Extending Equipment’s Life Cycle – The Next Challenge for Maintenance: 1, #12

By Rolly Angeles

The objective of any maintenance program in industries is to take care of the Equipment's Total Life Cycle at the most reasonable cost with compliance to quality, safety, and the environment.  To perform this we need the following;

 

• Upgrade the skills and knowledge of our maintenance people

• Sustain equipment reliability by doing the correct maintenance

• Improve design weaknesses in the equipment

• Reduced the cost of doing maintenance

 

This means that before we can even sustain and preserve our equipment and assets, we need to provide our maintenance people with the knowledge to develop their skills to do their job correctly, but it does not stop from here.  Sustaining and preserving the equipment is merely the beginning.  Maintenance must also understand their equipment, especially on those parts, spares, and items with inherent design weaknesses, and improve them.  Doing this will definitely reduce the cost of doing maintenance. 

 

This book is written based on the Author's personal experience on how to make it possible to extend the Total Life Cycle of the equipment so that we can operate and maintain them at the least amount to own the asset.  The study of the life cycle is simply the sum of both the Initial and the Running Cost of the equipment.  While the initial cost is easy to see as it is always given, the running cost is not but it can still be projected.  This book also explains how to integrate the pillar of TPM IFCA or Initial Flow Control Activities to shorten the vertical start-up time of the equipment.    

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rolly Angeles
• Release date: Aug 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201020170

Book preview

World Class Maintenance Management Concept

1

FIGURE A: ORIGINAL Concept of World Class Maintenance

By: Rolly Angeles

Table of Contents

World Class Maintenance Management Concept

Table of Contents

About the Author

Acknowledgment

Life Cycle Costing Quiz Part 1

Preface: Going Beyond Equipment’s Life Cycle

Chapter 1: The Concept of Equipment’s Life Cycle Cost

1.1: The Concept of Equipment Life Cycle Cost

1.2: No Equipment is Perfect by Design

1.3: Why Life Cycle Costing is Important for Industries

1.4: The Initial and Running Cost

1.5: The 3 Phases of Equipment’s Life Cycle

1.5.1: Phase 1: Design and Fabrication

1.5.2: Phase 2: Vertical Start-Up

1.5.3: Phase 3: Operation to Decommissioning

1.6: Why Equipment Can No Longer be Used

1.7: Life Cycle for Current and New Equipment

1.8: The Importance of Life Cycle Costing in the Maintenance Strategy

1.9: Different Stages of Product Life Cycle

1.10: Balancing the Product and Equipment Life Cycle

Chapter 2: Initial Flow Control Activities

2.1: The Concept of Initial Flow Control Activities

2.2: Patents for Improvements

2.3: The Six Conditions for Equipment’s Initial Flow Control Activities

2.4: Vertical Start-up Time for Equipment

2.5: What We Want to Achieve on IFCA

2.6: TPM Certification Requirements for IFCA

2.7: Case Study for IFCA for CLF Plating Machine

2.8: Why Implementing IFCA is Important for Industries

Chapter 3: Understanding the Equipment’s Running Costs

3.1: Why Cheap Is Expensive

3.2: The Running Cost Will Not Always be Easy to See

3.3: What the Running Cost Includes

3.4: Percentage of Maintenance Cost to RAV

3.5: MTBF and MTTF Explained

3.6: Equipment’s Life Cycle will Start with the Basics

3.7: Why Operators are Important in Maintenance

Chapter 4: Sustaining Equipment against Failure

4.1: Stress Versus Strength

4.2: Different Types of Mechanical Stress

4.3: Ductile and Brittle Fracture

4.4: Occurrences of Failures

4.5: Why Do Equipment and Machines Fail?

