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DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTERISED MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM (CMMS) FOR READY MIX CONCRETE PLANT PRODUCTION

FACILITIES

THAYALAN A/L SUPRAMANI

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA


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I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my

opinion this thesis is sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the

award of the degree of Masterof Science (Construction Management)

Signature : ....................................................

Name of Supervisor : ....................................................Date : ....................................................

Ir Dr. Rosli Mohamad Zin4 April , 2005


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DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTERISED MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM (CMMS) FOR READY MIX CONCRETE PLANT PRODUCTION

FACILITIES

THAYALAN A/L SUPRAMANI

A project report submitted in partial fulfilment of

the requirements for the award of the degree of

Master of Science (Construction Management)

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

April, 2005


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I declare that this thesis entitled Development of Computerised Maintenance

Management System (CMMS) for Ready Mix Concrete Plant Production Facilities is

the result of my own research except as cited in the references. The thesis has not been

accepted for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature of any other

degree.

Signature : ....................................................

Name : THAYALAN A/L SUPRAMANI

Date : April 2, 2005


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Especially dedicated to

my father, mother and sisters

also

my special thanks to Dr. Prasad Kumar

who help and encourage me in writing this report


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vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to acknowledge his supervisor, Ir Dr. Rosli MohamadZin, for

the guidance, suggestions, and help given to me all through the process of doing this

research, and also to his friends, Mr. Sai Sidharth and Mr. Senthuran, the software

programmers, for all their help and advice.

My grateful thanks also to all my friends and relatives who help me in completing

this research project.


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viii

ABSTRACT

The role of information technology is critical for plantmaintenance optimization

because it relies on the ability of the plant personnel to bring all data together in a coherent

fashion for optimum analysis and decision-making. Equipment, be it sophisticated or basic in

operation and design, depending on its usage, will inevitably malfunction and breakdown.

Equipment maintenance need to be planned for, the possibility and probability of

breakdowns and disruption to operations must also be considered when planning and

scheduling production. Theaim of this study is to develop a computerized maintenance

management system (CMMS) that will improve conventional maintenance operation system

at ready mix concrete plant production facilities. The initial stage of the study involved

comprehensive literature reviews to gather the information of computerized maintenance

management systems (CMMS) and batching plant production facilities maintenance

information. The next stage was the development of an appropriate maintenance

management system model for ready mix concrete plant production facilities and finally

followed by prototype development. Validation of the developed CMMS model shows that

the malfunction and breakdown of production facilities can be minimized through expert

opinion in this same field. Generally, current manual ready mix concrete plant maintenance

can be optimized through CMMS and more successful reliable plant maintenance can be

achieved.


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ix

ABSTRAK

Peranan teknologi maklumat dalam mengoptimakan penyenggaraan di kilang adalah

kritikal sebab ia bergantung kepada pihak kilang yang terlibat untuk mengumpulkan data di

dalam penganalisisan yang optima untuk membuat keputusan. Memang tidak dapat dinafikan

bahawa walaupun jentera atau alatan yang mempunyai rekabentuk canggih atau asas dalam

pengoperasian di kilang pada ketikanya akan mengalami kerosakan. Penyenggaraan ini perlu

dirancang untuk mengetahui sebab atau kemungkinan kerosakan dialami kepada jentera

selain mengambilkira gangguan yang berlaku kepada operasi jentera semasa perancangan

untuk pembuatan. Tujuan kajian ini ialah untuk menghasilkan suatu sistem pengurusan

penyenggaraan berkomputer (CMMS) untuk meningkatkan lagi sistem operasi

penyenggaraan konvensional di kilang pembuatan konkrit sedia bancuh. Dalam peringkat

awal, maklumat berkaitan dengan sistem pengurusan penyenggaraan berkomputer (CMMS)

dan maklumat penyenggaraan fasiliti di kilang konkrit dikumpul melalui hasil dapatan kajian

yang lain. Peringkat berikutnya adalah merekabentuk model sistem pengurusan

penyenggaraan berkomputer (CMMS) yang sesuai dan diikuti dengan pembangunan model

prototaip. Penilaian telah dibuat ke atas model yang telah dicipta oleh pakar di dalam bidang

yang sama menunjukkan model sistem pengurusan penyelenggaraan berkomputer (CMMS)

adalah efektif dalam mengurangkan kerosakan kepada fasiliti pembuatan kilang konkrit.Secara umumnya, kaedah manual dalam penyenggaraan kilang konkrit dapat dioptimakan

lagi melalui penggunaan sistem pengurusan penyenggaraan berkomputer (CMMS) yang

membolehkan keberkesanan penyenggaraan loji/peralatan dicapai.


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x

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

TITLE i

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

LIST OF FIGURES xiii

LIST OF TABLES xvi

ABBREVIATIONS xvii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Problem Statement 2

1.2 Objectives of the Study 41.3 Scope of the Study 4

1.4 Methodology 5

1.5 Arrangement of the Report 6


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xi

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Manufacturing maintenance objectives 8

