Overview

The effective maintenance management within chemical plants is a critical feature of plant operation, both in establishing the conditions for safe ongoing operation of the plant after commissioning and in supporting the commercial success of the business. Many companies focus on the cost of the maintenance organisation, rather than on the benefits that they can provide, and in doing so, the real potential for maintenance organisations to make significant contributions to business success are often lost. Ultimately, and assuming that the commercial department is able to sell the product that is produced, the contribution of a maintenance organisation can most effectively be measured in terms of its ability to generate sustained improvements with time in the total (fixed and variable) cost per unit volume of production. There are a number of drivers which tend to increase the cost of production; certain types of equipment become unreliable with time, obsolescence is often an issue, environmental and safety standards are continuing to tighten, and so on.

There are many tools and techniques that are available to help: Risk-Based Inspection, Reliability Centred Maintenance, and Total Productive Maintenance. These can all add value if they are used appropriately, but it is important to remember that the long term aim of plant maintenance is to deliver a sustained and continuous reduction in the cost per unit of production. This is a point often lost in the mounds of paperwork that can be generated by some of the tools that are provided to help the maintenance engineer in his decision making! It is worth remembering that any debate or decision within the maintenance organisation which does not concern the selection or delivery of maintenance task is unlikely to contribute to improving the overall performance of the business.

Who Should Attend

• All plant engineers engaged in maintenance, turnarounds and minor projects.
  
• All personnel in design, project management and turnarounds.
  
• Plant financial staff who have to approve projects.
  
• Plant maintenance managers.
  
• Project personnel.

Key Learning Objectives

• To make plant engineers aware of the importance of overall equipment availability at the least cost.
• To manage the organisational changes required to maximise the contribution and generate sustained improvements.
  
• To teach financial principles to enable engineers to arrive at the least cost options in solving a technical problem.
  
• To enable project engineers to justify higher initial cost where lower overall life cycle cost and higher reliability result.
  
• To make all participants aware of the time value of money and the Cost of Non-Compliance (PONC).

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