Maintenance Technology August 2015 - (Page 47)
A CONTRARIAN VIEW
Making Silk Purses
A
s bubonic plague ravaged much of
Europe, a wise man apparently shared a
common-sense parable that involved man's
inability to make a silk purse from a sow's
ear. Shakespeare is said to have picked up on this
idea and (possibly) mentioned it in one of his late
16th-century plays. As evidenced by two more
recent examples from the real world, it's clear that
industrial operations don't always understand the
moral of this parable.
In the first example, the reference to making a
silk purse from a sow's ear should have been on at
least one reliability professional's mind when, in the
late 1980s, he attended a National Petrochemical
and Refiners Association (NPRA) Reliability and
Maintenance Conference. (This conference has
been rebranded and now runs as an American Fuel
and Petrochemical Manufacturers [AFPM] event
in San Antonio.) We'll call our conference attendee
Maxwell-which, of course, is not his real name.
What's real is that Maxwell was a dynamic,
young reliability manager at a large petrochemical
company who sat in on a conference session I
conducted. During this presentation, I explained
how and why my employer at the time-a worldscale ethylene plant similar to Maxwell's-had safely
stretched its shutdown/turnaround intervals to
seven years (Those intervals are now 10 years.)
Evidently, Maxwell focused solely on the words
"seven years," and may have been enjoying an
extended coffee break as I discussed what our
ethylene plant did to achieve its seven-year shutdown/turnaround intervals. Investing in lube-oil
purification and up-front MQA (machinery quality
assurance) were among my topics.
Returning to his plant, Maxwell began to advocate the doubling of turnaround intervals. Unfortunately, a variety of calamitous events beset the
facility as it tried to meet this goal. While foresight
and a budget for true reliability engineering had
allowed my employer to become "Best in Class," his
employer struggled on its reliability journey. When
upper management realized that few of Maxwell's
lofty ideas materialized and that unscheduled
shutdowns made the facility uncompetitive, he was
terminated.
My second real-world example begins with a
letter I received.
AUGUST 2015
"I'm temporarily located in a Middle East country
as part of a team supporting project engineers in
the EPC (engineering/procurement/construction)
contractor's office," wrote a reliability engineer.
"The scope of my involvement is a bit unclear. I'm
supposed to keep an eye on the important items and
make sure the rotating equipment for the project
will be a) reliable, b) easy to maintain, c) within
budgeted cost, and d) delivered on time. Still, our
project engineers often express annoyance and view
our team's work product as interference instead of
value-adding. For example, because user experience
was a main criterion on important pumps, I had
recommended a particular feed pump. Focusing on
applicable experiences, we should have placed the
order with a well-qualified Italian manufacturer. But
our EPC contractor is headquartered in a Pacific
Rim country and wants to buy equipment from
that part of the world. Invariably, the EPC's choice
is lowest initial cost, which pleases the project
manager although it usually satisfies only item (c) in
my role statement."
Heinz P. Bloch, P.E.
His employer didn't realize that
thoughtful bid evaluations must
consider the value of maintenance
and downtime cost avoidance.
This reliability engineer's anguish is understandable. He had been hired after others made questionable decisions. His employer didn't realize that
thoughtful bid evaluations must consider the value
of maintenance and downtime cost avoidance.
Granted, the value of such avoidance strategies is
viewed differently from country to country. A timely
review of various bidders for this site's feed pumps
would have indicated that the Italian vendor had far
more applicable experience than the others.
Alas, as this and similar stories from industry so
often go, it's too late to do what's right. Much money
will flow into trying to make a silk purse from a
sow's ear. Then, the plant will change owners. MT
heinzbloch@gmail.com
MAINTENANCETECHNOLOGY.COM | 47
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Maintenance Technology August 2015
My Take
Uptime
For On The Floor
Industry News
Ultrasound: Aural Intelligence
Excellence in Action
Cool Advice on Hot Motors
Step Up to Greater Electrical Awareness
Keep Hydraulic Fluids Contamination Free
Five Steps to Workplace Desirability
Put a Good Base Under Your Pumps
QR-Code POI System for Quick Problem Solving
Products
Marketplace
Contrarian View
Ad Index
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