2.2 Computer maintenance management systems 11

2.3 Current Industrial Practices in the Area of

CMMS 14

2.4 Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) 15

2.5 An information-processing model of

maintenance management 18

2.6 System Concept Development Phase 25

2.6.1 Objective 25

2.6.2 Tasks and Activities 26

2.6.2.1 Study and Analyze theBusiness Need 26

2.6.2.2 Plan the Project 27

2.6.2.3 Form the Project Acquisition

Strategy 27

2.6.2.4 Study and Analyze the Risks 27

2.6.2.5 Obtain Project Funding, Staff

and Resources 28

2.6.2.6 Document the Phase Efforts 28

2.6.2.7 Review and Approval to Proceed 28

2.6.3 Deliverables 29

2.6.3.1 System Boundary Document 29

2.6.3.2 Cost Benefit Analysis 29

2.6.3.3 Feasibility Studies 29

2.6.3.4 Risk Management Plan 30

2.6.4 Phase Review Activity 30

2.7 CMMS Model Approach 30

2.7.1 Maintenance Process 31

2.7.2 Maintenance Approach 33

2.7.3 Maintenance Management Plan 36


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xii

2.7.4 Best Maintenance Practices 37

2.7.5 Technical Strategy 39

2.7.6 Probability of Failure 41

2.7.7 System Bathtub Curve 43

2.7.8 Reliability Modeling 44

2.7.9 Management Strategy 46

2.7.10 Maintenance Functional Mapping 50

2.7.11 Strategic Maintenance Tools 53

2.8 Batching Plant Equipment Maintenance 54

2.8.1 Scales 57

2.8.2 Water Meter 60

2.8.3 Aggregate Bins 612.8.4 Admixtures 64

2.8.5 Automatic Controls 64

2.8.6 Cement Silos 68

2.8.7 Aggregates Heating System 70

2.8.7.1 Features of Aggregate Hot Air

Heating System 71

2.8.8 Dust Collector 72

2.8.9 Delivery Fleet Maintenance 73

2.8.9.1 Mixer Maintenance 73

2.8.9.2 Truck Mixer Maintenance 75

2.9 Current Process involved in Operation at

Ready Mix Concrete Production 79

2.9.1 Process Modeling Tool of

Ready Mix Concrete Plant 81

2.9.1.1 Petri Net Model 81

2.9.1.2 CYCLONE Model 82

2.9.1.3 One-Plant-Multi site Model 83

2.9.1.4 SDESA Modeling 83


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xiii

2.9.2 Schematic of Standard Ready Mix

Concrete Plant 85

2.9.2.1 Powder Silo 85

2.9.2.2 Silo Pump 85

2.9.2.3 Powder and/or

Liquid Weigher 86

2.9.2.4 Mixer 86

2.9.2.5 Concrete Truck Mixer 86

2.9.2.6 Skip 86

2.9.2.7 Raw Material Storage 87

2.9.2.8 Raw Material Weigher

& Transport 872.9.2.9 Control Room 87

2.10 Standard Maintenance for Ready Mix

Concrete Production Facilities 88

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 91

3.1 Introduction 91

3.2 Research Methodology 92

3.2.1 Literature Review 92

3.2.2 Data Collection 93

3.2.3 Model Development 94

3.2.3.1 Process Models 94

3.2.3.1.1 Rapid Application

Development

(RAD) Modeling 94

3.2.3.1.2 Dynamic Systems

Development Method

(DSDM) Modeling 96

3.2.3.2 Programming Language 97


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xiv

3.2.3.2.1 Visual Basic 97

3.2.3.2.2 MS Access 98

3.2.3.3 Develop a Conceptual Modeling 99

3.2.3.4 Develop Prototype 99

3.2.4 Validation 100

3.2.5 Conclusion and Recommendation 101

CHAPTER IV CMMS CONCEPTUAL MODEL DEVELOPMENT

ON READY MIX CONCRETE PLANT 102

4.1 Batching Control System in Ready Mix

Concrete Plant 1024.2 Ready Mix Concrete Batching Process

Description 106

4.3 Integration of CMMS model in Ready Mix

Concrete Plant Production Facilities Maintenance 108

4.4 CMMS Core Modules 110

4.5 CMMS Work Order of Functional Flow Diagram

in Ready Mix Concrete Plant 111

4.6 CMMS Work Order Flow Diagram in Ready Mix

Concrete Plant Production 113

4.7 Proposed Conceptual Model for Ready Mix

Concrete Plant Production Facilities Management

System 114

CHAPTER V READY MIX CONCRETE PLANT PRODUCTION

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT 117

5.1 Context Diagram 117

5.2 Data Flow Diagram Level 1 118


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5.2.1 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Login

Process 121

5.2.2 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Location

Module 123

5.2.3 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Work Order

Module 125

5.2.4 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Machine

Module 127

5.2.5 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Preventive

Maintenance Module 129

5.2.6 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Masters

Module 1315.2.7 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Report

Module 133

CHAPTER VI CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 136

6.1 Conclusion 136

6.2 Recommendation 138

REFERENCES 140


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xiv

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE

2.1 Maintenance Management Systems Support 49

2.2 Maintenance Management Systems Processes 51


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xv

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE

1.1 Methodology of the Research 5

2.1 Maintenance Costs 10

2.2 The System Architecture of The Proposed

RCM-based CMMS Integrated Solution 18

2.3 System Concept Development Phase Activities 26

2.4 Maintenance: A Process or A Function 32

2.5 Maintenance Approach 34

2.6 Maintenance Management Plan 36

2.7 Best Maintenance Practice 38

2.8 Technical Management 39

2.9 Probability of Failure 42

2.10 System Bathtub Curve 43

2.11 Reliability Modeling 45

2.12 Management Strategy 47

2.13 Maintenance Functional Mapping 51

2.14 Strategic Maintenance Tools 54

2.15 Hoppers at Batching Plant 552.16 Conveyor Carrying Aggregate to Hopper 56

2.17 Diagram of Two Types of Hopper Systems 57


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2.18 Beam Scale 58

2.19 Spring Less Dial Type Scale 58

2.20 Over-Under Indicator 59

2.21 Water Meter 61

2.22 Aggregate Bin 62

2.23 Cross Section of Aggregate Bin 62

2.24 Cross Section of Aggregate Hoppers 63

2.25 Admixture Metering Device. (The dosage of admixture) 64

2.26 The Automatic Controls 65

2.27 Automatic Controls on when aggregates and cement are

weighed on one scale 66

2.28 Batching Control System 672.29 Main Screen Interface at Batching Control System 68

2.30 Cement Silos 69

2.31 Cross Section of Cement Silos with all the Specifications 70

2.32 Hot Air Heating System 72

2.33 Dust Collector 73

2.34 Mixing Blade Configurations 74

2.35 Truck Mixer and Transit Truck Mixer 75

2.36 Revolution Counter 76

2.37 Concrete Production Process in Ready Mix Concrete Plant 80

2.38 SDESA model schematic for one-plant-multi site RMC

System 84

2.39 Standard Ready Mix Concrete Plant 85

2.40 Schematic of Standard Process in Ready Mix

Concrete Plant 88

3.1 Rapid Application Development Model 95

4.1 Data Flow Diagram in Batch Control System 103

4.2 Data Model Diagram of Overall Batching Control System 104

4.3 Schematic for Process of Batch Control System to

Batching System 106


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4.4 Concrete Batching Processes in Ready Mix ConcretePlant 107

4.5 CMMS Model in Ready Mix Concrete Plant Maintenance 109

4.6 CMMS Core Modules 111

4.7 Functional Flow Diagrams for Work Orders of Plant

Maintenance in Ready Mix Concrete Plant 112

4.8 Work Order Flow Diagrams for Plant Maintenance in

Ready Mix Concrete Plant 114

4.9 Proposed Conceptual Model for Ready Mix Concrete

Plant Production Facilities Management System 116

5.1 Context Diagram for Ready Mix Concrete Plant

Production Facilities Management System 118

5.2 Data Flow Diagram Level 1 for Main Menu inCMMS Model 119

5.3 Main Menu for Ready Mix Concrete Plant Production

Facilities Management System Prototype as in Data

Flow Diagram Level 1 121

5.4 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Login Process 122

5.5 The prototype Interface for Login Process 123

5.6 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Location Module 124

5.7 The Prototype Interface for Line List in Location Module 125

5.8 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Work Order Module 126

5.9 The Prototype Interface for Work Order List 127

5.10 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Machine Module 128

5.11 The Prototype Interface for Machine List 129

5.12 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Preventive Maintenance

Module 130

5.13 The Prototype Interface for Preventive Maintenance 131

5.14 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Masters Module 132

5.15 The Prototype Interface for Master List 133

5.16 Data Flow Diagram Level 2: Report Module 134

5.17 The Prototype Interface for Report Module 135


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ABBREVIATIONS

CMMS - Computerized Maintenance Management System

PM - Preventive Maintenance

RAD - Rapid Application Development

RCM - Reliability Centered Maintenance

PCM - Profit Centered Maintenance

AM - Asset Management

CBM - Condition Based Maintenance

TPM - Total Productive Maintenance

WCM - World Class Manufacturing

AMT - Advanced Manufacturing Technology

SBD - System Boundary Document

CBA - Cost Benefit Analysis

IPM - International Performance Measurements

PT&I - Predictive Testing and Inspection

CET - Critical Environment Technologies

MTBF - Mean Time Between Failure

MTTR - Mean Time To Repair

HVAC - Heating, Ventilation, and Air ConditioningUCL - Upper Control Limit


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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

Computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) are increasingly

being used to manage and control plant and equipment maintenance in modern

manufacturing and construction services industries. This view of the selection andimplementation process can assist those who are considering CMMS for the first time,

to decide their requirements.

A number of years ago, the principles of CMMS were applied to hospital

equipment maintenance, where critical breakdowns could lead to the development of life

threatening situations. In recent years private companies have come to recognize thevalue of these systems as a maintenance performance and improvement tool. The advent

of the PC during the last few years has further boosted their popularity. As more and

more maintenance personnel become computer literate they are regarded as an

increasingly attractive option. Companies are also investing in CMMS because they are

generally designed to support the document control requirements of ISO 9002.


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Some of the standard functions available from a CMMS are discussed later in this

document and those who have had no previous exposure to CMMS will find this useful.

