QUALITY ASSURED MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT IN PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY N.K.K.Prasanna 1, Tushar. N. Desai 2. Address for Correspondence

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1 QUALITY ASSURED MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT IN PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY N.K.K.Prasanna 1, Tushar. N. Desai 2 Address for Correspondence 1 Sr. Vice President, Reliance Industries Ltd., Hazira, Surat Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, SVNIT, Surat Research Article ABSTRACT In today s world of cut-throat competition, the equipment & system in petrochemical industry are made to operate under a number of extreme operating conditions. The resulting stresses can affect the working-life of the equipment. Increasing the ability of the equipments to sustain such stresses, such as, longer operating periods of time before taking for maintenance, is the goal of reliability engineering. This brings into the fore the concepts of Quality Assured Maintenance Management (QAMM). The concept of Quality Assured Maintenance Management (QAMM)" is closely linked to that of reliability. Quality is a static concept because it deals with how closely the equipment or system adheres to the given specifications.developing Quality Assured Maintenance Management (QAMM) for petrochemical industry is essential for improving quality of services provided to ensure better availability of equipments in order to reduce operating cost and increase the overall availability of the plant. KEYWORDS Quality Assured Maintenance Management, Minimum Required Competency, Inspection and Maintenance Standards, Inspection and Maintenance Procedures, Quality Assurance Sheets, Spares Management, Planning and Inspection. 1. INTRODUCTION In the globalization atmosphere, one of the major objectives is how to reduce the production loss cost effectively for continuous enhancement of competitiveness & profitability. However, this area needs more attention by practicing maintenance engineers, considering its obvious link to profitability. To fill this gap, better understanding of the relations & interactions between man, machine, production process, maintenance & economics is vital. Also, it is important for identifying & eliminating root cause of the losses. Today s business is characterized by increasing globalization & competitiveness, which put huge pressure on all market actors. To survive, the companies have to offer superior customer value and to operate with lowest relative cost. Maintenance is, often, wrongly, regarded as cost centre, since costs are visible but benefits are difficult to estimate. Generally, only costs are acknowledged to be delivered from maintenance, while improvements that have been brought by more effective maintenance performance are usually credited financially to other working functioning of physical system areas such as production, operation, quality, life cycle, working environment etc. Maintenance is undertaken to preserve the proper functioning of a physical system, so that it will continue to do what it was designed to do. Its function & performance characteristics take account of not only output, unit-costs & effectiveness of using energy, but also, factors such as end product quality, process control, protection of employed personnel, compliance with environmental protection regulations, statutory requirement, structural integrity & even physical appearance of the production system. The quality of maintenance significantly affects business profitability. The factors involving include safety, customer service and not just plant availability. Increased downtime adversely affects the capability of physical assets by reducing the average rate of output, so increasing the operating cost and lowering the customer satisfaction. With the service, system availability, safety and cost are becoming very critical. More thrust needs to be given for first time right itself during maintenance so that no rework is required. It implies, quality concept requires application in everything, a maintenance personnel does, Maintenance serves three distinct sets- the owners, the users of the system and the society as a whole. Earlier, owners used to get satisfied if their system generated adequate, and continued financial return on investment. But, in today s high-edge competitive environment, the scenario is different. Owners and users not only want their assets to continue to perform the specified tasks, maintaining performance standards with financial returns, but also to ensure no failures take place in ways that would lead to threats to public health, safety as well as environment. These business objectives can be achieved, to a larger extent, by adopting quality concepts in day-to-day maintenance. 2. Quality A look at history The dictionary has many definitions of Quality. A short definition that has achieved acceptance is: Quality is customer satisfaction. Fitness for use is an alternative short definition.

