Benefits of Preventive Maintenance in Oil & Gas
How Accupoint Can Help At Accupoint, we understand the challenges of maintaining optimal operations in the oil and gas industry. Our advanced maintenance solutions are designed to help you stay ahead of potential issues, reduce downtime, and improve overall performance. Whether you're looking to optimize your existing maintenance strategy or implement a more comprehensive preventive maintenance plan, we have the tools and expertise to guide you every step of the way. Contact us today to learn more about our solutions or schedule a personalized demo to see how we can help streamline your operations. There is always the potential for accidents in any work environment. Properly utilizing OSHA's LockOut/TagOut (LOTO) procedures can help you greatly reduce the risk of injuries while performing maintenance on hazardous machinery.
It's more than simply putting a tag or a lock on the machine that's being worked on, though. Making sure that you know all of the required steps of the LOTO procedures will help you ensure you're creating the safest environment possible for your employees.
Training your team to effectively enact the LOTO procedures is important, but don't forget that it's ultimately up to you to make sure they are being followed properly. To learn how Accupoint Software can help improve your LOTO process, please feel free to contact us. Preventive maintenance refers to the practice of keeping machinery and equipment up-to-date in order to prevent problems before they occur. Preventive maintenance is important in all types of businesses, but particularly in the petroleum industry.
Both the API Spec Q1 & API Spec Q2 standards require a documented preventive maintenance program, specifically section 5.7.8 in both standards. The goal here is to keep all equipment in working order as a means to minimize risk and improve operational efficiency. The best practices for preventive maintenance include creating a preventive maintenance plan and carrying out the plan effectively. Create or Review Your Preventive Maintenance Plan What are the specific preventive maintenance needs of your facility? Take into account your facility size, types of machines used, and other unique factors. If you don't currently have a plan in place, you will need to create one. Existing plans can benefit from periodic reviews. Management should agree on a definition of what preventative maintenance means for your facility before you begin creating or revising a plan. Take an inventory of each machine and its specific maintenance needs. Include both cleaning requirements and upkeep for each machine. Create a schedule for long- and short-term maintenance. Organize your maintenance schedule using computer software. With so many types of machines with different needs, software can help keep everything organized and easy to keep track of. Physical observation of machinery will also be necessary. Schedule walk-through examinations of machines by qualified employees. Keep Employees Informed Employees need to be aware of the preventive maintenance plan, especially those who will be conducting the inspections or performing the maintenance. Emphasize the importance of preventive maintenance and its role in your business's continued success. Keep up with the Plan Ensure employees carry out the plan by keeping up with inspections, cleaning, and other periodic maintenance. Software that creates work orders can make sure the preventive maintenance of your facility is implemented smoothly. Creating or updating your preventive maintenance plan doesn't have to be difficult and time-consuming. The work you do in advance could save you time and money later on. To find out how Accupoint Software can help streamline your preventative maintenance plan, contact us. The API Spec Q1 standard requires that organizations “maintain a documented procedure for the establishment of preventive maintenance for equipment used in product realization." An effective PM program will reduce operating costs, improve product quality, and increase productivity for the company. Our goal is to minimize interruptions that adversely impact productivity. With that in mind, we thought we would take this opportunity to discuss a number of best practices around the preventive maintenance process.
1. Preventive Maintenance factors: Understand that preventive maintenance schedules are based on a variety of inputs, including:
2. Develop an actual plan Most plans can be formed with a triggering mechanism. This means that certain events are slated to occur at a specific interval. The schedule may be developed with a condition-based or company-based protocol. The preventive maintenance schedule should always be assigned to a particular trigger. 3. Form the plan with savings in mind. The plan should be developed with a specific set of savings objectives. Metrics like the maximum manufacturing time available for each machine may be used to create the schedule. There may be some downtime required where minimal lost production opportunity time may be factored into the planning process. There may even be a schedule developed around the concept affecting the quality of products manufactured. 4. Make the system available to others. Once the framework has been constructed, the information should be created in some sort of a computerized maintenance system. The system will be formalized and assigned to key personnel responsible for monitoring the maintenance to be performed. The Accupoint system allows tasks to be automated and scheduled in a manner where work orders are generated on a timetable. 5. Set routine maintenance. Once routine maintenance schedules are established for one system, move on to another critical system. Again, set up maintenance schedules, documenting current conditions for future reference. An effective PM program can extend the asset life and ensures that it can be replaced as a scheduled event, rather than in an emergency situation. 6. Match the cost to the PM protocol developed. It may be more cost-effective to perform a set of repairs simultaneously to a machine. It may also be much more cost-effective to take a reactive approach to maintenance. This approach may be better if this type of repair or maintenance duty doesn’t occur nearly as often. In summary, a combination of inspections, repairs, and testing should be a part of any comprehensive preventive maintenance process. In addition, any credible program should be long-term in nature. To find out how Accupoint can help manage your preventive maintenance management program, call us toll free at 800-563-6250 or visit us at www.accupointsoftware.com. In the largest corporate settlement in U.S. history, British Petroleum has agreed to pay up to $18.7 billion to the federal government and five states. When added to the $43.8 billion BP had already set aside for cleanup costs and civil and criminal penalties, its total pretax charge amounts to $53.8 billion.
Formulated with the recognition that preventive maintenance might have avoided the failure of a cement seal which caused the oil spill, API Spec Q2 requires that all organizations involved in the oil and gas industry document their "procedure for establishment of a preventive maintenance, inspection, and test program (PMITP)." A thorough documentation of any PMITP should address process, procedure, and work instructions. The main difference between process and procedure is the level of detail. Process is high level and operates across the organization's varying functions. Processes lay out what needs to be done and when. A process should consist of a trigger, or starting event, and a terminator, or end result, that accomplishes a desired result. Processes are usually documented using a diagram or flow chart. While processes are cross-functional and too high level for staff to perform on a day-to-day basis, procedures reside at a lower level and contain detailed descriptions of how the work is to be done and who is responsible. In other words, procedures break process down into steps. They are usually depicted in step-by-step order. Work instructions are specific and detail exactly how each task is to be done. Work instructions can be thought of as a subdivision of procedures in that they refer to a single role whereas procedures describe instructions for several roles in the organization. To learn how Accupoint Quality Management Systems Software can provide solutions to help you implement and document a PMITP, contact us. |