However, in essence, a CMMS may be used to:

Control the companys list of maintainable assets through an asset register

Control accounting of assets, purchase price, depreciation rates, etc.

Schedule planned preventive maintenance routines

Control preventive maintenance procedures and documentation

Control the issue and documentation of planned and unplanned maintenance

work.

Organize the maintenance personnel database including shift work schedules

Schedule calibration for gauges and instruments

Control portable appliance testing

Assist in maintenance project management

Provide maintenance budgeting and costing statistics

Control maintenance inventory (store's management, requisition and purchasing)

Process condition monitoring inputs

Provide analysis tools for maintenance performance.

1.1 Problem Statement

Computerised Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) at batching plant for

ready mix concrete based on software methodology will be able to delivers various

benefits to organizations by delivering information to maintenance engineers and

managers. It is also an equipment preventive / inspection maintenance planning and


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scheduling allows for automatic generation of preventive / inspection work orders.

Nevertheless in actual working environment, it is very difficult for plant managers at

batching plant to monitor and control overall maintenance for batching plant. This is

because there is no computerized maintenance management system implemented at

current batching plant to reduce the breakdown time and best maintenance practices.

Normally during the maintenance for batching plant, the maintenance

department will usually engaged with the manual maintenance operation by typical

paper system, each piece of equipment or asset will have a history card or file. This

procedure of maintenance is done according to time lapse or any breakdown of

equipment at plant. There are no maintenance optimisation computerised system istriggered for a particular system or set of symptoms if any failure occurs at plant.

Maintenance using CMMS in batching plant will assist to highlight the levels of

downtime and reduce costs even though there were no supports from top management to

implement other best maintenance practices. Apart from that, CMMS control spares

module to reduce spares and still have parts on hand for plant facilities maintenance. For

problems associated with maintenance personnel excelling at some jobs and lacking

skills in other craft areas. CMMS allows managers to review information related to what

work has been done and by who over a period and assign work appropriately in a variety

of craft areas in the future. In cases where not enough maintenance personnel to handle

the work load, CMMS can generate reports on labour requirements for each work order

totalling the information by craft and week, showing imbalances and requirements for

additional personnel. CMMS can provide reports for each item of equipment for

breakdown just before preventative maintenance which can help pinpoint problem parts

or requirements to reduce the preventative maintenance interval.


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1.2 Objectives of the Study

The aim of this study is to develop a Computerised Maintenance Management

System (CMMS) that will improve conventional maintenance operation system in ready

mix concrete plant production facilities. To achieve this aim of the study, the following

objectives have been determined:

1. To identify the current or conventional maintenance system at ready mix

concrete plant;

2. To propose a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) modelat ready mix concrete plant; and

3. To develop Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS)

prototype.

1.3 Scope of the Study

The scopes of the study are as follows:

1. The study focused on the Computerised Maintenance Management System

(CMMS) used in Wet and Dry Ready Mix Concrete Plants; and

2. The Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) only cover

common maintenance work progress items that used in wet and dry ready mix

concrete plants for production facilities such batching equipment, batching


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control system, machines, preventive maintenance (PM) scheduling, automatic

work order generation, and data integrity for report.

1.4 Methodology

Detail discussion on methodology of the study is given in chapter III. Generally

the flow diagram of methodology of the study is as shown below.

Figure 1.1 Methodology of the Study

Determining Objective and Scope

Literature Review

Identifying Problem statement

Develop Conceptual Modeling

Develop Prototype

Validation

Conclusion and Recommendation

Interview andExpert Opinion


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1.5 Arrangement of the Report

This research which is the result of a masters project report was arranged as

follows:

a. Chapter I: Introduction.

In this introduction the problem statement, scope of the study and

limitation and arrangement of the report was explained.

b. Chapter II: Literature Review.

This chapter is a discussion on literature in order to understand the

function of CMMS model, benefit of CMMS model and role of CMMS

model in maintenance for plant production facilities in ready mix concrete

plant, specifically discusses the concrete batching plant equipment

maintenance which required by CMMS model to carrying out plant

production facilities maintenance.

c. Chapter III: Research Methodology

This section consists of a discussion on how research is carried out

according to four steps chronologically, i.e.: the literature review, data

collection obtained by interviewing the ready mix concrete plant managers

and technicians who involved in plant maintenance, then the data collected

are input to the CMMS model prototype to obtain the result of the research

and finally conclusion and recommendation are made.


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d. Chapter IV: CMMS Conceptual Model Development

The conceptual model for CMMS was developed using data flow diagram

from data collection in concrete batching plant which are then verified for

CMMS prototype development.

e. Chapter V: CMMS Prototype Model Development

The CMMS prototype model was developed based on the conceptual

model using Microsoft Access for interfaces and Visual Basic

programming language for prototype coding.

f. Chapter VI: Conclusion and Recommendation

This last chapter consists of the conclusion of the result of the research and

recommendation to improve CMMS prototype model for ready mix

concrete plant production facilities maintenance.


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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Manufacturing Maintenance Objectives

Considerable sums of money are wasted in business annually, because of

ineffective or poorly organised maintenance. However, maintenance is only one

element, which contributes to effective operation during the life cycle of an item of

equipment. Maintenance has a very important part to play, but must be coordinated

with other disciplines such as training personnel in appropriate skills, maintaining

motivation and effective people management. Taken together, this approach aimed at

achieving economic life-cycle cost for an item has been called terotechnology, and

defined by Wild (1995) as the multidisciplinary approach to the specification,

design, installation, commissioning, use and disposal of facilities, equipment and

buildings, in pursuit of economic life-cycle costs. The formal definition of

terotechnology according to the British Standard, BS 3811:1984 is a combination

of management, financial, engineering, building and other practices applied to the

physical assets in pursuit of economic life cycle costs.


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Williams, Davies and Drake (1994) go on to clarify this definition by stating that

terotechnology is concerned with the specification and design for reliability and

maintainability of plant, machinery, equipment, buildings and structures, with their

installation, commissioning, operation, maintenance, modification and replacement, and

with feedback of information on design, performance and costs. Hodges (1991)

simplifies these definitions by explaining terotechnology as the achievement of the

best value for money using techniques which are many and various in their forms,

approach and application.

The objective of maintenance is to try to maximise the performance of

equipment by ensuring that, items of equipment function regularly and efficiently, byattempting to prevent breakdowns or failures, and by minimising the losses incurred by

breakdowns or failures. In fact, it is the objective of the maintenance function to

maintain or increase the reliability of the operating system taken as a whole. Sivalingam

(1997) discusses the importance of maintenance within the broader area of industrial

management. He states an integrated maintenance management when properly

implemented can lessen emergencies by 75%, cut purchasing by 25%, increase

warehouse accuracy by 95% and improve preventative maintenance by 200%. He goes

on to say, with maintenance costs rising from 9% to 11% per annum, the potential for

savings is very high in the short and long term. Good management of maintenance can

reduce costs by as much as 35%. Wild (1995) draws the familiar total cost curve as in

Figure 2.1, which shows that increased effort in preventative maintenance should reduce

the cost of repair. If it were possible to define both of these curves, then it would be a

simple task to determine the minimum cost maintenance policy. However, it is not as

clear-cut as this and therefore maintenance policy is much more difficult to formulate.


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Figure 2.1 Maintenance Costs (Source: Wild, 1995)

The overall objective is to minimise the total cost of maintenance by minimising

one or both of the costs that contribute to it. Reducing the cost of preventativemaintenance (PM) by minimising the level of PM carried out in the manufacturing

facility can increase downtime due to breakdowns and consequently necessitate the need

for more repairs. On the other hand, increasing the level of PM to too high a level will

introduce unnecessary extra maintenance cost without necessarily minimising the risk of

breakdown. The overall objective is to obtain an optimum level of preventative

maintenance so as to reduce total maintenance cost. Achieving this optimum delivers

other benefits such as increased morale, reduction in random breakdowns, improved

quality of product, increased equipment availability, reduced delivery times and of

course increases in profitability.

