Case Study: Reliability Journey
From Reactive to Proactive Asset Health Management
US Chemical Company
Industry | Chemical Processing
- Optimized maintenance practices
- Improved reliability cost
- Increased machinery output
- Highlighted impacts on environment, production, financials, and safety
Business Challenge
A US Chemical Company manufactures high-quality chemical products (including acrylonitrile, melamine, sulfuric acid, and urea) for worldwide distribution. One of their facilities experienced decreased output of a CO2 compressor, requiring immediate diagnosis and remediation of this particular “bad actor.” Overall equipment reliability issues needed attention, as well, to optimize the entire manufacturing process.
Allied Reliability Solution
Allied experts took the client on a two-year Reliability Journey—a unique step-by-step methodology designed to transform a company’s existing regressive mindset to a more proactive approach. In this case, the focus was on improving the health and maintenance of rotating equipment. The Root Cause Analysis (RCA) process is critical to the success of this journey to identify future triggers and avoid repeat failures. Project governance and change management are also essential to ensure that new methods are followed, and cultural changes are accepted across the organization.
Business Impact
In addition to discovering the root cause of failing equipment, an in-depth reliability assessment revealed organizational inconsistencies, knowledge gaps, unplanned downtime, unclear roles, and responsibilities, etc. Allied helped the client design a comprehensive Maintenance plan for all rotating equipment, including asset health monitoring, a Bad Actors program, Governance and Change Management practices, Precision Skills training, and Action Item Review meetings (with 91% of items completed to date). The Bad Actors program alone saved the company approximately USD 3.1M.
Additional steps along the Reliability Journey continue to protect the company’s valuable rotating equipment assets:
- Criticality ranking with equipment hierarchy
- Master data management
- Risk assessment and mitigation
Watch the Reliability Journey on-demand webinar.
Predictive Maintenance Solutions
Companies that implement predictive maintenance (PdM) programs reduce maintenance costs effectively and decrease up to 30% of their preventive maintenance (PM) tasks.