Development of maintenance function performance measurement framework and indicators

Guidelines on Asset Management of Offshore Facilities for Monitoring, Sustainable Maintenance, and Safety Practices

Recent activities in the oil and gas industry have shown an increasing need for monitoring engagements, such as in shipping, logistics, exploration, drilling, or production. Hence, there is a need to have asset management of these offshore assets (or facilities). Much of the offshore infrastructure is currently approaching or past its operational life expectancy. The study presents an overview on asset management of offshore facilities towards monitoring, safe practices, maintenance, and sustainability. This study outlines the major considerations and the steps to take when evaluating asset life extensions for an aging offshore structure (or asset). The design and construction of offshore structures require some materials that are used to make the structural units, such as offshore platform rigs, ships, and boats. Maintaining existing assets in the field and developing new platforms that are capable of extracting future oil and gas resources are the two key issues facing the offshore sector. This paper also discusses fault diagnosis using sensors in the offshore facilities. The ocean environment is constantly corrosive, and the production activities demand extremely high levels of safety and reliability. Due to the limited space and remote location of most offshore operations, producing cost-effective, efficient, and long-lasting equipment necessitates a high level of competence. This paper presents the guidelines on asset monitoring, sustainable maintenance, and safety practices for offshore structures. In this study, the management of offshore structures were also presented with some discussions on fault monitoring using sensors. It also proposes sustainable asset management approaches as guidelines that are advised, with policy implications.

Improving periodic maintenance performance: a grouping and heuristic approach

Purpose

This paper proposes a heuristic, data-driven approach to the rapid performance evaluation of periodic maintenance on complex production plants. Through grouping, maintenance interval (MI)-based evaluation and performance assessment, potential nonvalue-adding maintenance elements can be identified in the current maintenance structure. The framework reduces management complexity and supports the decision-making process for further maintenance improvement.

Design/methodology/approach

The evaluation framework follows a prescriptive research approach. The framework is structured in three steps, which are further illustrated in the case study. The case study utilizes real-life data to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed framework.

Findings

Through a case study conducted on 9,538 pieces of equipment from eight offshore oil and gas production platforms, the results show considerable potential for maintenance performance improvement, including up to a 23% reduction in periodic maintenance hours.

Research limitations/implications

The problem of performance evaluation under limited data availability has barely been addressed in the literature on the plant level. The proposed framework aims to provide a quantitative approach to reducing the structural complexity of the periodic maintenance evaluation process and can help maintenance professionals prioritize the focus on maintenance improvement among current strategies.

Originality/value

The proposed framework is especially suitable for initial performance assessment in systems with a complex structure, limited maintenance records and imperfect data, as it reduces management complexity and supports the decision-making process for further maintenance improvement. A similar application has not been identified in the literature.

Incorporating Sustainability and Maintenance for Performance Assessment of Offshore Oil and Gas Platforms: A Perspective

The existence of external two-fold pressure regarding competitiveness and sustainable development in a capital-intensive industry supports the need for sustainable performance. However, endeavors to create a sustainable framework to measure the performance of the oil and gas (O&G) industry are mostly devoted to the production and supply chain of petrochemical products and rarely focus on a maintenance perspective. Motivated by such scarcity, the goal of this research was to discuss and articulate the performance assessment framework by integrating concepts of maintenance and sustainability in the O&G industry. This study proposed the use of a range of performance measures for assessing sustainability on offshore production and drilling platforms. The conceptual framework consists of four aspects of sustainability categorized into technical, environmental, social, and economic dimensions. Each measure was assigned according to its relevance at the strategic, tactical, and functional levels of maintenance decision making. The conceptual framework resulted in hierarchical clusters of twelve strategic indicators. These indicators consist of conventional measures as well as new ones relating to the safety and reliability on offshore platforms. The potential contribution of the present study is found in its intention to empower a better understanding of sustainable maintenance and encourage those making decisions about practical implementation within the O&G industry. This paper culminates with directions for future studies.

A practical framework for performance measurement of facilities management services in developing countries’ public hospitals

Purpose

Facilities management (FM) plays a vital role toward creating the hospitable environment that supports the core clinical business of rendering quality health care. To ensure optimal performance of FM, public hospitals require a performance measurement (PM) framework that could guide and assist facilities managers in their operations. This paper aims to respond to this need by developing a performance measurement framework useful to improve FM performance within the context of developing countries hospital FM services delivery.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper synthesizes knowledge from a comprehensive review of FM performance measurement literature and the results of an earlier PhD research on FM performance measurement in Ghana’s public hospitals.