The strategies utilised successfully in the area of maintenance management

optimisation include Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM), Profit Centred

Maintenance (PCM), Asset Management (AM), Condition Based Maintenance

(CBM),Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and World Class Manufacturing (WCM)

through CMMS implementation. These management philosophies essentially comprise

of different techniques and tools with varying emphasis on individual factors, but

achieve a very similar final objective, the optimisation of maintenance. The goal is to

obtain the maximum production output with the best levels of product quality, and doing


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this at minimum cost to the facility providing the least risk of breakdown. Other

important criteria of modern maintenance include such topics as safety to personnel, the

environment and morale of employees.

2.2 Computer Maintenance Management Systems

Corder (1976) gives an insight into the scope of modern maintenance

management, maintenance management is very wide indeed, since almost all current

engineering, management and accounting practices have some relevance to the subject.

Greater demands are being imposed on the maintenance manager in order to improve thestandard of maintenance and efficiency of work while at the same time reducing

maintenance operational costs.

Chapman (1993) states that CMMS software was seen first around 1976. Today

it is widely used in manufacturing plants all over the world. Maintenance optimisation is

greatly facilitated when companies adopt a World Class Manufacturing/Maintenance

(WCM) philosophy or management strategy in conjunction with CMMS

implementation. There are many factors, which influence management on installing

CMMS software and using it within their plants. Trunk (1997) puts forward the

following reasons for adopting CMMS software:

Customers demand compliance with ISO 9000;

The FDA requires maintenance management systems for plants that handle

pharmaceuticals; and

Insurance companies demand to know cost and condition of material

handling assets.


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Chapman (1993) states, the tracking and control of plant maintenance and outage

activities involve objectives and requirements which are different from the control of

normal engineering and construction work. The integration of these requirements into a

computerised management information and control system challenges the system

designed. Maintenance and outage work is estimated, scheduled and controlled at a

much greater level of detail than normally required on a typical engineering and

construction project. The variety of tasks associated with the organization of

maintenance management lends itself to the utilisation of computer systems. It is in this

area including planning, organisation and administration of maintenance management

that Computer Maintenance Management Systems (CMMSs) have proved to be very

beneficial.

Lamendola (1998) emphasizes the need to eliminate non-value added activities

especially with respect to documentation of work within maintenance. He states that

this philosophy has long been the essence of Computerised Maintenance

Management Systems. Travis and Casinger (1997) outline other difficulties associated

with modern maintenance management. In their paper they prioritise the top five

problems encountered by maintenance managers and suggest that CMMS is the solution

to these problems. The problems are outlined as follows:

a. Little or no support from management to implement world class maintenance

practices, CMMS reports can highlight the levels of downtime and reduce costs;

b. Inventory problems, the need to reduce spares and still have parts on hand.

Control of spares modules is part of most of the modern CMMS packages;

c. The problems associated with maintenance personnel excelling at some jobs and

lacking skills in other craft areas. CMMS allows managers to review this

information, what work has been done and by who over a period and assign work

appropriately in a variety of craft areas in the future;


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d. Not enough maintenance personnel to handle the workload. CMMS can generate

reports on labour requirements for each work order totalling the information by

craft and week, showing imbalances and requirements for additional personnel;

and

e. Machines breakdown just before preventative maintenance is due CMMS can

provide reports for each item of equipment, which can help pinpoint problem

parts or requirements to reduce the preventative maintenance interval.

Wireman (1994) is of the opinion that if Computer Maintenance Management

Systems are to be properly examined it is important to have an understanding of the

primary maintenance functions incorporating: maintenance inspections and service,

equipment installation, maintenance storekeeping, craft administration. He goes on tooutline the objectives of CMMS covering: improved maintenance costs, reduced

equipment downtime as a result of scheduled preventative maintenance, increased

equipment life, ability to store historical records to assist in the planning and budgeting

of maintenance, ability to generate maintenance reports. Most of CMMS systems have

four modules or components catering for:

a. work order planning and scheduling;

b. maintenance stores controls;

c. preventative/predictive maintenance; and

d. maintenance reporting.

A committee should head the selection process according to Wireman (1994)

with members from engineering, maintenance, stores, accounting and data processing.

The objectives of these committees include:

a. Review of present record keeping systems and paper work flow;


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b. Planning objectives of the system in the areas of: work order processing,

maintenance stores, preventative maintenance, cost controls and required reports;

c. Identifying the types of computer systems that are needed;

d. Identifying the vendor packages that meet the objectives; and

e. Evaluation of systems and vendors.

2.3 Current Industrial Practices in the Area of CMMS

Industries such as oil and gas or nuclear power plants are in need of an efficient

computerized maintenance management system to manage their maintenance activities

throughout the plant lifecycle. The major problem that faces the implementation of

CMMS is that the maintenance strategies are either reflected from the equipment

vendor, from similar plants, or from the design environment. The changes in the

operating condition are not fully reflected into the maintenance strategies, which are

configured within CMMS.

From the above-mentioned background points, the research work offers an

automated RCM as integrated with CMMS as part of the plant enterprise engineering

environment. The consolidation of some useful reliability and maintainability methods

and models will enhance consolidation of some useful reliability and maintainability

methods and models will ensure the effectiveness of the proposed solution. In this study,

the system architecture of the integrated solution is presented to show the mechanism of

the proposed solution.


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Towards the proper analysis of the solution, business activity models have been

developed, which reflects the different activities involved in performing the RCM

assessment. The main modules of the proposed RCM computerized module as well as

the function decomposition of the integrated solution are identified. The implementation

aspects of the proposed solution will be discussed as an adopted CMMS.

2.4 Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM)

The concepts behind RCM are not new, having their origin in the airline industry back in

the 1960s. After several years of experience, in 1978, the US Department of Defence issued the

MSG-3, an Airline/Manufacturers Maintenance Program Planning Document. That year, Nowlan

and Heap (1978) wrote a comprehensive document on the relationships among Maintenance,

Reliability and Safety, entitled Reliability Centred Maintenance, creating the RCM methodology.

RCM spread throughout industries, specially those needing safety and reliability, during the

1980s and the 1990s, being now extended to several industry fields.

In short, RCM can be defined as a systematic approach to systems functionality, failures

of that functionality, causes and effects of failures, and infrastructure affected by failures. Once

the failures are known, the consequences of them must be taken into account. Consequences

are classified in: safety and environmental, operational (delays), non-operational and hidden

failure consequences. Later, those categories are used as the basis of a strategic framework for

maintenance decision-making. The decision-making process is used in order to select the most

appropriate task to maintain a system filtering the proposed classification of consequencesthrough a logic decision tree. In the 1970s, and still today, RCM was a major challenge in many

industries because it changed the focus of PM from bringing back the systems to a perfect

state to maintaining the system in a good functional state (within some defined operational

limits).


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RCM methodology and has three major goals. First one is to enhance safety and

reliability of systems by focusing on the most important functions. RCM is concerned mainly with

what we want the equipment to do, not what it actually does. Second is to prevent or to mitigate

the consequences of failures, not to prevent the failures themselves. The consequences of a

failure differ depending on where and how items are installed and operated. Third one is to

reduce maintenance costs by avoiding or removing maintenance actions that are not strictly

necessary. It is no longer assumed that all failures can be prevented by PM, or that even if they

could be prevented, it would be desirable to do so.