2 Quality is no longer a technical issue; it is a business issue. Our forefathers knew--as we know-that quality is important. Metrology, specification, Inspection---all go back many centuries before Christian era. Then came the twentieth century. The pace quickened with a lengthy procession of new activities and ideas launched under a bewildering array of names: quality control, quality planning, continuous quality improvement, defect prevention, statistical process control, reliability engineering, quality cost analysis, zero defects, total quality control, supplier certification, quality circles, quality audit, quality assurance, quality function deployment, Taguchi methods, competitive benchmarking. Today we are in 21 st century & a decade has passed, but journey towards excellence in quality particularly in maintenance organization continues and long way to go. The business condition of the yesteryear made it feasible to rely on simpler approaches to quality, e.g., product inspection to control quality. In fairness to past leadership, such approaches worked admirably for many companies under past conditions. But will they work under current conditions? Definitely new approaches are demanded by ever changing business conditions. Table: 1 Two components of Quality. Manu fracturing industries Service industries Product features Performance Accuracy Reliability Timeliness Durability Completeness Ease of use Friendliness and courtesy Serviceability Anticipating customer needs Esthetics Knowledge of server Availability of options and Esthetics expandability Reputation Reputation Product free of defects and error at delivery, during use, and during servicing Sale, billing, and other business processes free of errors Freedom from deficiencies Service free of errors during original and future service transactions Sales, billing, and other business processes free of errors 3. Quality Assurance: Quality assurance is the activity of providing the evidence needed to establish confidence, among all concerned, that the quality related activities are being performed effectively. Quality assurance as related to a product or service: all those planned or systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given requirement for quality. Table: 2 Universal processes for managing quality Quality planning Quality control Quality improvement Establish quality Choose control Prove the need goals subjects Identify Choose units of Identify projects customers measure Discover customer needs Set goals Organize project items Develop product Create Diagnose the cause features a sensor Develop process features Measure actual performance Provide remedies, prove that the remedies are Establish process controls, transfer to operations. Interpret the difference effective Deal with resistance to change Take action on Control to hold the the difference gains Quality assurance is similar to the concept of the financial audit, which provide assurance of the financial integrity by establishing, through independent audit, that plan of accounting is: (1) such that, if allowed, it will correctly reflect the financial condition of the company and (2) actually being followed. Quality audit is an independent review conducted to compare some aspect of quality performance with a standard for that performance. The specific purpose of quality audit is to provide independent assurance that: Plans for attaining quality are such that, If followed, the intended quality will, in fact, be attained. Products are fit for use and safe for the user. Standards and regulations defined by the government agencies, industry associations, and professional societies are being followed. There is conformance to specifications. Procedures are adequate and are being followed. The data system provides accurate & adequate information on quality to all concerned. Deficiencies are identified and corrective action is taken. Opportunities for improvement are identified & the appropriate personnel alerted. 4. Objectives of QAMM Quality Assured Maintenance Management should have ability to provide assurances for reliability, availability & effectiveness. The technology of maintenance is about finding & applying cost effective ways of avoiding & overcoming performance deterioration. Failure management

3 techniques include predictive & preventive action, failure findings, run-to-failure & changes to the design of the physical asset or the way it is operated. Each category includes a list of options, some of which are far more effective than others. Maintenance staff not only needs to be aware of what these options are, but also, to have decision making capability regarding the best-suited option, depending upon the circumstances. Making a wise choice would improve the asset performance as well as reduce overall costs. Failure usually attracts attention because they can adversely affect quality, output, safety, environment health, customer service competitiveness and unit costs. The severity & frequency, with which, a failure leads to these consequences, dictate which failure management technique is worth applying. The maintenance mission statement should acknowledge the key role of Consequence Avoidance in maintenance. The sample mission statement is: Increase the profitability of the organization by maintaining & enhancing the integrity, reliability & availability of all our assets while setting high standards for safety & environment In the present high stress, turbulent business environment, well run organization strive continuously to enhance their capabilities to create excellent value for customers by improving the cost effectiveness of the operations. Maintenance is, thus, a vital support function in business, as increasingly large investments are being required in physical assets. Whatever methodology we develop, finally, we have to move towards Precision to ensure continuous availability, reliability & effectiveness. Let us review in detail how Quality Assured Maintenance Management process works to achieve the above objective. QAMM Tools: Following tools are essential for Quality Assured Maintenance Management (QAMM). I.Minimum Required Competency (MRC) One of the important resources required for production is human resource. Human resource is backbone for any industry to operate and succeed. At the same time, lack of training, skills, experience & commitment would adversely affect the performance of individuals, thereby affecting the production at the end. Failure management, failure avoidance & asset integrity need minimum required level of competency for each level of maintenance personnel. Maintenance support is the ability of maintenance organization to meet production requirement, otherwise it would cause considerable production losses. Better understanding of job procedure, skill, awareness, standard maintenance procedure, trouble shooting techniques, etc. are required so that problem can be fixed well in time with assured quality. The personnel also needs to be committed to their work and to the company, which means that the personnel is committed to follow the established routines, for example; to lubricate the machines on each Monday, but also to perform the maintenance work with high quality within reasonable time according to given instructions. Otherwise it could lead to more frequent failures of serious nature. The Engineering & Maintenance Center of Excellence establishes common functional area competency requirements for departmental personnel who provide assistance, direction, guidance, oversight or evaluation of contractor technical activities that could impact the safe & quality assured maintenance in petrochemical industry. The competency statements define the expected knowledge and/or skill that an individual must meet. Each of the competency statements is further explained by a listing of supporting knowledge and/or skill statements. The competencies identify a familiarity level, a working level, or an expert level of knowledge of the individual to demonstrate the ability to perform a task or activity. These levels are defined as follows: Familiarity level is defined as basic knowledge of, or exposure to the subject or process, adequate to discuss the subject or process with individuals of greater knowledge. Working level is defined as the knowledge, required to monitor and assess operations / activities, to apply standards of acceptable performance, and to reference appropriate materials and/or expert advice as required to ensure the safety of Departmental activities. Expert level is defined as a comprehensive, intensive knowledge of the subject or process, sufficient to provide advice in the absence of procedural guidance. Demonstrate the ability is defined as the actual performance of a task or activity in accordance with policy, procedures, guidelines, and/or accepted industry or department practices. II. Inspection and Maintenance Standards: Maintenance policy is defined in BS 3811:1993 as a description of the interrelationship between the maintenance echelons, the indenture levels and the

