The main reason for failures is poor operating practices. The way operators handle equipment and processes on a daily basis is equally important as the input from maintainers and engineers. Organising the equipment and routine operations in a specific way can drastically improve a site’s reliability and help avoid failures caused by technical and human factors.
A range of practical techniques to improve reliability is available depending on a site’s particular needs:

 

• RCM (Reliability Centred Maintenance) is the popular concept developed to achieve aircraft industry level reliability – it introduces an optimised maintenance and operating regime with a high level of operator involvement
• Maintenance Planning helps structure, implement and monitor all the processes
• RCA technique will analyse the Root Cause of a defined problem and identify the actions necessary to eliminate it
• If most problems are caused by equipment, RbyD (Reliability by Design) will help ensure equipment is fit for purpose, operates to a specified standard and delivers high reliability with low maintenance costs
• In addition CSA (Critical Spares Analysis) will help achieving space and costs benefits by determining how many of a particular item needs to be kept