Maintenance Technology May 2015 - 52

INDUSTRY TRENDS

Make APM Part of
Your ORM Program

not the same as managing risk. To

break-fix maintenance to deploy more advanced
tools like Condition Based Maintenance (CBM)
or even Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)
experience far fewer process upsets.
More important, asset failures are always among
the top three causes of accidents that result in either
safety issues or pollution releases. Additionally,
equipment that is poorly maintained invariably
produces products of lower quality because it lacks
the ability to maintain tolerances. The frequent
start-stop cycles often associated with poorly
maintained equipment mean less time operating
at steady state, where quality is best maintained.
Finally, it should be apparent that out-of-service
equipment can impact production volumes, which
can lead to myriad issues with customers.
Applying APM by itself will improve reliability
and, consequently, reduce risk-but this is not the
same as managing risk. To really leverage APM
in your ORM program, you need to implement
predictive analytics to gauge the consequences of
each potential maintenance scenario. When you
collect RCM data and use it to judge the impact
of deferring maintenance to meet a production
commitment, you are performing risk-management
and not just risk-reduction. Likewise, when you
use those same tools to assess the likelihood of
failure that could lead to an accident, and then base
maintenance priorities on that information, you are
proactively practicing ORM.

leverage APM, predictive analytics

Leveraging APM in ORM efforts

Dan Miklovic
Principal Analyst
LNS Research

ooking at today's regulatory environment
and increasing shareholder activism in the
marketplace, it's clear that Operational Risk
Management (ORM) is becoming a critical
skill for many manufacturing and asset-intensive
businesses. The costs associated with events like
environmental violations or safety incidents-and
their related potential fines and penalties-can be
significant. The need to avoid accidents is becoming
a prime business objective.
Today's economic environment has also emboldened shareholders to hold management more
accountable, not just for environmental incidents,
but also for the failure to operate the business with
what would be considered reasonable parameters.
This could take the form of loss of business,
claims for failure to deliver products or failure to
regularly meet quality specifications. All can result
in potential litigation from shareholders. In turn,
managers are reacting by more effectively assessing
and managing risks associated with their business.

Although applying APM by
itself will improve reliability and,
consequently, reduce risk, this is

are needed to gauge potential
maintenance consequences.
APM-a powerful ORM tool
"Healthy assets are the foundation of a healthy
business" is an axiom our organization uses to
categorize the value Asset Performance Management (APM) brings to a business. Our research
shows that enterprises that have invested in strong
APM programs and moved beyond reactive or

52 |

MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY

While migrating from reactive to preventive or
predictive maintenance, or even CBM, can reduce
an operation's risk, it is the investment in RCM
tools and predictive analytics that will allow you to
truly make APM part of your ORM program.
That means you need to identify assets that
have high risk, and then use predictive analytics to
assess the risks associated with potential maintenance actions. Fortunately, with today's variety
of affordable Cloud-based solutions, virtually any
organization can easily make APM part of its ORM
program. MT

editor@maintenancetechnology.com
MAY 2015

Maintenance Technology May 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Maintenance Technology May 2015