280GE Axles Lube Oil

The Most Common Mistake Made in RCM

In 1978 F. Stanley Nowlan and Howard F. Heap released a United Airline study that contained a new methodology called Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). This methodology quickly became the gold standard for risk assessment and risk management.

As the years progressed, two major improvements happened:
1) Improvements in the use of advanced statistics to analyze machinery failure patterns shed new light on the nature of how machinery fails, and
2) Advancements in computer technology produced extremely powerful inspection methods that changed the face of assessing a component’s condition.

Very few practitioners of RCM kept up with either of these changes, and as such, the development of a comprehensive and efficient equipment maintenance plan (EMP) became a resource-consuming process.

The core of RCM Analysis lies in the answer to seven questions.

1. What are the functions and associated desired standards of performance of the asset in its present operating context (functions)?
2. In what ways can it fail to fulfill its functions (functional failures)?
3. What causes each functional failure (failure modes)?
4. What happens when each failure occurs (failure effects)?
5. In what way does each failure matter (failure consequences)?
6. What should be done to predict or prevent each failure (proactive tasks and task intervals)?
7. What should be done if a suitable proactive task cannot be found (default actions)?”

Note question number six - inspection techniques that adequately identify defects during normal operation are preferred over those that require downtime. Less invasive is preferred to more invasive. This is one of the fundamental concepts of any well-defined maintenance strategy. It is a bit ironic that RCM prefers inspections during operations (the use of Condition Monitoring techniques) and it is this category that most faithful RCM facilitators have traditionally overlooked or misunderstood.

Example: It is not uncommon for an RCM facilitation to result in Vibration Analysis or Ultrasonic Analysis as the primary strategy for determining an inadequate lubrication fault on a rolling element bearing. Some of these same RCM analyses have resulted in all lubrication tasks being replaced by “on-condition lubrication”. This is incorrect. While it is true that either of these two technologies can easily detect high frequency noise coming from an inadequately lubricated rolling element bearing, using either of these technologies to alert you to when a bearing needs lubricating is damaging to the bearing, and therefore, an incorrect strategy. The high frequency noise comes from metal to metal contact as a result of an insufficient lube film, therefore when you hear the noise, metal to metal contact is already happening and irreparable damage has already occurred. The point of a lubrication strategy is to prevent this metal-to-metal contact from ever occurring. The correct strategy is to lube the bearings on a time-based interval with a properly designed and formatted procedure by a trained and qualified lubrication technician.

By Andy Page, CMRPGP Allied

Sedikit tentang Transfer

Bismillaahirrahmaanirraahiim.

Alhamdulillah akhirnya saya bisa menulis blog lagi setelah sejak bulan Maret 08 vacuum.

Saat ini posisi Rotating Equipment Engineer sedang laris manis, seiring dengan meningkatnya harga minyak dunia. Dengan tingginya harga minyak itu memacu negara produsen minyak untuk memproduksi minyak dan gas semaksimal-maksimalnya.

Ada produsen yang reservoirnya masih berproduksi dengan mantapnya karena masih tinggi kandungan reservoirnya sehingga pressurenya masih tinggi. Namun ada pula produsen yang reservoirnya berproduksi dengan megap-megap karena reservoirnya sudah tua, ”mature” kalau kata istilah keren eufimismenya.

Dua-duanya memerlukan rotating equipment yang prima. Produsen yang mantap tadi tidak ingin kehilangan opportunity menghasilkan minyak dan gas sebanyak-banyaknya sedangkan produsen yang mature tadi tidak ingin target produksinya gagal tercapai gara-gara sumur-sumurnya yang sudah tua mati akibat compressor mati di tengah jalan.

Rotating Engineer yang sedang mencari opportunity di tengah hiruk-pikuknya “transfer pemain” harus mempersiapkan diri luar dalam. “Dalam” maksudnya adalah skill, experience, dan knowledgenya. Sedangkan “luar” adalah ia harus mengetahui lika-liku perusahaan yang ditaksirnya. Mulai dari prospek produksinya, environment kerjanya, job description yang ditawarkan, lokasi kerja, budaya kerjanya, salary and benefit, serta dampaknya terhadap keluarga.

Perusahaan-perusahaan besar biasanya memberi tanggungjawab kerja yang spesifik, misalnya cuma mengurus turbin gas maintenance saja dari segi teknis. Namun untuk perusahaan medium atau small size akan memberi tanggung jawab dari a sampai z. Jadi misalnya akan ada overhaul turbin gas, maka sang rotating engineer akan mengurus mulai dari kontraknya dengan vendor, transportasi dari site ke shop vendor sampai ke site lagi, installation, sertifikasi crane, jumlah man power, dlsb. Ini semua dirangkum dalam spec pack. Jadi, ia bertindak sebagai project manager. Ini bagus untuk rotating engineer yang ingin belajar secara general operasional. Namun, untuk Rot Eng yang sudah berpengalaman ia akan lebih memilih yang spesifik saja, di perusahaan yang besar jadinya.

Penting bagi kita untuk selalu mereposisi diri, memiliki networking yang banyak, dan membentuk brand image yang baik tentang diri kita. Ini dilakukan dengan terus mengasah profesionalisme diri dan ringan tangan membantu siapa saja. Tidak ada jaminan seseorang itu akan tetap nomor 1. Hidup ini dinamis.

Jadi targetnya adalah: employer yang mencari kita, bukan kita yang apply untuk suatu posisi job.

Semoga bermanfaat.

Kritik dan komentar serta masukan terima kasih banyak.

Wasalam
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