4.6: Creating an Equipment Sustenance

4.7: All Maintenance Tasks Should Address a Failure Mode

Chapter 5: Mitigating Human Errors in Maintenance

5.1: Human Errors Explained

5.2: Categories of Human Errors

5.3: When Maintenance Errors Cost Lives

5.3.1: Case 1: Alaska Airline Flight 261

5.3.2: Case 2: British Flight 5390

5.3.3: Case 3: Boeing MCAS – A Fatal Design Flaw

5.4: Maintenance Induced Errors

5.5: Non-Maintenance Induced Errors

5.6: Implementing Precision Maintenance to Reduce Infant Mortality Failure

5.7: Reducing Human Errors in Maintenance

Chapter 6: Reducing Equipment’s Running Costs

6.1: Maintenance Costs Explained

6.2: Using the CMMS to Track the Maintenance Costs

6.3: Strategies to Reduce Equipment’s Maintenance Costs

6.3.1: Reducing MRO Spare Parts Costs

6.3.2: Reducing Preventive Maintenance Costs

6.3.3: Reducing Lubrication Costs

6.3.4: Reducing Repair Costs through Root Cause Failure Analysis

6.3.5: Reducing Maintenance Costs Through Predictive Maintenance

Chapter 7: Built for Reliability

7.1: Why the Maintenance Tasks Alone Cannot Improve Reliability

7.2: A Deeper Meaning of Reliability from R. Keith Mobley

7.3: Is It Possible to Improve the Reliability of the Equipment

7.4: Why Reliability is Everybody’s Responsibility

7.5: What Happens When Organizational Silos are Removed

7.6: The Three Forces in Industries

Chapter 8: Considering Redesign to Improve Reliability

8.1: Difference Between the East and the West Approach to Improvements

8.2: Equipment Redesign Explained

8.3: What Modification and Redesign Includes

8.4: Reasons for Moving Beyond Maintenance and Redesign

8.5: Contradicting Beliefs on TPM and RCM on Improvements

8.6: Equipment Downtime Explained

8.7: Different Equipment Losses Explained

8.8: Overall Equipment Effectiveness Explained

8.9: The Concept of Focused Improvement

8.9.1: Purpose of this Focused Improvement Guidelines

8.9.2: Scope of this Focused Improvement Guidelines

8.9.3: Objective of this Focused Improvement Guidelines

8.9.4: How to Conduct Focused Improvement

8.10: Industries Problems Can Go Beyond Equipment Losses

Chapter 9: Addressing Equipment’s Design Weaknesses

9.1: Understanding the Design Weaknesses of the Equipment

9.2: Standard Four Phases of Planned Maintenance

9.3: Details of Implementing Phase 2 of Planned Maintenance

9.4: Preliminary Requirements for Planned Maintenance Phase 2 Teams

9.5: Maintenance Prevention (MP) Design Improvements

9.6: Case Study 1: PM Phase 2 on Hermetics Analog

9.7: Case Study 2: PM Phase 2 on CLF Plating

9.8: Performing the Planned Maintenance Audit

9.9: Horizontal Replication of Improvements

Chapter 10: The Next Challenge - Extending Equipment’s Life Cycle

10.1: Reducing Oil Contaminants for Longer Equipment Lifespan

10.2: Effects of Excessive Moisture on Lubricating Oil

10.3: Increasing a Parts Lifespan Means Changing its Interval

10.4: Detailed Steps in Monitoring Equipment Life Cycle

10.5: Decommissioning – The Final Phase of Equipment Life Cycle

Chapter 11: ISO 55000 on Asset Management

11.1: Definition of Risks Management

11.2: The Need for a Structured Asset Management System ISO 55001

11.3: Transitioning from PAS 55 to ISO 55000

11.4: Elements of ISO 55002

11.5: Benefits of ISO 55000

11.6: New ISO 55010 Alignment of Financial and Non-Financial Functions

Chapter 12: The Conclusion

12.1: Focus on the People First, Before Technology

12.2: Cost Cutting the Wrong Way to Save on Maintenance Costs

12.3: The Challenge with Maintenance

12.4: When Maintenance Can Move Mountains

Appendix A: Answer to Maintenance IQ Quiz

Appendix B: RSA Maintenance Courses

Serving Maintenance Mankind Worldwide

Bibliography

Glossary on Maintenance

About the Author

ROLLY ANGELES is a seasoned technical and international reliability and maintenance trainer and book author.  His portfolio of reliability and maintenance training includes maintenance management and reliability courses on Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Planned Maintenance, Autonomous Maintenance, Lubrication Strategy, Tribology, Oil Contamination Control, Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM), Predictive Maintenance, Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM), Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA), Planned Maintenance, World Class Maintenance Management (WCM), Meaningful Measures of Equipment Performance, and more.

Rolly is a graduate of Mechanical Engineering from Mapua Institute of Technology in the Philippines, batch 1985, and passed the Licensure Board Examination the following year in 1986.  With more than 30 years of solid experience, he had worked in various industries from shipping, woodworking, foundry, cast-iron machining, assembly lines, semiconductor manufacturing, and the mining industry.  From 1994 to 2002, Rolly worked as a TPM Senior Engineer at Amkor Technology Philippines, a Multi-National company engaged in the manufacture of integrated circuit products, and spearheaded Amkor’s Planned Maintenance Organization, composed of maintenance managers and engineers.  He was responsible for the dramatic reduction of their machine’s unplanned breakdowns in their TPM journey as well as RCM implementation on their Facilities Air Handling Units (AHU) and their sub-station equipment.  Here is where he gained hands-on experience and understanding of both TPM and RCM, respectively.  His last corporate employment was in 2002, where he worked as a technical training specialist at Lepanto Consolidated Mining Industry.  In 2005, Rolly retired early from the industry and decided to establish his own consulting business, RSA Reliability and Maintenance Consultancy Firm, where he dedicates his time and passion to work as an independent reliability and maintenance consultant.  His email is [e-mail] and his website is https://www.rsareliability.com.  Rolly has written the following books in a series that is all about his passion for Reliability and Maintenance.