In the early 1960s, the initial reliability centred maintenance (RCM) development was

done by the North American civil aviation industry. RCM process is intended to determine the

most realistic and optimised maintenance requirements of any physical asset to continue its

stated operating condition. Many industries have adopted RCM technique to solve many

confronted maintenance problems. Unfortunately, it did not work as expected for many reasons:

RCM is a time- and effort-consuming process and requires considerable amount of resources,

especially for large number of assets for complex plants; the available information is not

adequate to decide the suitable maintenance strategy and to optimize its cost as maintenance

and operational systems are isolated from design and engineering systems; there are non-

engineering factors involved in the maintenance problems i.e. management and human factors.

To overcome some of the highlighted maintenance problems an integrated RCM-CMMS

system is proposed so that it can dynamically change the maintenance strategies based on the

operating condition of the equipment and other factors affecting the life (age) of the underlying

assets (W. Pujadas and F.F. Chen, 1996).

An automated RCM as integrated with CMMS as part of the plant enterprise

engineering environment. The consolidation of some useful reliability and

maintainability methods and models will enhance consolidation of some useful

reliability and maintainability methods and models will ensure the effectiveness of the

proposed solution. The system architecture of the integrated solution is presented in

Figure 2.2 to show the mechanism of the proposed solution. Towards the proper analysis

of the solution, business activity models have been developed, which reflects the


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different activities involved in performing the RCM assessment. The main modules of

the proposed RCM computerized module as well as the function decomposition of the

integrated solution are identified.

The system architecture of the proposed RCM-based CMMS integrated solution.

The proposed automated solution includes four main processes: plant design

environment [P1], RCM process [P2], CMMS [P3], and operational systems [P4]. The

integration with design environment is essential as most of the maintenance strategies

are initially decided during the process design stage. RCM component is an expert

system that decides the optimum maintenance strategies and calculates the different

quantitative parameters of maintenance tasks. CMMS component is mainly used duringthe operation stage to manage and implement maintenance strategies via extracting asset

information along with their functions from design environment (i.e. from the design

model). RCM utilizes asset information along with design and operational

data/knowledge to perform asset and failure assessments and to build the failure and risk

data/knowledge bases.


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Figure 2.2 The System Architecture of the Proposed RCM-Based CMMS

Integrated Solution (Source: Gabbar, 2003)

2.5 An Information-Processing Model of Maintenance Management

Changes in the production environment have made the task of making decisions

about allocating maintenance resources and scheduling maintenance work more

difficult. More variables and consequences must be considered requiring increased

information-processing capacity. Information-processing model is applied to study how

the maintenance function applies different strategies to cope with the environmental


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need for information processing or increased the organization's capacity for information

processing.

The model used by Flynn and Flynn (1999)is applied more narrowly to the

maintenance function. The model used in the Flynn study draws on the information-

processing model introduced by Galbraith (1977). Galbraith's model proposes that

organizations cope with complexity through different information-processing strategies.

Galbraith (1977)defines uncertainty as the gap between the amount of

information required to perform a task and the information already possessed by theorganization. Complexity results in problems that are more difficult to understand or

analyze, resulting in greater uncertainty (Perrow, 1967). Increased complexity has the

potential to affect the organization adversely resulting in reduced performance

(Flynn and Flynn, 1999).

Flynn and Flynn (1999)proposed an expanded set of factors that may contribute

to internal uncertainty in manufacturing organizations. These factors include

manufacturing diversity and process diversity. Manufacturing diversity includes

characteristics such as variability of demand patterns and the complexity of the products

being produced. Process diversity is determined by the characteristics of process

technology (i.e., job shop, batch, continuous) in use as well as the product

volume/variety trade-offs found in the productprocess matrix.

Process diversity is also important to the maintenance function because it

describes the actual equipment that the maintenance function is responsible for

maintaining. Studies have found that mass output orientation impacts the overall

supporting infrastructure for manufacturing organizations (Woodward, 1965; Blau et al.,


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1976; Ward et al., 1992). More recently, studies have found that organizational

adjustments are required in order to successfully implement advanced manufacturing

technologies ( Dean and Snell, 1991; Nemetz and Fry, 1988). Logically, it may be

assumed that this effect may be extended to the organizational structure and practices of

specific functions within manufacturing. Further, the use of advanced manufacturing

technology (AMT) has been found to be associated with maintenance practices that

support communication and coordination and technical expertise within the organization

( Swanson, 1999).

In Galbraith's model (1977), complexity has a direct effect on an organization's

information-processing needs. Organizations have two alternatives for coping withcomplexity. The first alternative is to reduce the need for information processing. The

second alternative is to increase the organization's information-processing capacity.

Specific maintenance practices are consistent with the information-processing

alternatives discussed by Galbraith.

Preventive maintenance is work performed after a specified period of time or

machine use (Gits, 1992). Preventive maintenance restores equipment condition in order

to avoid more catastrophic failures that would cause more extended downtime.

Predictive maintenance is based on the same principle as preventive maintenance. Under

predictive maintenance, diagnostic equipment is used to measure the physical condition

of equipment such as temperature, vibration, lubrication and corrosion. When one of

these indicators reaches a specified level, work is undertaken to restore the equipment to

proper condition ( Vanzile and Otis, 1992; Herbaty, 1990).

Preventive and predictive maintenance provide the maintenance organization

with a more predictable and manageable workload. These practices also allow the

production function to more easily determine its ability to fill orders on time. This


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ability is especially important as the diversity of equipment to be maintained and the

number of different types of workers to be managed increases.

Galbraith's (1977)third approach to reducing information-processing

requirements is to use self-contained tasks. With self-contained tasks, groups are created

with each group being provided with sufficient resources to perform its own task. Flynn

and Flynn (1999)used group technology as an example of self-contained tasks in a

manufacturing environment. Group technology assigns a group of machines to produce

a specific set of products rather than the universe of product offerings. For maintenance,

one way to create self-contained tasks is through the use of decentralized, area

maintenance crews. In many plants, maintenance workers are dispatched from a centralshop. By creating area maintenance crews assigned to specific plant areas, the

maintenance function reduces complexity by dedicating crews to specific areas of the

plant rather than trying to juggle and meet the needs of multiple production areas with a

single, central shop (Heintzelman, 1976).

Galbraith (1977)proposed two methods for increasing an organization's

information-processing capacity. The first method involves investments in vertical

information systems. According to Galbraith, vertical information systems allow an

organization to process information without overloading the organization's normal

communication channels. A computer information system is one example of a vertical

information system. The value of vertical information systems is that their capabilities

for supporting communication and decision making mean that fewer exceptions are

referred upward in the organizational hierarchy.

In maintenance, there has been an increasing movement toward computerized

maintenance management systems (CMMS). CMMS assists in managing a wide range

of information on the maintenance workforce, spare-parts inventories, repair schedules


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and equipment histories. It can also be used to automate the preventive maintenance

function, and to assist in the control of maintenance inventories and the purchase of

materials. CMMS may also be used to plan and schedule work orders and to manage the

overall maintenance workload (Hora, 1987; Wireman, 1991). Another capability offered

by CMMS is the potential to strengthen reporting and analysis capabilities ( Wireman,

1991; Callahan, 1997; Hannan and Keyport, 1991). Finally, CMMS has been described

as a tool for coordination and communication with production ( Dunn and Johnson,

1991).

While the capabilities offered by CMMS do not in any way reduce the amount of

information to be processed by the maintenance organization, they do assist themaintenance function in managing the ever increasing complexity brought about by

more complex and varied technologies and a workforce with highly specialized skills.

The use of computerized information systems by the maintenance function will

be higher in plants with greater environmental complexity. Galbraith (1977)also

suggested that lateral relations assist in increasing information-processing capacity.

