Optimizing Equipment Availability

Introduction

This course is designed to teach the skills of availability engineering as detailed in the Facilities Maintenance Management Competency Map. As an intermediate-level course, we will use root cause failure analysis, statistical analysis, and software to identify ways to optimize asset availability to meet business goals. Process equipment examples, case studies, and exercises will be used to demonstrate the techniques. Participants will be asked to prepare and present an action plan for applying the methods learned to their everyday work upon returning to their own facility.

Objectives

By the end of this course participants will learn:

• To recognize the three types of availability
• To establish methods for improving the three types of availability
• How to apply root cause failure analysis and problem-solving
• To improve availability through maintenance, operations, and engineering actions
• To analyze current availability
• How to project future levels of availability
• How to optimize availability to meet the profit, safety, operational, and environmental goals of the business

Target Audience

Maintenance, engineering, and operations personnel involved in improving the performance of process equipment and systems

Participants should have foundation skills in statistical analysis, reliability techniques for equipment, and maintenance planning and work control.

Reliability Engineering Outline

The course covers the following topics:

• Types of availability
• Factors that impact the availability
• Availability improvement methods
• Availability prediction
• Types of availability: inherent, achievable, operational
• Factors that impact availability: equipment design, equipment installation, operating methods, maintenance methods
• Availability improvement methods
• Predicting availability: Weibull analysis, reliability block diagrams, availability modeling