4 level of maintenance to be applied for the maintenance of an item. In other words, maintenance policy means how the maintenance for each item is planned and performed, for example, regularly or condition based preventive maintenance /predictive maintenance. The role of maintenance is not only to perform repair when needed, but also, to detect deviation at an early stage in order to prevent the occurrence of failures & even damage initiation. A machine that does not get the maintenance work needed will deteriorate at an increasing rate, resulting in an increased number of stoppages. Best engineering practices aid repair, inspection and maintenance of both, rotary and static equipments. III. Inspection and Maintenance Procedures: These procedures define workflow, roles and responsibilities, and are controlled and approved by the plant management. These procedures are consistent with the requirements of performance standards. A flow chart format is preferred to specify workflow. Standard Maintenance procedures include detailed sequence of work instructions with reference documents, safety alerts and applicable safety procedures, bill of material, etc. Increased knowledge about the machine, clear-cut instructions for dismantling, assembly and installation ensure quality of the job and no rework is anticipated. IV.Quality Assurance Sheets Standard Maintenance Practices document gives detailed steps to be followed, including type of tools to be used for dismantling, assembly and installation, whereas Quality Assurance sheets consists of check points like shaft diameter, bearing clearances, wear ring clearances, shaft run-out etc with acceptable limits. During assembly, if we strictly follow the check sheets, we can avoid many of the malfunctions or premature failures. There are QA sheets for almost all maintenance activities like bolted joint, exchanger maintenance, hydro testing, final assembly, pump installation and final handover. V. Spares Management: Deriving the spares requirement(other than consumables and insurance items) from annual plan, raising purchase requisition and getting approvals from management, and purchase/vendor follow-up is a part of maintenance management. How a proactive quality approach can be brought into this system from the date of purchase request till date we use these spares is what quality assured procurement means. Spares availability, in ready- to-use conditions, confirming to the specifications, plays a vital role in maintenance, particularly during breakdown, when equipment needs to be started back on urgent basis. In this era of global competitiveness, as part of functional excellence, everyone tries to optimize the cost, and hence looks for various suppliers/options. It is really dubious to buy critical spares from a vendor who is not approved or who is new in the field. It is recommended to map the vendor, considering the competency in Materials Management System against each item, and this is also true for a service provider. Equipment criticality, item criticality, OEM spares requirement, experience of engineer in charge, and history of running equipment with components supplied by the vendor are all considered while mapping. This is an important exercise in addition to specifying the items correctly (Engineering Specification). Once the items are received in stores, they are to be inspected against the specification with a structured checklist (Minimum Essential Receiving Inspection, abbreviated as MERI). Once the components are inspected before placement in the racks, they are to be preserved with good packing and suitable coating to avoid rusting. This exercise is to be repeated on schedule basis with a structured checklist. There are chances of items getting damaged or not fit-for-use in spite of preservation process, repeated handling in stores and while shifting from stores to end user place. It is a good practice to check the components against the removed ones like dimensions, part numbers, number of teeth, etc before they are finally fixed which is called last chance Inspection. This exercise ensures quality of product from the day of raising the purchase request till it is used. VI. Planning and Scheduling: Maintenance Planning and Scheduling is one of the most important elements in maintenance management. It is also synonymous with control maintenance. It starts from daily planning, weekly planning, planning of major overhauls, annual turnarounds, yearly planning and planning for next five years, including obsolescence management etc. Work-order planning, backlog management, maintenance scheduling, work execution and workorder closing play a vital role in manpower and cost optimization, and also ensures quality of job done by avoiding rush orders.

5 5. CONCLUSION The concept of quality is not only limited to purchasing and installation of new equipments. In maintenance management, particularly in petrochemical industries, where the entire industry is focusing on PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, the tools, discussed in the paper, play vital roles in ensuring safety, environment, availability, reliability, continuous growth and profitability of the industry. ABBREVIATIONS QAMM- Quality Assured Maintenance Management MRC - Minimum Required Competency MERI- Minimum Essential Receiving Inspection OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer QA- Quality Assurance LCI -Last Chance Inspection REFERENCES A model to describe the relationships among Man- Machine-Maintenance & Economy, by Basim Al- Nojjar. TQM in Nigerian Manufacturing Industries. Mr M.C.ETI Maintenance ManagementQuality Planning and Analysis From Product Development through Use Third edition-- by Frank M. Gryna. tushardesaisvnit@gmail.com NKK.Prasanna@ril.com