Lateral relations allow problems to be solved at the level that they occur rather than

being passed up the organizational hierarchy. As a support function, maintenance must

communicate and coordinate effectively with production. All of the proposed types of

lateral relations may be used to create links between maintenance and production. As the

production environment becomes more complex, coordination between maintenance and

production becomes more critical and may require the use of more than one type of

lateral relation in order to effectively support the ability to maintain quality and meet

production schedules.

For this study, a plant level measure of maintenance performance was needed. At

the plant level, maintenance performance is evident in equipment availability, the ability


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to meet production schedules and product quality (Pintelon and Gelders, 1992; Teresko,

1992; Macaulay, 1988). However, in the case of plant equipment condition and

availability, uniform plant-level measures of maintenance performance are difficult to

identify. It is only in the past few years that researchers have started to discuss uniform

methods of measuring maintenance performance ( Arts et al., 1998; Tsang, 1998).

Many plants track equipment downtime on individual pieces of equipment, but overall

plant indicators of downtime are often not available.

The hypotheses concerning the relationship between environmental complexity

and maintenance organization and maintenance practices were tested using hierarchical

regression analysis (Cohen and Cohen, 1975). Hierarchical regression allows groups ofvariables to be entered into the regression equation in steps. The first group of variables

is allowed to explain as much of the variability of the dependent variable as possible. As

subsequent variables are entered, the amount of variance of the dependent variable that

is explained by the newly entered independent variables is calculated. The variables

describing the plant environment (plant size and union status) were entered in the first

step. In the second step, the production technology variables measuring production

technology characteristics were entered. In the third step, variables measuring the

number of maintenance classifications and number of levels in the maintenance

organization were entered. A significant incrementalR2in the second or third step could

be interpreted as support for the hypotheses that there are relationships between

production technology or maintenance organization and maintenance practices. The F-

statistics reported in the tables are incremental. That is, they are associated with the

change inR2occurring when the variables were entered. The variables were measured

so that positive 's are consistent with the hypotheses. Positive 's would indicate that

plants with greater complexity would make more extensive use of the particular

maintenance practice than plants with lower levels of complexity. The form of the

regression equation is shown below:


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MtcPraci= 0+( 1Sizei+ 2Unionizationi)+( 3VARIi+ 4AMTi+ 5

MASSi)+( 6CLASSi+ 7LEVELi)+ I Equation1)

CMMS and lateral relations to increase information-processing capacity were

used in response to the use of AMT. It also appears that some of the information-

processing alternatives used by maintenance in response to complexity contribute to

improved maintenance performance.

AMT was strongly associated with several maintenance practices. AMT such as

flexible manufacturing systems replace both physical human effort and some mental

human effort. Introduction of AMT means that equipment is more complicated to

maintain (Robinson, 1987). AMT implementation also means that production steps that

were previously distinct may be combined into a single operation. Increased integration

means that equipment failures lead to more immediate and costly consequences ( Finch

and Gilbert, 1986; Walton and Susman, 1987). Therefore, maintenance resources must

be quickly and properly directed to solve problems.

AMT was strongly associated with the use of CMMS. The information-

processing capabilities of CMMS provide the ability to quickly communicate and

coordinate the need for repairs. This result also makes sense in that organizations with

computer-assisted manufacturing technologies would be very comfortable with using a

computer-based system for communicating and coordinating maintenance activities.

2.6 System Concept Development Phase


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2.6.1 Objective

System Concept Development begins when the Concept Proposal has been

formally approved and requires study and analysis that may lead to system development

activities. The review and approval of the Concept Proposal begins the formal studies

and analysis of the need in the System Concept Development Phase and begins the life

cycle of an identifiable project.

2.6.2 Tasks and Activities

The following activities are performed as part of the System Concept

Development Phase. The results of these activities are captured in the four phase

documents and their underlying institutional processes and procedures (See Figure 2.3).


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Figure 2.3 System Concept Development Phase Activities

(Source: Ghanalingam, 2003)

2.6.2.1 Study and Analyse the Business Need

The project team, supplemented by enterprise architecture or other technical

experts, if needed, should analyse all feasible technical, business process, and

commercial alternatives to meeting the business need. These alternatives should then be

analysed from a life cycle cost perspective. The results of these studies should show a

range of feasible alternatives based on life cycle cost, technical capability, andscheduled availability. Typically, these studies should narrow the system technical

approaches to only a few potential, desirable solutions that should proceed into the

subsequent life cycle phases.


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2.6.2.2 Plan the Project

The project team should develop high-level (baseline) schedule, cost, and

performance measures which are summarized in the System Boundary Document. These

high-level estimates are further refined in subsequent phases.

2.6.2.3Form the Project Acquisition Strategy

The acquisition strategy should be included in the System Boundary Document

(SBD). The project team should determine the strategies to be used during the remainder

of the project concurrently with the development of the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA)

and Feasibility Study. Will the work be accomplished with available staff or do

contractors need to be hired? Discuss available and projected technologies, such as reuse

or Commercial Off-the-Shelf and potential contract types.

2.6.2.4 Study and Analyse the Risks

Identify any programmatic or technical risks. The risks associated with further

development should also be studied. The results of these assessments should be

summarized in the SBD and documented in the Risk Management Plan and CBA.

2.6.2.5 Obtain Project Funding, Staff and Resources


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Estimate, justify, submit requests for, and obtain resources to execute the project in the

format of the Capital Asset Plan and Justification.

2.6.2.6 Document the Phase Efforts

The results of the phase efforts are documented in the System Boundary

Document, Cost Benefit Analysis, Feasibility Study, and Risk Management Plan.

2.6.2.7 Review and Approval to Proceed

The results of the phase efforts are presented to project stakeholders and decision

makers together with a recommendation to (1) proceed into the next life-cycle phase, (2)

continue additional conceptual phase activities, or (3) terminate the project. The

emphasis of the review should be on (1) the successful accomplishment of the phase

objectives, (2) the plans for the next life-cycle phase, and (3) the risks associated with

moving into the next life-cycle phase. The review also addresses the availability of

resources to execute the subsequent life-cycle phases. The results of the review should

be documented reflecting the decision on the recommended action.


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2.6.3 Deliverables

The following deliverables shall be initiated during the System Concept

Development Phase:

2.6.3.1 System Boundary Document

Identifies the scope of a system (or capability). It should contain the high levelrequirements, benefits, business assumptions, and program costs and schedules. It

records management decisions on the envisioned system early in its development and

provides guidance on its achievement.

2.6.3.2 Cost Benefit Analysis

Provides cost or benefit information for analysing and evaluating alternative

solutions to a problem and for making decisions about initiating, as well as continuing,

the development of information technology systems. The analysis should clearly

indicate the cost to conform to the architectural standards in the Technical Reference

Model (TRM).

2.6.3.3 Feasibility Studies


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Provides an overview of a business requirement or opportunity and determines if

feasible solutions exist before full life-cycle resources are committed.

2.6.3.4 Risk Management Plan

Identifies project risks and specifies the plans to reduce or mitigate the risks.

2.6.4 Phase Review Activity

The System Concept Development Review shall by performed at the end of this

phase. The review ensures that the goals and objectives of the system are identified and

that the feasibility of the system is established. Products of the System Concept

Development Phase are reviewed including the budget, risk, and user requirements. This

review is organized, planned, and led by the Program Manager and/or representative.

2.7 CMMS Model Approach

We all know how much rests on our physical and financial well being. Good

health, your own and your companys, depends on keeping all parts in proper working


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order. Therefore, its surprising so many organizations neglect one of the essential

elements of successnot paying enough attention to maintenance.

Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build, and nobody

wants to do maintenance( Kurt Vonnegut, 1974).

