Page 36 - Machinery Component Maintenance

Muintmunw Organization and Control for Multi-Plant Corporutions 2 I

Maintenance work order planning and scheduling continues to be a
largely manual set of procedures throughout the hydrocarbon processing
industry. There are, however, several systems which support daily work
planning and scheduling. One such system is a skills inventory file that
provides daily information on available personnel for use in manual plan-
ning and scheduling of maintenance work. Another is the computer-
based file containing standard maintenance procedures that can be re-
trieved for preparation of work orders and in estimating manpower time
requirements.
Additionally, other maintenance-related systems, such as preventive-
maintenance systems and inspection-support systenls, may generate
work orders for inclusion in daily maintenance schedules. Work order
planning and scheduling also is supported by materials and parts inven-
tory systems.
The actual computer-based scheduling of daily maintenance manpower
resources, however, has remained an elusive goal. Recent systems work
has aimed at scheduling shop work where forecasting work requirements
is casier than forecasting field work.

Incentives for Computer Systems
The primary incentive for design and implementation of maintenance-
related support systems is the potential for reducing maintenance-related
costs. The cost of keeping hydrocarbon processing plants running has
been on the rise for many years and only during the economic downturn
of the 1982-83 period did it see a small decline. Maintenance costs as a
percentage of estimated replacement value are reflected in Table 2- 1.
These figures were taken from reports filed annually with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.

Justification of Systems
Although process industry companies generally agree that mainte-
nance-support systems are a viable means of reducing maintenance costs.
there is no general agreement on the size of benefits available or the
source of these benefits.
For this reason, there are probably as many ways to justify computer
installation as there are computer applications:

I . Reduced clerical effort.
2. Improved utilization of maintenance work force.
3. Improved equipment reliability.
4. Reduced inventory costs.