Supporting software implementation from the ground up
Published by Alfred Hamer,
Editorial Assistant
World Pipelines,
Jason Smith, ABS Consulting, discusses the benefits of taking a holistic approach to pipeline management, beginning with the evaluation of operations and strategy development, all the way through to process and system implementations.
Maintenance and reliability have shifted drastically in recent years, led by the digital transformation of Industry 4.0. This shift is evolving the global pipeline industry as more operators embrace digitalisation to leverage better ways to ensure operational uptime and safety.
Pipeline operators are increasingly building robust processes that support improved safety and operational integrity programmes by using real time data, predictive models, data-driven tools and approaches that can assess asset life expectancy as well as enhance their safety protocols and environmental performance – contributing to a more sustainable and efficient pipeline operation.
With the IBM Maximo Application Suite (MAS) being a critical piece in this transformation process, organisations trying to undertake MAS implementation or upgrades without considering what the full reliability journey will look like, or what they may need to do to prepare for its implementation, can create more confusion than progress.
Taking a more considered approach can solidify an organisations’ preparedness to successfully integrate MAS into its operations, thus reaping the associated benefits that the new system offers.
Benefits of asset management in developing proactive maintenance strategies
More pipeline companies are turning to enterprise asset management applications to gain better visibility into their critical assets, delivering more effective maintenance and management decision making, helping to maximise pipeline reliability and minimise maintenance costs.
Predicting issues before they occur is at the heart of Reliability Based Maintenance (RBM). And through a data and analytics-driven approach an organisation can typically help reduce unplanned pipeline outages by up to 50%, whilst reducing scheduled repairs through predictive maintenance by up to 12%, helping to save valuable time and resources.
Taking a more holistic approach to pipeline maintenance can help to identify any ‘bad actors’ within a business. And by identifying critical problems, an organisation can focus where they place their time and effort rather than trying to deal with every problem. Good maintenance is about effective resource management, and central to this is computerised maintenance and management systems (CMMS) – typified by the latest version of MAS. Much of the information required to make better-informed decisions is already available to pipeline organisations, but experience shows that whilst they may have the information, the vast majority are not using it to their greatest benefit or to support an increase along the reliability continuum.
So, the question is: where to start? And the answer to that is numbers speak volumes. We should start by setting metrics – establishing a base-line picture so that you can see a much more comprehensive process moving up the maturity continuum.
Everything revolves around a continual improvement wheel. The goal is to relate what you do with maintenance and reliability at the heart of an organisation – ideally through identifying critical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
KPIs can help present a better business case. Examples could include:
- Total maintenance cost: as a Percentage of Replacement Asset Value (RAV).
- Availability: how often the pipeline is running or capable of running compared to its actual operational schedule.
- Unscheduled downtime: the amount of time the pipeline is unavailable due to repairs that are not on the weekly maintenance schedule (break-in work).
- Wrench time: the actual time maintenance crews are affecting repairs.
- Stockouts: the frequency at which parts are requested from the stock system but not available.
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Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/special-reports/28012025/supporting-software-implementation-from-the-ground-up/
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