Findings

The paper presents a simplified performance measurement framework which demonstrates four key performance measurement tasks: establishing performance goals; measuring the FM service delivery; evaluating FM outcomes; and performance review and reporting. The study suggests the establishment of a central coordination point to enhance performance measurement activities of public hospitals’ FM practices.

Research limitations/implications

Although reference is made to research on key performance indicators (KPIs), future study is recommended to develop appropriate methodology for selecting relevant KPIs. The author also intends to pilot the framework to a health facility in Ghana to leverage its usefulness, given the fact that it has not been tested empirically.

Practical implications

The application of the framework is expected to lead to the identification of performance gaps and weakness which when acted upon could lead to operational effectiveness and efficiency of the FM process, ultimately leading to improved FM performance.

Originality/value

The paper develops a novel performance measurement framework useful within the context of the nascent FM industry in the developing world.

Impact of Remediation-Based Maintenance on the Reliability of a Coal-Fired Power Plant Using Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets

Rapid changes in electricity power markets have increased the production costs of coal-fired power plants and pushed their production to the limits of profitability. For power plants currently in operation, a possible approach to cope with this issue is to introduce novel methods that increase the plant’s reliability and availability. Coal mills are a subsystem that should ensure a plant’s availability without unexpected breakdowns. Remediation-based maintenance is defined as a set of actions performed after fault detection that do not require instant shutdown due to safety reasons. The aim of this paper was to provide a scientific confirmation that by implementing a novel remediation-based maintenance strategy, electricity production breakdowns can be significantly reduced. First, the performance of the proposed maintenance method was proved in simulation where coal mills were modeled by generalized stochastic Petri nets. The maintenance strategy was then experimentally verified in a 220 MW coal-fired power plant located in Croatia, where the plant’s availability, reliability and efficiency were increased.

Disruptive Maintenance Engineering 4.0

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a new disruptive maintenance model based on new technologies.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach is carrying out through the impact of the Industry 4.0, Internet of things, big data, virtual reality and additive manufacturing on maintenance.

Findings

The findings are that new technologies are an evolutionary challenge that is immediately affecting maintenance engineering. It presents a unique opportunity to make a disruptive evolution of maintenance.

Research limitations/implications

The correct development of Maintenance 4.0 relates to the correct implementation of Industry 4.0.

Practical implications

Maintenance 4.0 will greatly improve the main operating indicators: safety, reliability, availability and cost.

Social implications

Maintenance 4.0 will contribute to a circular and sustainable economy.

Originality/value

For the first time, a complete new Maintenance Engineering 4.0 model is proposed. The application of the new technologies appears in each specific maintenance process of the product life cycle.

Performance indicators for measuring the effects of Smart Maintenance

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to ensure productive, robust and sustainable production systems and realise digitalised manufacturing trough implementation of Smart Maintenance – “an organizational design for managing maintenance of manufacturing plants in environments with pervasive digital technologies”. This paper aims to support industry practitioners in selecting performance indicators (PIs) to measure the effects of Smart Maintenance, and thus facilitate its implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

Intercoder reliability and negotiated agreement were used to analyse 170 maintenance PIs. The PIs were structurally categorised according to the anticipated effects of Smart Maintenance.

Findings

Companies need to revise their set of PIs when changing manufacturing and/or maintenance strategy (e.g. reshape the maintenance organisation towards Smart Maintenance). This paper suggests 13 categories of PIs to facilitate the selection of PIs for Smart Maintenance. The categories are based on 170 PIs, which were analysed according to the anticipated effects of Smart Maintenance.

Practical implications

The 13 suggested categories bring clarity to the measuring potential of the PIs and their relation to the Smart Maintenance concept. Thereby, this paper serves as a guide for industry practitioners to select PIs for measuring the effects of Smart Maintenance.

Originality/value

This is the first study evaluating how maintenance PIs measure the anticipated effects of maintenance in digitalised manufacturing. The methods intercoder reliability and negotiated agreement were used to ensure the trustworthiness of the categorisation of PIs. Such methods are rare in maintenance research.

