Reviewing, Planning and Auditing - Report Example

Introduction Engineering systems are composed of a myriad of components, and various processes are always ongoing during day to day operation. The components used in these engineering systems are often high value, and their breakdown or failure would result in wanton losses incurred by the parent company. This necessitates the need for proper management of these components, commonly referred to as assets, so at to maintain the integrity of the engineering system. Engineering Asset Management (EAM) refers to the systematic and coordinated activities and practises through which an organization optimally manages its assets, and their associated performance, expenditures and risks over the expected lifetime the system plays a part in achieving the organization’s strategic plan [BSI04]. EAM has emerged as an inter-disciplinary field that considers the technical issues of asset reliability, safety, performance, as well as financial and management requirements. Maintenance is an integral part of any engineering system, and is necessary to ensure the system operates at its optimum level. [Tom05] notes that maintenance takes up a significant percentage of operating costs, forcing senior management to focus their attention on this activity, with an aim of increasing the profits accrued by the company. Over the last three decades, there have been developments in engineering maintenance that have tried to cut the costs incurred brought about by external influences, such as computerization, equipment design, degree of acceptance of risks and failures, among others [Hod06]. One of the methods that have been put forward to try and minimize maintenance costs, and concurrently, operation costs is the Preventive Maintenance (PM) Program. The Preventive Maintenance Program is a program where the maintenance is carried out regularly on a piece of equipment (asset), to lessen the likelihood of it failing. The PM program is carried out during the operational period of the asset, to prevent unexpected breakdowns that could compromise the engineering system’s ability to perform its functions, in turn affecting the company’s business, or in some cases, placing personnel and the public to sudden dangers and hazards. The PM program can be scheduled to be performed either [Fii16];- (i) Periodically The maintenance is carried out after the elapse of a specific time period, or when another crucial parameter reaches a pre-determined limit. An example of periodic maintenance based on time is the maintenance of an air conditioner, which is carried out once a year at the beginning of summer. An example of maintenance based on another parameter would be an automobile that is scheduled to be taken for a maintenance check-up after a covering a specific mileage, such as 10,000 km. (ii) Event triggered This maintenance is carried out when the system experiences some erratic unexpected breakdowns that cannot be scheduled periodically. This necessitates identifying an event that occurs before the eventual failure occurs. This is a viable option since most engineering systems don’t just fail completely at once, but rather fail over a sequence of events. This paper will focus on the application of the Preventive Maintenance Program to oil and natural gas pipeline systems. Oil and Natural Gas Pipeline Systems Background Information Pipeline systems ferrying oil and natural gas are paramount to the process industry, and their operation goes largely unperturbed until all out failure occurs. The failure of piping systems can be categorised as follows [Tec15];- Pipeline corrosion and wear – this type of failure typically results in small leaks, which largely go undetected and develop into larger cracks, causing outright failure Operation outside design limits – this occurs when the flow rate in the pipeline exceeds the design parameters Unintentional third party damage – this failure occurs when the pipeline intersects with other infrastructure or excavation projects, and the third party does not accurately identify the location of the buried pipeline Intentional damage – this occurs when there is malicious attempt to access the contents on the pipeline The last three are considered catastrophic failures and will be attended to immediately. However, the pipeline corrosion often goes unnoticed. Framework for oil and natural gas pipelines asset management The management of pipeline system is primarily concerned with the integrity of the pipeline itself, and its associated components. The performance of the system focuses on the ability to transport a specific flow rate of the natural gas or oil, which is more of a technical issue than is a management issue with regard to ensuring the integrity of the pipeline system. Nonetheless, it can be argued that the business performance will be determined by the decisions and actions taken to maintain the system integrity. [Usm12] define ‘system integrity management’ as a suite of activities required to properly manage pipeline system assets with an aim of delivering greater safety by minimizing risk of failures, longer asset life, higher productivity, low integrity-related operating costs, increased asset availability from improved reliability, and compliance to the relevant regulations. Pipeline asset management particularly highlights on integrity, risk, safety, environmental impact and change management. Any changes to the asset, its support activities, or the changes in environment of the pipeline play a significant role on its integrity. As such, the assurance for integrity is generally achieved by the management and control of both internal and external changes to the organization and the pipeline. The maintenance of asset integrity is dependent on decisions