Asset criticality assessment

Context

As part of a comprehensive maintenance improvement project, our client needed a way to prioritise its most important assets incorporating standards, strategies, tactics, and spares. The gold miner wanted a systematic, consequence-based approach to target work and outputs and reduce the risk of production interruptions. Based on these requirements, Minset’s asset criticality assessment framework proved to be a perfect fit.

Approach

Using its criticality assessment process as the anchor, Minset worked with the local team to refine their approach and target both short term and ongoing performance improvements. Minset assessed information by equipment type across a number of asset levels depending on each asset’s importance. Levels comprised the maintainable item, sub-assembly, and component.

Minset used its robust and tried-and-tested system, honed over many years, to rank the client’s criticality from low, the least important, to extreme, the most important. When items fell into the extreme or high criticality range and were complex or safety-critical assets, Minset undertook additional analysis at the sub-assembly or component level. Conducting assessments flexibly, based on importance, helped strike the right balance between documenting actionable details for the client and keeping the project to a tight timeframe and an affordable budget.

As part of the project, Minset also performed a desktop review of an existing criticality assessment covering plant, ancillary, and infrastructure. During this process, we found many key assets were incorrectly assessed. After applying our rigorous process, we collaborated with site personnel to confirm the new rankings and provided recommendations. The revised criticality assessment provided the client with a robust and practical way to prioritise the implementation of tactics and aid maintenance team decision making in the short and longer-term.