Evaluation and improvement of maintenance management performance using a maturity model

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new maturity model to identify the current state of maintenance area of organizations and drives actions to increase efficiency and effectiveness toward the concept known as world-class.

Design/methodology/approach

The model was developed based on an extensive literature review on maintenance management and maturity assessment, which allowed identifying the relevant factors in maintenance management and the world-class behaviors for each factor. The progressive maturity levels for each of the identified ten factors form the model. To test its effectiveness, it was applied to the maintenance area of three companies.

Findings

The model application showed that, in addition to being a self-assessment tool, it provides knowledge, to those who use it, on behaviors or practices that enable world-class results. For each factor, potential gaps and the desired state were defined focusing on behaviors rather than on indicators values or adopted methodologies, which facilitates the identification of improvement actions that lead to better performance.

Research limitations/implications

Through its use, maturity levels can be identified for all considered maintenance management factors, however, the overall maturity of the maintenance area is not determined. Although this overall evaluation can be done assigning a weight to each factor, it was not considered an added value for the set purpose.

Originality/value

The proposed maturity model contributes to the understanding of the maintenance management process and how to stand out nowadays in an area that has an increasingly important impact on productivity and quality.

Maintenance Practices in Poor Uptime of Operating Equipment Toward Dynamic of Business Issues

Nothing lasts forever and all the equipment in a plant has associated with it some predefined life expectancy or operational life. Maintenance practices are the works of keeping the equipment of the plant in good condition for operation. However, the equipment that does not receive adequate maintenance tends to deviate from optimal performance. This can lead to non-control of degraded processes and product volatility, affecting in turn the dynamics of many business issues in industrial organizations. Given the importance of the foregoing, the current study tried to investigate the role of the set of maintenance practices in the poor uptime of operating equipment toward the dynamics of business issues in industrial companies. To achieve this end, the study was performed by conducting a questionnaire survey within the firms of the Kurdistan region of Iraq that have at least 100 employees. The results of the study revealed that improper maintenance practices play a great role in the poor uptime of operating equipment toward the negative dynamic of many business issues such as low customer satisfaction due to production schedules absent from customer shipment commitments, increased safety risks quantitatively and the high cost health losses, especially with the occurrence of major malfunction in operating equipment.

Innovative airport 4.0 condition-based maintenance system for baggage handling DCV systems

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a recent study conducted with the objective of addressing the problem of failure of baggage carts in the high-speed baggage tunnel at Heathrow Terminal 5 by the development of an innovative condition-based maintenance (CBM) system designed to meet the requirements of 21st century airport systems and Industry 4.0.

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical experimental approach to this action research was taken to install a vibration condition monitoring pilot test in the north tunnel at Terminal 5. Vibration data were collected over a 6-month period and analysed to find the threshold of good quality tyres and those with worn bearings that needed replacement. The results were compared with existing measures to demonstrate that vibration monitoring could be used as a predictive model for CBM.

Findings

The findings demonstrated a clear trend of increasing vibration velocity with age and use of the baggage cart wheels caused by wheel mass unbalanced inertia that was transmitted to the tracks as vibration. As a result, preventative maintenance is essential to ensure the smooth running of airport baggage. This research demonstrates that a healthy wheel produces vibration of under 60 mm/s whereas a damaged wheel measures up to 100 mm/s peak to peak velocity and this can be used in real-time condition monitoring to prevent baggage cart failure. It can also run as an autonomous system linked to AI and Industry 4.0 airport logic.

Originality/value

Whilst vibration monitoring has been used to measure movement in static structures such as bridges and used in rotating machinery such as railway wheels (Tondon and Choudhury, 1999); this is unique as it is the first time it has been applied on a stationary structure (tracks) carrying high-speed rotating machinery (baggage cart wheels). This technique has been patented and proven in the pilot study and is in the process of being rolled out to all Heathrow terminal connection tunnels. It has implications for all other airports worldwide and, with new economic sensors, to other applications that rely on moving conveyor belts.