The total cost of maintenance surprises many senior executives and managers.

Although it varies directly with the capital intensity of the business, maintenance can

account for half of production costs. Mining accounts for 20-50% of costs,

manufacturing 5-15%, and processing 3-15%. In addition, this estimate excludes the

sales value of lost production and costs associated with rework, rejected products, or

recycled materials.

Maintenance strategies can add significant value and increase asset effectiveness

and reliability. Effectively integrated into CMMS strategies ensure:

Equipment life-cycle productivity;

Optimum mix of maintenance, according to criticality, value, and risk;

Performance measurements over time; and Reliability engineering through information management.

2.7.1 Maintenance Process

Maintenance management strategies on the premise that maintenance is a

process. Maintenance is a set of linked activities requiring a series of inputs that

transforms them into a set of outputs, rather than a function simply requiring the

application of resources.


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When the maintenance became as a function, then optimise the function and not

the overall process. Maintenance as a function usually covers only the trades. As a

process, it not only covers trades, but also purchasing, stores, scheduling, operations,

engineering, and several other management and administrative functions.

When the approach maintenance as a function, a number of problems arise. One

example is stores. Because equipment availability is the backbone of maintenance as a

function, it cannot afford to be caught without parts on hand to respond to breakdowns.

Maximizing inventory optimises its performance as a function. It minimizes freight

charges for the materials and minimizes personnel costs but can slow the procurement

process. The prime driver for this function is control, not necessarily service. Thepurchasing function entails going out for numerous quotes and taking the lowest cost.

While this approach meets the minimum specifications and cost savings targets, it adds

excessive variation in spare parts.

The solution to this problem is to view equipment effectiveness and cost

efficiency as results of the entire maintenance process as depicted in Figure 2.4. This

can only be done by developing standards that get the most from all functions, not any

particular one.


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Figure 2.4 Maintenance: A process or a function ( Source: Kurt Vonnegut, 1974)

2.7.2 Maintenance Approach

Based on the Figure 2.5 formaintenance approach involves:

Establishing a plan with clear guidelines that define the required scope of

maintenance through customer requirements;

Identifying operational effectiveness required to accomplish the maintenance

program;


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Providing a clear understanding of the maintenance functions and processes as

they relate to the systems and tool applications;

Developing performance evaluation criteria and benchmark goals; and

Defining an organizational structure which best meets the customers

requirements and key results.

Figure 2.5 Maintenance Approach ( Source: Kurt Vonnegut, 1974)

Approach to maintenance provides the general framework by which the overall

maintenance program is established and provides specific direction for the various

functions and processes. The important aspects of this approach are two-fold:


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It causes more significant decisions (i.e., manpower, budget, and organization) to be

made by those having both responsibility and authority for implementation.

It provides basic guidance for maintenance operations (i.e., the use of contract

maintenance, the level of training required for personnel, the use of specialized support

programs for critical equipment, and standard maintenance processes).

As illustrated in Figure 2.5 formaintenance approach, the maintenance approach can be

summarized into a five-step process which involves:

Identifying customer requirements;

Setting goals based on these requirements;

Implementing strategies (both in terms of technical and management approaches

with the systems/tools solutions) to satisfy these goals;

Trending key performance indicators; and

Benchmarking the results.

When developing a maintenance management strategy, the first step is toidentify the customers needs. The next step is to develop a set of goals geared

specifically to meet these requirements. At this point, the goals are still generic in

nature, neither geared specifically to critical environments, nor to the day-to-day

operational requirements of the facilities. However, these goals serve as the blueprint

for all other planning requirements, both from a technical and management perspective.

Without defining these goals at a high level, we cannot align our goals with the

customers. Once the blueprint has been developed and the direction and planning has

been completed, the implementation stage of the process begins. The term resources

includes the appropriate technical skills/tools, and the applicable management strategies

associated with the technical strategies. Performance metrics provide the means for our

management team and our customers to know if the action plans and management

systems are working. The final step involves benchmarking operational data from one


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project to another. CMMS gathers and normalizes data from each project which

provides benchmarking information to compare each projects performance against the

others, then electronically transfers it into International Performance Measurements

(IPM) database. The internal and external information in these reports provide

comparative milestones for use in tracking project cost and usage, in identifying

improvements made, and (more importantly) in noting areas requiring improvement.

2.7.3 Maintenance Management Plan

Maintenance has a specific mission. It must be viewed as the process that

produces equipment reliability and system availability. The challenge is to produce these

products in a timely and cost-effective manner that supports client objectives.


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Align maintenance and operations with the customers;

business/mission/objectives for that facility;

Establish standards that can be used to measure the progress of the site; and

Implement programs to improve the performance and value of the facility.

2.7.4 Best Maintenance Practices

No matter what type of organization is established, it must be flexible enough to

accommodate the changing needs, responsibilities, and mission of the customer. Figure

2.7 shows the process to ensure the business and mission of the customer are met. Too

rigid an organization results in a static situation, where innovation is minimized and

maximum efficiency and dollar return are never realized.

Figure 2.7 Best Maintenance Practice ( Source: Robinson, 1987)


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Maintenance functions and processes must be standardized in order to

accomplish objectives, carry out the plan, and allow people to work efficiently and

effectively. The maintenance organization should not be a bureaucracy it should be

understandable and a workable solution. This can only be accomplished with effective

leadership.

The Maintenance Management Plan includes a technical and management

strategy for improving the reliability and availability of the facilities. The plan is

designed to optimise reliability and availability while reducing costs and increasing

profits, increase output without increasing unit costs, and increase customer satisfaction.This is handled by controlling the functions and processes.

Continuous improvement plays a key role in our Maintenance Management Plan. By

continuously improving maintenance functions and processes, will ensure our world-

class maintenance organization complies with its customer requirements.

2.7.5 Technical Strategy

The first element of the overall Maintenance Management Plan involves

deploying the strategic integration of the wide range of technical methodologies.

The Technical Management Strategy, as shown in Figure 2.8, involves processes and

control systems that ensure the reliability, availability, and performance of customer

assets.


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Figure 2.8 Technical Management ( Source: Wireman, 1991)

The Technical Management Strategy utilizes processes proven through years of

experience, coupled with existing maintenance improvement programs and new

programs. The specific objectives of the Technical Management Strategy include:

Ensuring equipment is maintained appropriately in a manner commensurate withits importance to safety, reliability, and availability;

Optimising the number and performance of tasks and instructions (as identified

through reliability modelling) to maintain an appropriate balance between cost

and benefit;


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Using operational histories and employing an effective logic scheme to

determine the proper task frequency and text content to maximize equipment

life-cycle;

Establishing a documented technical basis for the task; and

Maximizing the use of reliability-based technologies.

By implementing a balanced proactive maintenance strategy based on

Reliability-Centred Maintenance (RCM), Predictive Testing and Inspection (PT&I),

Critical Environment Technologies (CET), and Critical Spare Parts, the merits of each

level of maintenance (reactive, preventive, and predictive) combine to:

Maximize equipment operability and efficiency;

Minimize required maintenance time, materials, and, consequently, costs; and

Minimize risk.

Using RCM/PT&I allows quickly evaluating individual systems and identifyingfault tolerant components that do not need maintenance. Maintenance resources are then

applied to those critical systems and tasks affecting reliability and performance.

Implementing our CMMSis important; RCM/PT&I programs cannot be effectively

implemented without establishing equipment baseline characteristics and trending.

2.7.6 Probability of Failure


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The development of new service technologies and maintenance management

strategies have made it possible to determine the actual condition of equipment, rather

than relying on estimates of when it might fail based on age or use. There are many

different failure characteristics, only a few of which are actually age or use related.

