Equipment Reliability Optimization

The Problem

The client, a large original equipment manufacturer needed to develop a predictive tool for forecasting outage planning (cost and schedule). Poor outage planning was having a significant negative impact on customers. The client also lacked the capability of optimizing parts inventory and pro-actively developing maintenance kits that could be pre-sold.

The Solution

The solution was to develop and implement a database that contains operating and performance data on a statistically significant percentage of the Operating Fleet (> 10,000 units). This information includes operating history (fired hours / fired starts) and maintenance data for both planned and unplanned maintenance. It includes outage root cause, work scope, effort, outage length, etc. The longer range strategic impact will be to be able to analyze the data and develop upgrade kits / preventive maintenance kits and use this as a sales tool for customers with the same equipment configuration that haven’t experienced the Event.

The Method

The data is analyzed internally to identify availability, reliability and forced outages. This data is used to determine the potential impact of failures across the entire operating fleet and determine if warranty and inspection criteria should be changed. An application was developed that allows side by side comparison of data from different sources to ensure validity. The application allows for the analysis of both operating data as well as failure data. The data is compared to unit configurations and analysis is done both by event and configuration. Data is analyzed based on model, age, fuel type and maintenance history. Potential field upgrades are determined based on configuration analysis.

The Value

The client was able to extend the unit planned outage cycle by 12%. The parts inventory for outages was reduced by 30%. Maintenance / upgrade kits were developed that increased revenue by more than $200 Million Dollars in a three year period.