Development of a Model Linking Physical Asset Management to Sustainability Performance: An Empirical Research

This article is aimed at exploring the relationship between physical asset management (PAM) practices and sustainability performance. A framework of interrelated constructs was developed based on the existing literature and consequently tested through empirical study. Survey data were collected from organizations operating in six European countries (i.e., Greece, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Turkey) and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM). The results offer support for the proposed hypotheses, showing that PAM practices positively influence the sustainability performance outcomes, namely economic, environmental, and employee-related social performance. Overall, this study demonstrates that a PAM framework can be conceptualized by four sub-constructs, namely physical asset risk management, physical asset performance assessment, physical asset lifecycle management, and physical asset policy and strategy. Finally, this study brings to light some theoretical and managerial implications as well as directions for future research. The findings of the study underscore PAM areas in which managers should focus on in order to optimize costs, performance, and risk exposures concerning the physical assets, and therefore enhance sustainability performance.

A Reliability-Centered Maintenance Study for an Individual Section-Forming Machine

This study investigated the breakdown trend in an automated production with an aim to recommend the application of reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) for improved productivity via a new preventive maintenance (PM) program. An individual section-forming machine (ISM)—a glass blowing machine for making glass bottles—was used as the case study for an automated production system. The machine parts and the working mechanisms were analysed with a special focus on methods of processes and procedures. This will enable the ISM maintenance department to run more effectively and achieve its essential goal of ensuring effective machine operation and reduction in machine downtime. In this work, information is provided on the steps and procedures to identify critical components of the ISM using failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) as a tool to come up with an optimal and efficient maintenance program using the reliability data of the equipment’s functional components. A relationship between the failure rate of the machine components and the maintenance costs was established such that using the recommended PM program demonstrates evidence of an improvement in the machine’s availability, safety, and cost-effectiveness and will result in an increase in the company’s profit margin.

Performance indicators for facilities operation and maintenance (Part 1)

Purpose

The purpose of this paper (Part 1 of 2) is to classify and map, in a systematic manner and from a facilities management (FM) perspective, the performance indicators that are applicable to evaluating facilities operation and maintenance (O&M) in commercial buildings.

Design/methodology/approach

Forming part of a multi-stage research project, the applicable performance indicators that had been identified from an extensive literature review were consolidated and defined. Based on a phase-hierarchy (P-H) model – a fundamental classification framework comprising three phases of facilities services delivery and three hierarchical FM levels – the indicators were systematically classified, and a map showing their distribution along the phase and hierarchy dimensions was obtained.

Findings

The P-H model enabled systematic classification of the 71 applicable indicators. Mapping the indicators with the model showed that more indicators concern the input or output phase of facilities services delivery. Indicators at the strategic level, which have a wide span of control, are small in quantity, compared to the large number of indicators at the operational level.

Research implications

The P-H model, which proves useful for classifying performance indicators for facilities in commercial buildings, may be applied to similar research on other types of buildings or infrastructures.

Practical implications

The method of classifying the performance indicators and the mapping result of the indicators are useful reference for different levels of FM practitioners.

Originality/value

This paper illustrates a novel attempt that made use of the P-H model to classify O&M performance indicators.

Supply chain performance measures and metrics: a bibliometric study

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on supply chain performance measures and metrics (PMMs). It provides a critical evaluation of 234 articles published in past 24 years.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines the studies published from 1991 to 2014 by adopting the bibliometric technique of citation and co-citation analysis.

Findings

The analysis of the results indicate that the number of articles on supply chain PMMs is increasing at its fastest pace in the past few years. Furthermore, the study identifies some of the most influential articles on performance measurement and metrics. Finally, it concludes that there has been a transition from traditional to more sophisticated performance measurement system.

Research limitations/implications

This study focuses only on supply chain performance measurement and metrics and excludes research on performance management and control. Thus, researchers may explore and extend this area of research.

Originality/value

To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study to review the literature on supply chain PMMs by using citation and co-citation analysis. The study includes 234 articles over the time of 24 years (1991-2014).

Using Field Data for Energy Efficiency Based on Maintenance and Operational Optimisation. A Step towards PHM in Process Plants