• Volume 1: World Class Maintenance Management – The 12 Disciplines

• Volume 2: Maintenance – Roadmap to Reliability

• Volume 3: Reliability – A Shared Responsibility for Both Operators and Maintenance

• Volume 4: Cutting–Edge Maintenance Management Strategies

• Volume 5: Problems and Solutions on MRO Spare Parts and Storeroom

• Volume 6: Lubrication Tactics for Industries Made Simple

• Volume 7: Decoding Reliability-Centered Maintenance Process for Manufacturing Industries

• Volume 8: RSA Reliability and Maintenance Newsletter Vault Collection, Subscribers Edition

• Volume 9: Investigating Equipment Failures through Root Cause Failure Analysis

• Volume 10: Maintenance Indices – Meaningful Measures of Equipment Performance

• Volume 11: Implementing Preventive Maintenance for Industries the Right Way

• Volume 12: Extending Equipment’s Life Cycle – The Next Challenge for Maintenance

Acknowledgment

This is to acknowledge all these good maintenance people from different races, cultures, and industries that have attended my reliability and maintenance training in the past.  Training is always a two-way process and I have to admit that I also learned a great deal from my students.  It is not only the students learning from the teacher, but it can also be the other way around.

I would like to thank my family, most especially my three kids: Marie Vic, Kathleen Kay, and Christian Joseph, my wife, Marites, and my dear and first granddaughter, Kalie.  I thank you for the love and support they have provided me during the good and tough times.

Most of all, I would like to thank God Almighty for allowing me to complete this book.  The struggles, challenges, pressures, opportunities, blessings, and wisdom in my life made me a better person.  I would like to dedicate this book to Him as a way of reaching out to maintenance and reliability people in industries in search of better ways to maintain their equipment and assets.  I believe that as maintenance myself, we all have a duty and responsibility not only to preserve and sustain our equipment and assets but to preserve the environment and planet as well.  It is my hope that this book provides the readers with the guidance, learning, principles, knowledge, and wisdom about maximizing the use of equipment and assets as well as the possibility of extending its life span.

Life Cycle Costing Quiz Part 1

1. TPM pillar that deals with the Vertical Start-up of Equipment is known as;

a) Maintenance Prevention (MP) Design

b) Life Cycle Management 

c) Early Equipment Management or Initial Flow Control Activities

d) Quality Maintenance

2. Activities on Planned Maintenance Phase 2 is all about

a) Equipment Restoration

b) Stabilizing MTBF

c) Periodically Restore Deterioration

d) Addressing Equipment Design Weaknesses

3. The subject of Initial Flow Control Activities involved two major subjects, which include;

a) Quality and Safety

b) Maintenance and Reliability

c) New Product Development and New Equipment Purchases

d) Operations and Maintenance

4. Life Cycle Costing is simply the sum of the following;

a) LCC = Initial Cost + Running Cost

b) LCC = Maintenance Cost + Labor Cost

c) LCC = Running Costs + Decommissioning Costs

d) LCC = Design + Fabrication Cost

5. According to Ernest Rabinowich, there are 3 main causes why equipment can no longer be used which include obsolescence, accidents and;

a) Corrosion

b) Surface Degradation

c) Mechanical Failures

d) Fractures

6. According to Ernest Rabinowich, 70% of why equipment can no longer be used is because of;

a) Corrosion

b) Surface Degradation

c) Wear and Tear

d) Accidents

7. The running cost of the equipment will begin during the following;

a) Design Phase

b) Fabrication Phase

c) Acquisition, Installation, and Commissioning Phase

d) Operations to Decommissioning Phase

8. The Vertical Startup time for the equipment will begin during the following;

a) Design Phase

b) Fabrication Phase

c) Acquisition, Shipment, Installation, and Commissioning Phase

d) Start of Operations to Decommissioning Phase

9. Increasing the reliability of the equipment can be done through;

a) Improvements, Redesign, and Modification

b) Applying the Correct Maintenance Tasks

c) Implementing Predictive Maintenance Consistently

d) Implementing both Predictive and Preventive Maintenance

10. The biggest contributor to the Life Cycle’s Running Costs is;

a) Taxes and Depreciation

b) Raw Materials

c) Maintenance Costs

d) Manpower Costs

11. To protect the rights of the industry regarding the new redesigned items, the industry can apply the following;

a) Copyright

b) Trademark

c) Patent

d) Intellectual Property Right

12. Implementing TPM Planned Maintenance is done two folds, the first is to reduce unplanned breakdown and the second is to;

