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Following the COVID-19 pandemic, and amidst the global economic and social slowdown resulting from it, industries are struggling to keep up with activities that are considered critical for running their assets safely and effectively. But what defines critical activities? How do you decide whether an inspection/maintenance activity requires to be performed strictly as planned, or can be optimized / deferred to a later date?

What if this activity can be avoided altogether?

Typically, an asset will have around 20% of its equipment requiring robust condition monitoring and maintenance to ensure safe and continuous operations, whilst the remaining 80% of equipment may require only minimal maintenance/inspection. Even more interestingly, equipment in the 80% category may be suitable for a ‘fix on failure’ strategy, with no preventative maintenance performed at all.

Two conclusions can be derived from the figures above:

1. Operators might be spending resources on maintaining equipment that require significantly less attention
2. As a result, you may be under-maintaining critical equipment which increases the probability of failure of equipment that really matter!

These conclusions are the reality of many operators as [1] and [2] show that 30% of maintenance activities have an excessive frequency and maintenance optimization can save up to 50% of maintenance budget. It should also be noted that the quoted research indicated that the vast majority of asset failure occurs randomly, rather than our normal assumptions around age.

Now, more than ever, operators should be looking to optimize their operations and maintenance systems to ensure their resources are targeted optimally in the areas that drive the greatest impact.

We follow a 7-stage approach for maintenance and spares optimisation service to deliver long-term savings and optimal plant performance. The 7 stages can be engaged at any stage of an asset life cycle and can be summarised as follows:

1. Cleansed asset register with duplicates eliminated

2. Well defined equipment criticality and prioritization

3. Clear and achievable performance standards

4. Optimised maintenance strategies & tasks resulting in a significant reduction of associated maintenance expenditure

5. Significant savings from tied up capital from optimising operational spares

6. Reduced equipment downtime and loss of production by ensuring critical spares are always in stock

7. Accurate & digitalised information to permit efficient execution of maintenance workorders and easy stock replenishment

[1] ARC Advisory Group’s Enterprise Asset Management and Field Service Management Market Study, 2019.
[2] “Reducing the cost of preventative maintenance”, Unique Enterprise Analytics, 2020.