Nowadays, money is only sufficient to cover the cost of breakdown maintenance. The planned maintenance programme normally has to be trimmed down significantly while Preventive Maintenance is carried out only to a limited extent. General maintenance or major repairs are limited to essential items relating to safety, health and security. As a result, equipment is aging rapidly, especially those used heavily by the public.
The negative effect of the deferred maintenance due to the lack of funds is becoming ever more evident now. The deterioration began to pose dangers to equipment and could cause health hazards to the public as well. It also led to serious operational problems and lowered the living standards, which were inconsistent with the booming economy. Complaints from the public and the users of the services are becoming quite common. Restoration became too expensive for the limited maintenance budget.
It is estimated that about 40% of the maintenance requirements are not being met. This situation of deferred maintenance is hardly unique to a particular country.
Maintenance is usually at the bottom of the agenda in the national budgets of many countries. The economy always looks good with maximum return from investment. Spending on equipment maintenance will only de-dramatize the apparent commercial achievement. Any problem arising from the lack of maintenance is somebody else's business in the future.
It is a common practice that engineering professionals in the utility organisations to assess the priority of each maintenance item for inclusion in their planned maintenance programmes. Although priority ratings may differ in detail between utility organisations, the following are regarded as typical.
We can categorise our Maintenance Implementation Support consultative service as follows:
Preventative Maintenance
We can help utility companies to introduce modern maintenance techniques with the accent on condition monitoring.
Agulhas is using decision support tools, such as hazard studies, failure modes and effect analysis and expert systems in the Maintenance Planning process.
We also get involved in the design of equipment and networks to place a much greater emphasis on reliability and maintainability.
- Skills Requirement
- Material Requirement
- Time Requirements
- Time Requirements
- Inspection Frequencies
- Maintenance Frequencies
Planning & Scheduling
Our methods are based on a comprehensive study and knowledge of the current practices of planned maintenance prioritisation in utility organisations and various existing prioritisation methods. These methods are simple from the practical point of view and flexible from the management point of view. It could also increase client-user satisfaction through their participation of the more transparent prioritisation process.
We do the Maintenance Planning according to the following principles:
1st Priority
Work needed immediately or in the future to meet legislative or contractual requirements and to ensure the health and safety of the public and users; work required to prevent the imminent outages or serious disruption of services.
2nd Priority
Work necessary within one year to prevent serious deterioration of the equipment or services, such as those that are likely to lead to higher future costs of repair or renewal.
3rd Priority
Work as above which may be deferred beyond one year; work desirable to maintain the environmental quality of equipment and facilities.
Spare Parts Management
We consider proper planning and control of spare parts inventory as a critical component of an effective asset management program. Our strategies to manage spare parts in support of effective asset management are tried and tested. The following are examples of how we conduct Spare Part Management:
Simplifying the search process
We assign nouns and qualifiers as a way of simplifying a search.
Differentiating Stock Holding
We identify the parts according to their rate of turnover and value.
Automating Reorder Process
We automate the process related to reorders.
Vendor Management
We identify preferred suppliers based on historical lead times, pricing, quality, number of short- or over-shipments, how often goods are received damaged, frequency of backorders, and other criteria.
Multi-store Capabilities
We will investigate a multi-store concept where spare parts are stored at more than one warehouse or off site by a third party.
Failure Analysis
Maintenance Audit
Audits are conducted by means of self-assessment, peer reviews or with external assistance. Procedures are documented with each audit element being objectively verified.
The audit process is conducted on site and reviews key elements systematically by:
- Interviewing key people in the organisation.