a) Sustain the equipment so it will not revert back to its old condition

b) Promote Preventive Maintenance Tasks

c) Address Human Error

d) Repair and Troubleshoot the equipment

13. According to James Reasons and Anthony Hobbs, the majority of human error in maintenance occurs during the following;

a) Reassembly Process during Overhauls

b) Disassembly Process during Overhauls

c) Parts Replacement

d) During Inspection Process

14. According to lubrication experts and tribologists, the most destructive contaminants usually fall under the size of;

a) 40 to 50 microns

b) 50 to 59 microns

c) 35 microns and below

d) 60 microns and above

15. If an item or part is modified or redesigned and the lifespan increased from 30 to 120 days, the original parts inside the storeroom will definitely become;

a) Fast Moving Parts

b) Slow Moving Parts

c) Non-Moving Parts

d) Obsolete Parts

16. According to R. Keith Mobley, maintenance-induced errors constitute around how many percent of equipment-related problems, production interruptions, quality defects, and failures?

a) 17%

b) 83%

c) 90%

d) 40%

17. According to the author of this book, an example of a Product Life-Cycle with a finite or limited lifespan includes;

a) Food

b) Pharmaceuticals

c) Soft drinks

d) Electronic Appliances

18. According to the author, addressing equipment basic condition is the first step toward extending equipment lifespan.  In TPM, the pillar responsible to address this activity will be;

a) Early Equipment Management

b) Both Planned and Autonomous Maintenance

c) Solely Autonomous Maintenance

d) Solely Planned Maintenance

19. The concept of Poka-Yoke is usually designed to address;

a) Component Failures

b) Human Errors

c) Instrumentation Failures

d) Electronic Failures

20. The TPM Pillar that will address breakdown losses will be;

a) Focused Improvement Pillar

b) Planned Maintenance Pillar

c) Autonomous Maintenance Pillar

d) Initial Flow Control Activities Pillar

21. Implementing the Initial Flow Control Activities can improve and optimize the following;

a) Design Phase

b) Fabrication Phase

c) Operation to Disposal Phase

d) Vertical Start-Up Phase

22. Equipment or machines that experience a lot of errors, assists, and minor stoppages can be addressed through;

a) MTBF Analysis

b) MTBA Analysis

c) MTTS Analysis

d) MTTF Analysis

23. This is an equipment loss that will not result in downtime;

a) Design Speed Loss

b) Changeover and Conversion

c) Breakdown Losses

d) Minor Stoppages

24. When a redesign is performed to address design weaknesses, those original parts that are stored inside the storeroom become;

a) Obsolete Parts

b) Slow Moving Parts

c) Non-Moving Parts

d) Replacement Parts

25. Thirty-one participating countries were present in the development of ISO55000 asset management structure, which of these countries is not included in the lists

a) Australia

b) Germany

c) Republic of the Philippines

d) The United States of America

I. Life Cycle Costing Quiz Part 2

1. In purchasing new equipment, the decision should always be to go to the lowest bidder to save costs for the industry.

a) True

b) False

2. Initial Flow Control Activities (IFCA) is one of the pillars of TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) which aims to reduce the vertical start-up time of the equipment.

a) True

b) False

3. The vertical startup time in IFCA or Initial Flow Control Activities begins at the design of the equipment.

a) True

b) False

4. For lubricating oil, a reduction of moisture from 2500 to 156 ppm can extend the life of the equipment by a factor of five times

a) True

b) False

5. According to IFCA or Initial Flow Control Activities, what we can control on the entire lifecycle of the equipment is only the running cost.  Design, fabrication, installation, and commissioning are fixed and already given, which means that they cannot be improved.

a) True

b) False

6. Human Errors can be eliminated completely.

a) True

b) False

7. Integrating Precision Maintenance with Preventive Maintenance can reduce Infant Mortality Failures, especially during Preventive Maintenance.

a) True

b) False

8. If a redesign or modification has been performed on the equipment to address a design weakness and the equipment has three similar pieces, the modification should be replicated or fan out to all equipment even if other equipment does not exhibit the same problem.