Recent research into equipment failure probability and advanced age has shown

some surprising results. The most significant result is that there appears to be no

significant link between age and the probability of equipment failure.

The research also indicates, as shown in Figure 2.9, that there are six broad

relationships, not just one or two. The first pattern, the well-known bathtub curve,

begins with a high incidence of failure followed by a constant or gradual increase in thefailure rate. The second pattern shows a constant or slowly increasing failure

probability, ending in a wear-out zone. The third pattern shows a slowly increasing

probability of failure, but does not identify a wear-outage. The fourth pattern shows a

low probability of failure when the equipment is new or just out of the shop, then a rapid

increase to a constant level. The fifth pattern shows a constant probability of failure at

all ages (random failure). The sixth pattern starts with high infant mortality, but

eventually drops to a constant or slow increasing failure probability.


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Figure 2.9 Probability of Failure ( Source: Dean and Snell, 1991)

The number and type of patterns seen varies from industry to industry. For

example, the number of times these patterns occur in aircraft is not necessarily the same

as an automotive plant. However, there is little doubt, as equipment grows more

complex, more failures will follow the latter two patterns. Some important tips about

how equipment should be maintained are as follow:

Failure is not usually related directly to age or use;

Failure is not easily predictable, so restorative or replacement maintenance based

on time or use will not normally help to lessen the risk of failure;

Major overhauls are not recommended, because of the increased probability of

failure in the most dominant patterns;

Age-related component replacements may be too costly for the same reason; and


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Knowing the failure pattern does not necessarily tell you what maintenance tactic

to use. From a probability failure standpoint, condition-based maintenance

techniques are the most cost-effective.

2.7.7 System Bathtub Curve

The bathtub curve is really a combination of two or more different failure

patterns. One pattern embodies infant mortality, another indicates increasing probabilityof failure with age, and one (the central flat portion) suggests random failure between

the two other patterns. This can be seen in Figure 2.10: System Bathtub Curve.

Figure 2.10 System Bathtub Curve ( Source: Dean and Snell, 1991)


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There are three stages of equipment failure: break-in stage, operating stage, and

wear-out stage. During the break-in stage, the failure rate is relatively high. The failure

rate decreases until it reaches its lowest point, where it can remain constant or vary to

some degree for most of its operating life. During the operating stage, random failures or

operational errors occur after the equipment has been in operation. Maintenance

techniques used to avoid these types of failure are run-time preventive maintenance,

predictive (condition) monitoring, and precision correction. Finally, the failures begin to

increase again as the equipment starts to wear-out. As a piece of equipment nears the

end of its life-cycle, failures often occur as part of the wear-out stage. By using

predictive monitoring techniques, along with root-cause failure analysis and correction,

most wear-out failures can be eliminated. The maintenance techniques recommended bythis plan measurably extend the useful life of the equipment through reliability

modelling.

2.7.8 Reliability Modelling

One way to assess the overall effectiveness of a maintenance program is to track the

Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) of any asset. Taking this one step further, it

provides the ability to assess the effective use of resources (i.e. labour, materials, and

outsourced services) in the Mean Time To Repair (MTTR).

There are three stages to the MTTR: response, stabilization, and restoration.

These three stages compose total downtime - the total amount of time the asset is out of

service due to failure, from the moment it fails until the moment it is fully operational.

Response is the time from system failure notification to the acknowledgment of


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response personnel at the failure location. Stabilization is the time it takes to mitigate the

failure. Restoration is the time required to make the actual repairs. Stabilization and

restoration can include the three levels of maintenance support to performs a failure

analysis, including an evaluation of the downtime, to determine if any process

improvements can be made to the MTTR.

Figure 2.11 Reliability Modelling (Source: Pujadas and Chen, 1996)

Two examples are shown in Figure 2.11 Reliability Modelling one shows a

temperature scenario, the other shows a Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning

(HVAC) problem. Both examples have the three stages of MTTR associated with them.In the temperature example, the signature baseline becomes the basis for response to an

operational problem. When the temperature reaches the upper control limit (UCL), an

alarm sounds and a technician responds to the problem. During this stage, the system is

stabilized (which may involve other factors besides repair such as switching power


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over.) Once the system is stabilized, the technician restores the equipment to its original

operating parameters. The key to the signature evaluation is that all of these events take

place before a shutdown occurs.

Periodic evaluations of signatures ensure system performance, thus increasing

system availability. Corrective maintenance costs can reduce expenditures by as much

as 70% from reactive maintenance costs. This can only be accomplished when accurate

signature baselines are documented and then periodic signatures are derived from

comparison against the baseline.

In each situation, it is important to capture times for MTBFs and the three stages

composing downtime or MTTR by equipment classification.

2.7.9 Management Strategy

In addition to employing the technical methodologies previously described, the

implementation stage of maintenance management strategy involves the deployment of

a wide range of management activities requiring direction, planning, execution, analysis,

and process interfaces. The Management Strategy is an effective, efficient management

of resources, processes, and assets achieved by employing a standardized approach to

maintenance management. This strategy is shown in Figure 2.12.

.


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The primary objective of any effective maintenance program is to minimize total

costs resulting from the execution (or lack of execution) of proper facility maintenance.

Since these costs generally accrue in small increments through the performance of a

number of small maintenance tasks, the ability to track each of these activities and their

attendant costs is of great importance.

Control is impossible without a sound management strategy. Without control, it

is difficult to be aware of the need for changes in processes, procedures, or

modifications to the current strategy. There are too many variables to expect a desiredoutcome without established processes and the accompanying controls.

For management to accurately and effectively control the management function, the

management strategy must include steps on systems reporting, communicating, and

decision making. These steps can successfully be incorporated in the maintenance

process by using a maintenance management system.

CMMS is not simply an administrative management system it enables to

maintain equipment histories, evaluate maintenance trends, perform cost/benefit

analyses, and provide a wide range of other analytical functions. This allows to maintain

of equipment to be more effective, i.e., through process interfaces.Table 2.1 illustrates a

proactive role of the CMMS in maintenance and operations.


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Table 2.1 Maintenance Management Systems Support

Management Strategy Support from maintenance best processes

Timely customer service and

product delivery

Increases equipment utilization and equipment

uptime

Achieves greater asset utilization

Achieves increased net capacity

Expansion of market share Increases production levels through increased

equipment use, uptime, reliability, availability,

and capacity documentation

Cost reduction Reduces storeroom inventory levels and

carrying costs

Decreases cost to maintain equipment

Better use of resources Increases craft labor productivity

Implementation of quality

programs

Increases equipment reliability, utilization,

availability, and effectiveness

Integration of information for

better planning and consistentdecision making

Integration of maintenance management system

into corporate methodologyProvides activity-based costing of maintenance

services

Improve product quality Integration of maintenance operations with

corporate quality systems

Improve safety and regulatory

compliance

Increases documentation of maintenance tasks

related to safety and regulatory compliance

issues


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2.7.10 Maintenance Functional Mapping

The organization structure should be comprehensive and cover strategic,

procedural, technical, administrative, and cultural issues. While clear reporting

relationships are administratively essential, getting products and services to customers

requires an organizational structure that focuses on the nature and flow of work. To

develop an effective organization that meets these needs, two things must be considered.

The first need is to decide what work is to be done. The second need is to understandhow work currently gets accomplished and to design the way it should be carried out.

Form (structure) must follow function (processes). With this document plan, no attempt

to define a maintenance organization structure is made have been tried. Tried to do is

mandate the functions and processes required to provide the organization with the ability

to increase equipment availability and reliability.


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a combination of formal planning, scheduling functions, and informal direct liaison.

Specialized skills are provided by trades in the area. There is no centralized maintenance

shop.

H

data flow diagram of a transport management system6

Documents