carried out in all levels of management, namely strategic, aggregated, and operational levels. Figure 1: Oil and natural gas pipeline EAM system activities[ElA16] The adequacy of the decisions and activities taken to maintain pipeline integrity can be determined by whether the objectives are achieved. However, to confirm the achievement of most of these objectives requires a long lifespan of data collection, usually 100 years, necessitating the need to identify alternative approaches to check the adequacy of the activities. Review of preventive maintenance asset management in oil and natural gas pipelines Review methodology The methodology that will be adopted will cover various case studies, and be conducted by reviewing specific actions through interviews with the managers involved, and the analysis of relevant documentations. The study will focus on the organizational records concerning coating deterioration and external corrosion for maintaining pipeline integrity, in addition to a survey questionnaire. The framework shown in Fig 1 above will be used to guide the exploration of the pipeline management systems in place by verifying the existence of the asset management system activities proposed. This will involve checking the required management activities, relationships, decision mechanisms and procedures in relation to pipeline lifecycle activities. The objective of the study will be to gain an appreciation of the status of the existing asset management system for maintaining the integrity of the pipeline system in an organization. The framework will also be used to develop a list of interview questions, as part of the review process, which will allow us to gain a deep understanding of the nature and quality of coating deterioration and external corrosion in the pipeline system. The interview questions will be posed to representatives of various organizations in the pipeline industry, and supplemented with data collected from their websites or documents provided. To gain a global perspective of the asset management in the industry, a comprehensive list of questions will be submitted to a list of relevant companies. The data and information collected will be analysed in relation to those elements presented in the framework, with relevant conclusions drawn from these findings. Audit checklist template The development of the template should take into consideration all aspects of the pipeline system across all three levels of management, in order to come up with the appropriate actions and decisions that best ensure the integrity of the system. This template will then be used to advise future decision-making in the company, or for the entire industry in general. The flow chart for engineering asset management is as shown below;- Figure 2: Flow chart for engineering asset management [IoP06] The same flow chart will be applied for PM asset management, with the corporate objectives, decisions, and improvement plans customized towards preventive asset management. The template that will be used to gather the information is as shown below;- Table 1: Audit checklist template Key Performance Criteria Performance Measure Performance Target Performance Measure Process Current Performance Legislative compliance Degree to which the pipeline system complies with the relevant legislations, regulations and standards 100 % compliance Monitor compliance through annual audits and inspection programs Safety Level of safety of the staff, users and the system as a whole All significant hazards reported Categorize all safety hazards correctly based on risk level Audit of safety report and hazard register Monitor tracking and response through online system, and monthly OHS meetings Accessibility Percentage of the pipeline system that is accessible to the authority at all times 100% compliance for the whole system Periodic inspection of the area where the pipeline system is located Condition Percentage of the pipeline system assessed as good condition for purpose 90 % compliance Audit of inspection data Inspection Extent of pipeline system inspected annually to assess condition and service performance Major components inspected every 3 – 6 months Minor components inspected every 9 – 12 months Audit/ Inspection properties of the system Serviceability Percentage of the system components inspected, cleaned and maintained in accordance with the preventative maintenance plan 95 % compliance Event triggered audit of the pipeline system Responsiveness Provision of 24 hour, 7 day service for emergency repairs Percentage of service requests and system failure responses dealt within target response time 100 % availability 90% meet response targets to mitigate risks Monitor availability of operations staff and equipment Monthly report from service report system to check compliance with targets The current performance column of the template will be filled with the observed compliance for each organization. References BSI04: , (BSI, 2004), Tom05: , (Tomlingson, 2005), Hod06: , (Hodkiewicz & Pascual, 2006), Fii16: , (Fiix, 2016), Tec15: , (Technology Transfer Services, 2015), Usm12: , (Usman & Ngene, 2012), ElA16: , (El-Akruti, et al., 2016), IoP06: , (IoPWE, 2006), Read More

Pipeline asset management particularly highlights on integrity, risk, safety, environmental impact and change management. Any changes to the asset, its support activities, or the changes in environment of the pipeline play a significant role on its integrity. As such, the assurance for integrity is generally achieved by the management and control of both internal and external changes to the organization and the pipeline. The maintenance of asset integrity is dependent on decisions carried out in all levels of management, namely strategic, aggregated, and operational levels.