a) True

b) False

9. Industries that passed ISO5001 certification will assure them to continue operating and be in business for the next decade.

a) True

b) False

10. The sole objective of maintenance is to sustain and preserve their equipment and assets.

a) True

b) False

11. If the equipment is dedicated and can only produce one product and the product is not selling well in the market, it is recommended to increase the life cycle of the equipment.

a) True

b) False

12. The term fail-safe means that the equipment is free from any form of failures and breakdowns.

a) True

b) False

13. In the aviation industry 80 % of accidents are caused by human errors.

a) True

b) False

14. Implementing both Preventive and Predictive Maintenance will help extend the Life Cycle of the equipment.

a) True

b) False

15. The last stage in the study of Life Cycle Costing is about decommissioning or retiring the equipment.

a) True

b) False

16. The tragedy at Union Carbide in Bhopal India is a clear case of Management Cost Cutting Schemes.

a) True

b) False

17. Having an EAM or Enterprise Management Software is ensuring compliance with ISO55001 certification making sure equipment and assets are well managed,

a) True

b) False

18. Establishing the basic equipment condition is the sole responsibility of the maintenance function of the organization.

a) True

b) False

19. Extending the equipment’s life cycle will begin by addressing the very basic equipment condition.

a) True

b) False

20. In TPM, the pillar that can impact OEE the most will be the Focused Improvement or the Kobetsu-Kaizen teams.

a) True

b) False

Answer on Appendix A, page 284 of this book.

Preface: Going Beyond Equipment’s Life Cycle

Maintenance is ensuring that physical assets continue to do what the users want them to do.  In its simplest term, maintenance is all about sustaining and preserving our equipment and assets so that it remains available whenever the users need them.  However, this is just one side of the maintenance function.  The objective of any maintenance program in industries is to take care of the Equipment’s Total Life Cycle at the most reasonable cost with compliance to quality, safety, and the environment.  To perform this we need the following;

FIGURE A: OBJECTIVE of Maintenance

• Upgrade the skills and knowledge of our maintenance people

• Sustain equipment reliability by doing the correct maintenance

• Improve design weaknesses in the equipment

• Reduced the cost of doing maintenance

Although the last objective, which is reducing cost, will only happen by sustaining and improving the equipment and this can only be possible if maintenance is equipped with the right skills and knowledge to execute their jobs correctly.  Reducing cost is just the effect of doing the correct maintenance on the equipment.  This should not be the primary objective of maintenance.  In fact, in many cases reducing maintenance costs can be detrimental to the health and the reliability of the equipment.

The discussion of Life Cycle Costs involves two subjects, which include the Product Life Cycle and the Equipment Life Cycle.  Although this book is focused more on discussing the Equipment Life Cycle and most importantly what we can do to possibly extend it.  This book covers the 7th Discipline on World Class Maintenance Management which is all about the Extending Equipment Life Cycle and how it can be part of the overall Plant’s Maintenance Strategy.

FIGURE B: THE BASIC Concept of Extending Equipment Life Cycle

Equipment has a finite or dictated life and usually, this is estimated by the Vendor or OEM, but what if there is a possibility to extend the lifespan by 20, 30, 50, percent, or even 2, 3 folds, or even more?  Then this will be of great benefit to industries as they do not need to purchase additional new machines in the future.  There are many reasons why equipment does not reach its useful life.  There are those, which can be managed, and those that are simply beyond the control of the maintenance function such as the Market Demand.  This means that if the product manufactured has limited demand from the public, then there is no need on using the equipment unless the equipment is non-dedicated which means that it can produce other products to market.

The study of the Life Cycle will begin at the Design Phase of the equipment until it is finally retired and disposed of.  There are different costs involved in the different phases of an equipment life-cycle.  Once the OEM has completed both installation and commissioning, it will now be endorsed to the plant and the start of operations begins which now becomes the responsibility of both operations and maintenance people.  The operators had been taught how to correctly operate the equipment, while the maintenance complies with the different tasks needed to sustain and preserve their equipment.  Preventive, Predictive, On-Condition Tasks and Failure Finding Tasks are adopted as part of the sustaining program.  However, during operations, different equipment losses will be experienced which will affect the uptime of the equipment and this is where the challenge begins.

This book covers three parts.  The first will include the Vertical Startup of the equipment.  This will start during the acquisition of the asset and what can be done to optimize its start-up.  The second part will be the running costs, which include the Life Cycle of the equipment.  Finally, the feasibility of extending the Life Cycle of the equipment until the time the equipment or asset will be disposed of.  The concept of Life-Cycle covers the Total or Overall Cost incurred on the equipment during its entire lifespan from the beginning up to the time the equipment will be retired and disposed of.  What we all want is to operate and maintain the asset with the least amount to own over its entire life span, which is the main objective of this book.  This book covers 12 chapters, which are summarized as follows.

