipment and processes continue to deliver their intended capabilities in the safest
and most cost-effective manner.
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Properly developed maintenance and reliability plans consist of the optimum
tasks to safely meet reliability and availability requirements at the lowest cost.
Achieving this requires a thorough understanding of the scope and applications
of maintenance activity types (e.g. condition-based, restorative/replacement,
failure-finding, autonomous, etc.). The use of one or more processes focused on
developing reliability-based maintenance plans is recommended. Selection may
be based on the criticality and failure consequences of the asset, system, or
process to ensure alignment with the strategic plan. It is important to perform
periodic reviews of these plans and equipment reliability performance, and to
make adjustments as business needs, performance, or requirements change.
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It is important to identify the organizational requirements needed to align to the
organizational strategic plan. Requirements that need to be considered are
analyzing the overall capability of the organization, understanding the business
conditions in which the organization operates, understanding the capability and
skills of personnel, evaluating industry trends, issues, and opportunities that
might affect the organizational programs, developing strategic and tactical plans,
and communicating to all levels of the organization. Establishing and
communicating these requirements early will provide direction and assist in
maintaining alignment to the organizational strategic plan.
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An effective work identification process employs objective methods to manage
planned and unplanned work. It utilizes concepts such as FMEA or RCM
analysis to identify planned work. The work or task has to be validated and
classified accurately based on various categories such as preventive
maintenance, predictive inspection and testing, corrective maintenance or
emergency work.
5.2 Prioritize work (develop and implement formal prioritization system, etc.)
A well-defined and properly executed work prioritization process must be
employed to effectively manage resources (manpower, time, tools, and materials)
available to the maintenance professional. An effective prioritization process will
assure the most serious problems (safety and environmental) are corrected
expeditiously, proactive maintenance strategies are executed, and critical
equipment that has reached functional failure are quickly restored to meet
operational requirements. Work that involves improvements, modification of
processes, enhancements to safety, etc. that will improve conditions must also
be prioritized, planned, scheduled, and executed in an appropriate amount of
time.
The prioritization of maintenance tasks and activities is defined as the process for
approving and selecting the most important work to be planned first, scheduling
these tasks, and executing those tasks based on the priority assigned during the
identification and planning processes. The most successful companies employ a
risk-based strategy to assure that work is prioritized and managed to ensure their
business goals and objectives are safeguarded. Key to the success of such a
program is having performance metrics in place to measure compliance with the
prioritization, planning, scheduling, and execution of the most critical tasks and
activities.
The work planning function uses knowledge and information about equipment,
job tasks, tools and materials, worker skills, and work environment to produce a
worker information package (job plan). The package, containing detailed
information about work scope and procedures, specifications and regulations,
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and required tools and materials, is produced and communicated prior to
commencing work. The planning function also includes securing of permits and
clearances, assuring availability of tools and materials, and estimating time and
material costs. Work planning leads to increased efficiency and effectiveness of
the maintenance workforce, thus producing business value by lowering costs.
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along with the benefits and the risks associated with each, need to be known.
Methods for sound cost management of the maintenance function and how the
value of the work performed impacts the business financial metrics needs to be
thoroughly understood. Health, Safety and Environmental guidelines are used to
develop and implement efficient, comprehensive and proactive programs to
ensure a safe and environmentally compliant work environment.
5.7 Analyze work and follow-up (compare actual work with plan, identify
variances, etc.)
The maintenance professional should be able to analyze work and compare the
actual work with the plan set forth for the identified maintenance tasks.
Documentation of the work is used to determine when adjustments need to be
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made to measure the accuracy of the job plan in such areas as the estimated job
duration, materials and tools required, etc. After completion, the work order
should be analyzed and compared with the equipment history and to benchmark
data, maintenance costs should be reviewed and improvements made to the
work process. This could be used as inputs to programs such as Failure Mode
Effect Analysis (FMEA), Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), and/or Root
Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA) that will assist in changing maintenance job plans
and improve reliability.
5.9 Plan and execute projects (define scope, estimate project and life
cycle costs, apply critical path methods, track progress, coordinate
staffing, etc.)
The maintenance professional understands all the steps required to plan and
implement a capital project. The requirements of each step need to be known
and understood. The ability to use tools and techniques critical to the success of
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the project planning process needs to be evident. The project scope, time to
execute and cost should be defined taking into consideration the materials, plant
configuration, spare parts (new and obsolete), manpower and financial
requirements. An analysis must be made of various activities required for project
execution in order to identify a proper project team and define the responsibilities
for each individual team member. The execution of the project should enable
completion of the project on time and without rework or faults. Project execution
should be continuously monitored and reported. Any deviations to the plan must
be communicated in order to make adjustments to the project design, scope and
resources. A maintenance professional should be able to utilize life cycle cost
analysis (total cost for design, purchase, installation, maintenance and disposal)
for capital projects to achieve the most effective approach for least cost of
ownership of an asset.
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