Figure 1: Oil and natural gas pipeline EAM system activities[ElA16] The adequacy of the decisions and activities taken to maintain pipeline integrity can be determined by whether the objectives are achieved. However, to confirm the achievement of most of these objectives requires a long lifespan of data collection, usually 100 years, necessitating the need to identify alternative approaches to check the adequacy of the activities. Review of preventive maintenance asset management in oil and natural gas pipelines Review methodology The methodology that will be adopted will cover various case studies, and be conducted by reviewing specific actions through interviews with the managers involved, and the analysis of relevant documentations.

The study will focus on the organizational records concerning coating deterioration and external corrosion for maintaining pipeline integrity, in addition to a survey questionnaire. The framework shown in Fig 1 above will be used to guide the exploration of the pipeline management systems in place by verifying the existence of the asset management system activities proposed. This will involve checking the required management activities, relationships, decision mechanisms and procedures in relation to pipeline lifecycle activities.

The objective of the study will be to gain an appreciation of the status of the existing asset management system for maintaining the integrity of the pipeline system in an organization. The framework will also be used to develop a list of interview questions, as part of the review process, which will allow us to gain a deep understanding of the nature and quality of coating deterioration and external corrosion in the pipeline system. The interview questions will be posed to representatives of various organizations in the pipeline industry, and supplemented with data collected from their websites or documents provided.

To gain a global perspective of the asset management in the industry, a comprehensive list of questions will be submitted to a list of relevant companies. The data and information collected will be analysed in relation to those elements presented in the framework, with relevant conclusions drawn from these findings. Audit checklist template The development of the template should take into consideration all aspects of the pipeline system across all three levels of management, in order to come up with the appropriate actions and decisions that best ensure the integrity of the system.

This template will then be used to advise future decision-making in the company, or for the entire industry in general. The flow chart for engineering asset management is as shown below;- Figure 2: Flow chart for engineering asset management [IoP06] The same flow chart will be applied for PM asset management, with the corporate objectives, decisions, and improvement plans customized towards preventive asset management. The template that will be used to gather the information is as shown below;- Table 1: Audit checklist template Key Performance Criteria Performance Measure Performance Target Performance Measure Process Current Performance Legislative compliance Degree to which the pipeline system complies with the relevant legislations, regulations and standards 100 % compliance Monitor compliance through annual audits and inspection programs Safety Level of safety of the staff, users and the system as a whole All significant hazards reported Categorize all safety hazards correctly based on risk level Audit of safety report and hazard register Monitor tracking and response through online system, and monthly OHS meetings Accessibility Percentage of the pipeline system that is accessible to the authority at all times 100% compliance for the whole system Periodic inspection of the area where the pipeline system is located Condition Percentage of the pipeline system assessed as good condition for purpose 90 % compliance Audit of inspection data Inspection Extent of pipeline system inspected annually to assess condition and service performance Major components inspected every 3 – 6 months Minor components inspected every 9 – 12 months Audit/ Inspection properties of the system Serviceability Percentage of the system components inspected, cleaned and maintained in accordance with the preventative maintenance plan 95 % compliance Event triggered audit of the pipeline system Responsiveness Provision of 24 hour, 7 day service for emergency repairs Percentage of service requests and system failure responses dealt within target response time 100 % availability 90% meet response targets to mitigate risks Monitor availability of operations staff and equipment Monthly report from service report system to check compliance with targets The current performance column of the template will be filled with the observed compliance for each organization.

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