Chapter 1: The Concept of Equipment’s Life Cycle Cost begins with what Life Cycle is all about and why industries need to adopt it.  The three phases of the Equipment Life Cycle, which include the OEM Phase, the Vertical Start-Up, and the time it will be operated until it will be decommissioned, are explained in this Chapter.  Also discussed in this chapter are the various reasons why equipment can no longer be used.  A brief explanation regarding the different stages of the Product Life Cycle is likewise included.

Chapter 2: Initial Flow Control Activities (IFCA) also called EEM or Early Equipment Management is one of the pillars of TPM that involves optimizing the start-up activities of new equipment and assets.  IFCA covers the vertical start-up of the equipment, which starts from the acquisition up to the completion of the commissioning time.  This chapter also covers the six conditions for implementing IFCA and what we want to achieve.  An actual case study of IFCA is also covered in this chapter.  Finally, this chapter explains why IFCA is important for industries to implement for newly purchased equipment.

Chapter 3: Understanding the Equipment’s Running Costs begins when we start operating the equipment.  This chapter starts with the concept that purchasing cheap may actually be expensive and expensive may turn out to be cheap in the long run.  The message of this chapter is that purchasing based on the initial or acquisition costs is only one side of the story since there are other costs involved when the equipment starts to operate until the time it will be retired or decommissioned.  This cost refers to the running cost of the equipment.  This chapter also provides details on what the running cost will include.  One unique maintenance indicator will be the Percentage of Maintenance Cost to RAV or Replacement Asset Value.  This indicator provides insights into whether a piece of equipment needs to continue running, retire, or the possibility of modifying it.  This indicator refers to the cost of maintaining the asset, which is measured against its value.

Chapter 4: Sustaining Equipment Against Failure explains the different stresses involved once the equipment is loaded.  These different stresses will affect the different parts of equipment, which can subject them to failure.  For mechanical parts, once the stress finally exceeds the strength of the material then that item will be expected to fail, or fracture.  Since these failures are inevitable, the need to create sustenance is essential and this is where the different maintenance tasks are performed to sustain and preserve our equipment and assets from these stresses, which can eventually lead to failures and breakdowns.  What is important is that all maintenance tasks performed on the equipment should address a particular failure or breakdown.

Chapter 5: Mitigating Human Errors in Maintenance provides the readers an understanding of human errors.  This chapter explains if it is possible to totally eliminate human errors, or not.  Another topic of interest to the reader is how can we reduce and manage human errors committed in industries.  Also provided in this chapter are cases where human errors committed in maintenance can be devastating and can cost human lives.  Maintenance Induced and Non-Maintenance Induced Errors are likewise explained in this chapter.  Human errors are part of being human, this chapter provides the readers with what we can do to reduce, mitigate, or how we can manage them in maintenance.

Chapter 6: Reducing Equipment’s Running Costs briefly explains that there is no distinct and universal standard on what maintenance cost includes as it varies from one industry to another.  Maintenance cost is a universal and common measurement and indicator for all types of industries, unlike other KPIs.  Once we understand what to include in the running cost, there are several correct practices that we can adopt to reduce them.  These strategies include adopting an MRO Spare Parts Management, implementing the correct Preventive Maintenance, application of Predictive Maintenance, and implementing a Plant-Wide Lubrication strategy in the plant.

Chapter 7: Built for Reliability explains why both Reliability and Life Cycle are intrinsically important and connected which means that they are inseparable.  While others may define reliability in terms of failure and MTBF, a deeper meaning is provided in this Chapter by a dear friend of mine, R. Keith Mobley.  One of the things that must be understood is that reliability is not just for the reliability people but it is each and everyone’s responsibility in the plant.  Top Management and C-Level people should be the drivers of reliability.  This chapter also explains what can be achieved if the three forces of industries which include Safety, Quality, and Reliability activities can be consolidated and integrated.

Chapter 8 Considering Redesign to Improve Reliability begins by comparing the east and the west approach to improvements as well as what redesign and modification are all about when it is used, and what it includes.  Another interesting topic discussed in this chapter is the contradicting beliefs of both RCM and TPM on improvements.  This chapter also discusses the different losses that can be experienced on the equipment and how to conduct Focused Improvement activities to address the different losses that can occur on the equipment and assets.  Each of these equipment losses will require a different strategy on how to deal with them.  Lastly, this chapter also explains other losses that can be experienced beyond the equipment losses besides breakdowns.

