Digitising maintenance work management systems and mobile inspections

Context

Improving asset performance, leveraging technology, and taking a more planned approach to its maintenance function are key business transformation aspirations for our client. As part of this strategy, the organisation identified that digitising its maintenance work management systems in parallel with optimising its plant inspections, using mobile technology, could deliver substantial business benefits.

The project was complex and detail-oriented, where small changes made a big difference to the outcome. Our client wanted to collaborate with an experienced provider who could fast-track their success and help them avoid mistakes, so they contacted Minset to help them on their journey.

Approach

Minset assessed the situation and took a strong systems approach right from the start. By straddling the technology agenda and on-the-ground maintenance requirements, the Minset team:

• Strategically targeted key assets in order of business importance by evaluating asset criticality.
• Undertook a detailed risk likelihood/consequence assessment.
• Created the content for a traffic light system to prioritise maintenance failure mode inspections and introduced a framework of standardised questions, language, meanings, and actions.
• Ensured the asset inspection data, collected using the standardised method, fed directly from the mobile device through to SAP and could generate inspection outcome notifications as needed. SAP attributes included inspection frequency, asset condition, and damage codes to name just a few.
• Ran two teams of maintenance specialists (mechanical, electrical and instrumentation), seven days a week, for the duration of the project. This strategy enabled the teams to design and develop timely inspection regimes and manage the fatigue associated with such exacting and meticulous work.

Each inspection task contains the information needed to schedule planned remediation work, including acceptable limits and the suggested corrective action. The client now has much greater visibility of its assets and can anticipate the most likely failure modes for each piece of equipment.

Minset’s practical and integrated strategy delivered a responsive, efficient, and unobtrusive solution. With these solid foundations in place, the client is well positioned to move to a predictive maintenance model.