Energy saving is an important issue for any industrial sector; in particular, for the process industry, it can help to minimize both energy costs and environmental impact. Maintenance optimization and operational procedures can offer margins to increase energy efficiency in process plants, even if they are seldom explicitly taken into account in the predictive models guiding the energy saving policies. To ensure that the plant achieves the desired performance, maintenance operations and maintenance results should be monitored, and the connection between the inputs and the outcomes of the maintenance process, in terms of total contribution to manufacturing performance, should be explicit. In this study, a model for the energy efficiency analysis was developed, based on cost and benefits balance. It is aimed at supporting the decision making in terms of technical and operational solutions for energy efficiency, through the optimization of maintenance interventions and operational procedures. A case study is here described: the effects on energy efficiency of technical and operational optimization measures for bituminous materials production process equipment. The idea of the Conservation Supply Curve (CSC) was used to capture both the cost effectiveness of the measures and the energy efficiency effectiveness. The optimization was thus based on the energy consumption data registered on-site: data collection and modelling of the relevant data were used as a base to implement a prognostic and health management (PHM) policy in the company. Based on the results from the analysis, efficiency measures for the industrial case study were proposed, also in relation to maintenance optimization and operating procedures. In the end, the impacts of the implementation of energy saving measures on the performance of the system, in terms of technical and economic feasibility, were demonstrated. The results showed that maintenance optimization could help in reaching an energy costs recovery equal to the 10% of the total costs for an electric motor system.

Gaining insights into the measurement of value in industrial service network

Purpose

Nowadays, maintenance companies form networks, where multiple organizations and actors can deliver value to the customers. Current literature does not take into account how the value created by the entire network can be measured. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap by identifying how the value created by the maintenance network as well as the participating individual organization can be measured simultaneously.

Design/methodology/approach

The research has been carried out using the qualitative research approach. The findings of the study are based on literature search as well as research processes carried out in two maintenance service networks.

Findings

The study presents a framework and propositions on how to measure network value in maintenance services. According to the results, the network value can be measured from the following five perspectives: financial capital, i.e., savings or growth; end customer capital such as the end customer satisfaction and recommending customers; network capital, i.e., know-how development and learning; sustainable capital such as business continuity and environmental safety; and relationship capital, such as reputation and new contacts.

Originality/value

Despite the increasing amount of literature on performance measurement in networks, theory is still lacking that reflects the complexity and dynamism when value is delivered to customers through maintenance networks. Significant novelty of the research is based on combining network, service, and value perspectives in performance measurement.

Quantitative performance targets by using balanced scorecard system: application to waste management and public administration

This article demonstrates how decision-makers can be guided in the process of defining performance target values in the balanced scorecard system. We apply a method based on sensitivity analysis with Monte Carlo simulation to the municipal solid waste management system in Loulé Municipality (Portugal). The method includes two steps: sensitivity analysis of performance indicators to identify those performance indicators with the highest impact on the balanced scorecard model outcomes; and sensitivity analysis of the target values for the previously identified performance indicators. Sensitivity analysis shows that four strategic objectives (IPP1: Comply with the national waste strategy; IPP4: Reduce nonrenewable resources and greenhouse gases; IPP5: Optimize the life-cycle of waste; and FP1: Meet and optimize the budget) alone contribute 99.7% of the variability in overall balanced scorecard value. Thus, these strategic objectives had a much stronger impact on the estimated balanced scorecard outcome than did others, with the IPP1 and the IPP4 accounting for over 55% and 22% of the variance in overall balanced scorecard value, respectively. The remaining performance indicators contribute only marginally. In addition, a change in the value of a single indicator's target value made the overall balanced scorecard value change by as much as 18%. This may lead to involuntarily biased decisions by organizations regarding performance target-setting, if not prevented with the help of methods such as that proposed and applied in this study.

Maintenance practices in an economic downturn: the Irish experience-survey results

Purpose

– The purpose of the current original research is to determine the effect that the current period of economic recession has had on maintenance practices in Ireland.

Design/methodology/approach

– A survey, which was aimed exclusively at senior maintenance management level, was designed to assess the impact that this period of recession and subsequent austerity has had across three chosen indicators-technical, personal and economical-from a maintenance perspective.

Findings

– It was determined that maintenance practices in Ireland, irrespective of the origin of the organisation, were not immune from budget reductions and reductions in the levels of maintenance personnel. The survey suggests that retrenchment was the option of choice for organisations with 19 per cent increasing maintenance intervals and 11 per cent reporting a decrease in machine availability as a result. An analysis was also undertaken to accept or reject the hypothesis that the maintenance practices of indigenous Irish organisations have been more adversely affected than those of their non-indigenous Irish-based counterparts. The hypothesis was accepted.

Research limitations/implications

– Although the analysis is based upon simple descriptive statistics-it provides invaluable information to maintenance policy decision makers.

Originality/value

– The work is entirely original. Any work from other authors is duly referenced.