Electricity + Control December 2017

On-site rewind of a 30 MVA synchronous generator at N'Zilo Hydro Power Station in the DRC.

Preventing the Skills Drain from Undermining Maintenance Information provided by Marthinusen & Coutts, a division of ACTOM

Difficult economic conditions are forcing many industries to cut costs, leading to the loss of valuable maintenance-related skills. But there are still ways to keep mainte- nance on track, according to Craig Smorenburg, projects and engineering services executive at Marthinusen & Coutts, a division of ACTOM.

Take Note!

This company has devel- oped a comprehensive, level-based plant main- tenance programme. The objective of the pro- gramme is to reduce the mean time between fail- ures, improve plant avail- ability,preventunplanned catastrophic failures and minimise subsequent production losses. The programme ensures maintenance activities are completed as re- quired by equipment OEMs.

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“I t is true that maintenance is taking a back seat in many sectors, as production is pri- oritised to meet demanding revenue tar- gets,” says Smorenburg. “If this trend is allowed to continue unchecked, it could result in catastrophic failures at plant level.” Planned maintenance activities The answer, he says, lies in conducting planned maintenance activities that will save the high cost of unplanned downtime and more serious repairs. Where the in-house skills are lacking, an outside maintenance specialist can be engaged, but the correct approach is key. “The first step for a maintenance specialist in this process is to secure the necessary buy-in from the customer and the engineering team, as well as partnering with the equipment provider and origi- nal equipment manufacturer,” he says. “Everyone needs to understand and support the importance of a structuredmaintenance programme.”There needs to be agreement on what comprises the most crit- ical equipment in the customer’s facility. These are

the assets that must be closely managed, as these have the most fundamental impact on the running of the operation. Based on which critical items of equipment are identified, a further study is then conducted to ascertain which elements within each item are critical to maintain.This includes alignment with the OEM maintenance guidelines. Comprehensive level based maintenance programme To this end, Marthinusen & Coutts has developed a comprehensive level based maintenance pro- gramme. This is with the objective of reducing the mean time between failures, improve plant availa- bility, prevent unplanned catastrophic failures and minimise subsequent production losses. Maintenance interventions The programme ensures maintenance activities are completed as required by equipment OEMs. A suit- able plan, developed in conjunction with the custom- er, ensures that maintenance activities consider all aspects of machine operation. Monthly, six monthly

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Allow maintenance to take a back seat and catastrophic failures at plant level will occur.

18 Electricity + Control

DECEMBER 2017