Workshop: Mechanical Integrity (US)

A “Free” Workshop Invitation to Discuss:
Mechanical Integrity 

Part of the Operational Risk Management Strategy

When:
September 20, 2011
8:00AM – 11AM CT (The Hotel Intercontinental, Galleria)
2222 West Loop South, Houston, Texas 77027
(713) 627-7600

Workshop Overview:
Mechanical Integrity (MI) is a series of management systems designed to assure that an asset is designed, operated and maintained per good engineering practices, applicable codes, standards, specifications, and manufacturers' recommendations. This is generally accomplished by developing and implementing written procedures that address the design, maintenance and testing / inspection protocol for a specific asset (e.g. piping, equipment, instrument, etc). What is often overlooked in traditional MI program development is influence and potential sabotage from other external management systems. A common example is procurement operating in isolation from a facility MI program. This can lead to pricing being the primary driver for purchases, even when past experience with a vendor or product has proven inadequate. Another phenomena is poor communication between plants/facilities within the same company where hazards / best practices are only utilized at place of discovery or underutilized. MI should be horizontally integrated with all relevant external management systems. Otherwise, these external systems will routinely circumvent the MI program. A comprehensive Management of Change (MOC) program should be the conduit to assimilate all these management systems. A proper program usually begins with setting a foundation for equipment and personnel changes. It is critical that change be well defined and provide examples. You can either start with Quality Assurance or Inspection, Testing and Preventive Maintenance (ITPM). Depending on your cultural maturity with MI, you may want to start with ITPM, while creating a critical equipment list. Instruments are a special category of equipment that require engineered safeguards that can give you near-real time information as to the adequacy of layers of protection. Once you establish an MI program, auditing is a key aspect to checking the health of your management system and cultural acceptance. Integration of MI with loss prevention is key to conduct root cause analyses and determine failure modes; and is an effective administrative control in reducing incidents or extended outages on equipment. In order to successfully implement MI, automation is necessary including software that can communicate well with existing databases (e.g. Maximo, SAP PM). Some common oversights in automating MI include only focusing on functional location and equipment. Current thinking suggests that component level information is needed (i.e. Repeat Bad Actors, Non-OEM contributions to reliability issues). Ensuring that business processes and procedures stay up to date as you mature your MI philosophy is critical in making advancements. One sign of a mature MI program is the ability to eliminate stock outs and reduce vendor delivery issues. In addition, you can move from leading and lagging to diagnostic information.

Key Workshop Focus/Agenda:  
• Best Practices in designing MI processes, policies & procedures Effective auditing of MI management systems
• Key business processes and systems to integrate with MI
• Retooling to obtain an integrated MI software solution framework
• Effective auditing of MI management systems
• How to leverage an effective MOC process to augment MI
• Key metrics and performance management considerations

If You Have Questions, Please Contact:
Operational Sustainability will provide continental breakfast for attendees. For questions, please email info@ossuite.com or call (713) 355-2900.

Click here to register if interested.