Page 396 - Improving Machinery Reliability

360 Improving Machinery Reliability

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Vendor Assistance and Outside Facilities

Duties of a machinery startup team include the determination of how many vendor
representatives should assist in sharing machinery preparation tasks. Not only their
number but also their respective experience levels and even names should be identi-
fied for a given location.
Vendor assistance is required in cases where potential warranty disputes might
arise, or where the owner’s personnel simply don’t have the expertise to supervise
the construction contractor. Vendor personnel could be given such additional assign-
ments as spare parts review and millwright training.
The examination and definition of potential outside facilities is a typical contingency
step. These facilities may have to be relied on for rotor balancing, emergency repairs,
or just plain routine work which cannot be reliably handled by the owner’s or contrac-
tor’s work forces. The dismantling, cleaning, and adjusting of mechanical or mechani-
cal-hydraulic governors is a typical example. A company specializing in this work may
be interested in cataloging all governors installed at the facility about to be started up.
Similarly, companies with expertise in shaft, bearing, labyrinth, or impeller manufac-
turing may want to perform cataloging and spare parts dimensional sketching services
at no cost to the owner. In any event, their particular expertise needs to be identified
just like that of the nearest repair facility which could rapidly handle critically impor-
tant restoration of major machinery involved in a disastrous failure incident.

Consultants and Contract Assistance
The best insurance against unexpected machinery problems lies in adequate pre-
delivery audits and reliability reviews. This insurance is closely followed by diligent
installation supervision and completeness reviews during the time of field installa-
tion. Finally, the commissioning instructions should be developed in cooperation
with the owner’s startup engineer or should, as a minimum, be submitted for his
detailed review.
Ideally, then, the owner will draw on the expertise of his own senior professional
personnel every step of the way. Unfortunately, these professionals are hardly ever
available for the duration of a project, i.e. from its initial planning until the comple-
tion of the startup phase. Also, it would be rather presumptuous to assume that the
owner’s technical staff are thoroughly versed in all conceivable matters begging
expeditious resolution during a major startup. Think, for instance, of difficulties with
sophisticated shutdown logic, electronic governors, high-speed gearing and bearings,
etc. Problems in any of these areas may be handled best by interfacing with capable
consultants whose availability has been ascertained beforehand.
Contract assistance may also prove helpful in machinery startup situations. Often-
times, a plant can draw on the experience of capable retirees whose background may
allow them to serve as instructors, training coordinators, machinery repair supervi-
sors, outside shop inspectors, or expeditors.