Chapter 9: Addressing Equipment’s Design Weaknesses provides a detailed Step-by-Step approach on how to address equipment design weaknesses using Phase 2 of Planned Maintenance.  The standard 4 Phases of Planned Maintenance include Phase 0 which is the Preparatory Phase, Phase 1 is all about restoration, Phase 2 addresses equipment design weaknesses, Phase 3, developing sustenance, and Phase 4 is all about predicting equipment lifetime.  In Phase 2, one of the requirements needed is for the team to be trained on at least three or more means of analyzing equipment-related problems using some conventional problem-solving tools or how to conduct an actual Root Cause Failure Analysis investigation.  An actual case study of Planned Maintenance Phase 2 is provided which includes the results obtained.

Chapter 10: The Next Challenge - Extending Equipment Life Cycle explains why Life Cycle Costing is important and should be part of the Overall Reliability Strategy.  This chapter explains the different means of extending equipment life cycle such as reducing oil contamination in lubricants.  Also covered are the detailed steps in monitoring equipment life cycle.  Finally, the process of decommissioning is explained which is the last phase of the equipment’s life cycle.

Chapter 11: ISO 55000 on Asset Management defines the need for industries to have an asset management structure in their organization so that they can manage the risks that can affect the way they do business.  This will help industries find a structured approach to find the best possible solution to deal with the risks involved in their day-to-day operations.  A good asset management system entails the identification, assessment, management, and mitigation of the risks involved together with their consequences.  ISO 55002 provides industries a universal framework and guidelines for managing the use of their physical assets.  This chapter also includes a brief explanation of the newly launched ISO 55010, which is about an alignment between the financial and non-financial functions of an organization.

Chapter 12: The Conclusion: As I have mentioned several times that training and education will serve as the very basic foundation of an effective maintenance strategy and structure.  Every industry is plagued with different problems and risks that they need to address to remain in business.  While many industries will opt to go for an all-out Management Cost Cutting Schemes, which can have harmful effects and repercussions as, indicated in the case study on Bhopal India and Boeing 737 Max.  Finally, the readers need to understand that sustaining the equipment is not just the role of maintenance in industries but also for them to accept the challenge that equipment and assets can still be improved. 

Chapter 1

The Concept of Equipment’s Life Cycle Cost

1.1: The Concept of Equipment Life Cycle Cost

LIFE CYCLE COST REFERS to the total cost of the equipment throughout its entire lifespan.  The US Management and Budget defines LCC as the sum of the direct, indirect, recurring, non-recurring, and other related costs of a large-scale system during its period of effectiveness.  Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance (JIPM) defines LCC as the systematic decision-making technique that incorporates life-cycle cost as a parameter at the design stage, performing trade-offs to ensure an economic life cycle cost for the user’s system design.  It can be said that In terms of production equipment, LCC can be described more simply as the design and fabrication cost, which is the initial, or acquisition cost plus the operation and maintenance cost which is the running costs of the equipment.  The initial cost will always be easy to see, but the running cost is not.  Failure to consider the running cost can lead to many problems.  At least 80% of an equipment LCC can be conceptualized during the design stage.  The goal of LCC is to operate and maintain the equipment with the least possible cost to own over its entire lifespan.

LCC = Initial Cost + Running Costs

The study of Life Cycle Costing provides us three main objectives.  The first is to address the very basic equipment condition.  The second is how to sustain and preserve our equipment and assets.  Finally, challenging the maintenance people to improve the existing equipment by identifying and addressing design flaws so that we can maximize its entire life span, or even have the possibility of extending it.  But before anything else, we need to understand the needs and requirements for purchasing new equipment in the future.  There are two kinds of costs associated with the equipment.  First, we have the initial costs, which is the tag price of the equipment.  This can also be referred to as the procurement cost.  Just like when we go to a shopping mall to buy a T-Shirt or whatever we want to purchase, these items always come up with a tag price, which is embedded in the bar code.  This refers to the initial cost of the products that we are purchasing.  The initial cost already includes the taxes to be paid which includes the VAT, which is quite common in most countries.  This is what we pay for when we go to the cashier.  When we purchase something, the receipts already covered these things.  The second type of cost is called the running cost.  This refers to the overall costs incurred when using the product we purchased.  Knowing the initial costs will be the easy part since it’s always given in the receipt, but trying to understand the running costs would be quite more challenging.  In the example above, the initial cost will contain the cost of the clothes that we purchased, while the running cost will include the cost of the laundry, water bills, electricity, detergent, labor for the laundry, and other costs that can be incurred while we still keep using the shirt.

The sum of the initial and the running costs is known as the Total Life Cycle Cost.  The message on Life Cycle Cost is that looking only at the initial cost of the equipment is just like the tip of the iceberg because underneath the iceberg lies other costs involved from the time the equipment was commissioned up to the time the equipment will be finally retired or decommissioned which in the long run is much bigger than the surface of the iceberg.  As the equipment is used continuously, the running cost will be surpassed by its initial cost.  The objective of LCC analysis is to select the lowest possible cost in operating and maintaining the equipment as well as to determine the most feasible approach from a series of alternatives, so the least long-term or cost of ownership can be achieved throughout the entire life cycle of the equipment and assets.  LCC analysis can help engineers justify the equipment and process selection based on the total costs rather than the initial purchase price of the equipment.  The correct way to reduce costs is to understand the equipment’s Life Cycle Costs, which will consider both the initial and the running costs of the equipment.  Looking only at the initial cost is just one side of the story and may not be a good decision when purchasing new equipment or even spares as we need to understand how it will also perform in the long run.  This is mostly the problem with Purchasing people in industries as they seemed to go always to the lowest bidder.

Sometimes higher performance equipment costs less than a commodity type, even though the initial price is higher. To determine whether this will be the case, we should look at the entire Life Cycle Cost of the equipment, rather than its purchase price or initial cost.  Life Cycle Costing is a way of analyzing equipment purchase choices.  Therefore, if the decision was based on several factors rather than its initial costs, then we need to make our selection based on the least amount to own the equipment over its entire life span.

Equipment must not only be inexpensive in terms of its initial cost which is also termed the procurement cost or cost of purchase, but it must also be inexpensive in terms of its running cost, which is the cost of operating and maintaining the asset.  This is what is important because this is where we can realize the true value of the asset.  The goal of Life Cycle Costs is to develop equipment with the lowest possible life cycle costs that can benefit industries in the long-term in terms of their profitability.  Remember that humans design equipment and humans are prone to mistakes and errors.  Therefore, there is nothing like a piece of perfect equipment by design.  There will always be design flaws, and weaknesses.  Inevitably, failures will occur, and certain parts of the equipment will have inherent design flaws and weaknesses, which can lead to a short lifespan.  It is just a matter of time before it will happen.  When the equipment is placed into service, operators and maintenance will experience common problems with their assets.  There would be parts that will have a short inherent lifespan or those that will fail prematurely and spares are often withdrawn from the storeroom.  There are also cases of the same parts that will repeatedly fail during operations.

1.2: No Equipment is Perfect by Design

EVENTUALLY, EQUIPMENT varies depending on the industry type.  Industries can either be producing a product or providing a service to the public in general.  There are equipment and machines that experienced repeating failures and breakdowns, while there are pieces of equipment that seldom fail.  Although TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) claims to target a zero breakdown in the equipment.  Technically, what TPM is referring to in this case will be to zero out all possible unplanned breakdowns on the equipment.  The truth is, all equipment will fail.  The thing is, we do not declare a breakdown or failure when maintenance is ahead of the breakdown.  We only declare a breakdown when it happens first and then we react or repair the machine.  If we replace a part or item during a Preventive Maintenance shutdown because of a wear-out mode, then this will not be declared as a breakdown, but technically the part that was replaced eventually is on the verge of failing as far as the part is concerned.  In this case, we are not eliminating the breakdown totally, but we are just prolonging the equipment's MTBF or Mean Time Between Failure.  If zero breakdown is really possible, then we cannot proceed with the higher Phases of TPM Planned Maintenance, which is all about Lengthening Equipment’s Lifetime by Addressing Design Weaknesses as we need a failure or breakdown to occur so we can identify those parts with inherent design weaknesses as these parts are candidates for TPM Planned Maintenance Phase 2 improvement and modification.  I can vividly recall our previous JIPM Consultant telling us that we need to have a breakdown before proceeding to Planned Maintenance Phase 2 so that you can identify these parts that frequently fail in the equipment.  What TPM is simply claiming is having a zero unplanned breakdown is just for a temporary period.  If zero breakdowns are really possible, then the fact lies that there will no longer be work for the entire maintenance population.  It’s as simple as that.  When a piece of equipment or machine fails or breaks down, what it simply meant is that something went wrong inside the equipment, perhaps a part or a spare failed, or a software malfunction.  These parts whether electronic, electrical, or mechanical parts are all subject to stress inside the equipment and it’s just a matter of time before one of these parts will actually fail.  The only time breakdowns will not happen is when the equipment will not be loaded.

By definition, the word failure means