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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the application of reliability engineering to oil and gas (O&G) pipeline systems with the aim of identifying means through which reliability engineering can be used to improve pipeline integrity, specifically with regard to man-made incidents (e.g. material/weld/equipment failure, corrosion, incorrect operation and excavation damages).

A literature review was carried out on the application of reliability tools to O&G pipeline systems and four case studies are presented as examples of how reliability engineering can help to improve pipeline integrity. The scope of the paper is narrowed to four stages of the pipeline life cycle; the decommissioning stage is not part of this research. A survey was also carried out using a questionnaire to check the level of application of reliability tools in the O&G industry.

Data from survey and literature show that a reliability-centred approach can be applied and will improve pipeline reliability where applied; however, there are several hindrances to the effective application of reliability tools, the current methods are time based and focus mainly on design against failure rather than design for reliability.

The tools identified do not cover the decommissioning of the pipeline system. Research validation sample size can be broadened to include more pipeline stakeholders/professionals. Pipeline integrity management systems are proprietary information and permission is required from stakeholders to do a detailed practical study.

This paper proposes the minimum applied reliability tools for application during the design, operation and maintenance phases targeted at the O&G industry. Critically, this paper provides a case for an integrated approach to applying reliability and maintenance tools that are required to reduce pipeline failure incidents in the O&G industry.

Availability of auxiliary equipment for coal‐based power plants is very important for the achievement of maximum generation and the improvement of plant load factor (PLF). In this context a realistic maintenance programme based on plant‐specific failure data will help to achieve an optimum performance level. Reliability‐centred maintenance (RCM) is a recent technique which is limited to a few areas and has implementation difficulties. Presents a realistic RCM‐based maintenance methodology for coal‐based power plant auxiliaries. Applies the methodology to the bowl mill, an item of auxiliary equipment. Presents results and savings that have been achieved with the application of the methodology.

Maintenance planning is a complicated decision-making process that involves the major stakeholders and the main life-cycle phases of an engineering system. The purpose of this paper is to propose an availability-centred maintenance planning approach for offshore wind farms, with special focus on the early system design phase.

The proposed approach is based on a stepwise procedure that integrates logistics consideration into reliability-centred maintenance. For each step, the essential methods for systematic analysis and documentation are introduced.

Practical information from current offshore wind farms and lessons learned from relevant industries are included to exemplify and justify the implementation of the proposed approach. In a general way, the approach shows that valuable input can be provided to decision making about maintainability and maintenance planning. Furthermore, the approach facilitates the initial maintenance plan to be adjusted and improved upon as additional operating experience becomes available.

Offshore wind energy is still an industry in its infancy with an attendant high degree of confidentiality. There is scarcely any detailed practical information available for the production of a case study on this topic. However, the current paper’s theoretical basis may be applied to identify current and future knowledge gaps, for the development of more detailed guidelines as established in the further research.

Maintenance planning of offshore wind farms is an area of current interest, although often the focus is on achieving cost reductions and not on the formal development of such a systematic approach as conceived in this paper.

Several years ago the Department of Defence in the United States engaged United Airlines to develop detailed documentation to describe and justify airline practices for developing preventative maintenance programmes, such as those exemplified by the Air Transportation Association publication: MSG‐2 Airline/Manufacturer Maintenance Programme Planning Document. The result of that effort was a book entitled Reliability‐Centred Maintenance, that described a logical discipline for developing preventative maintenance programmes which are matched to specific, identified, inherent reliability characteristics of the equipment that they support.

This paper reviews the basic concepts of several maintenance approaches and discusses the increasing needs of effectiveness‐centred maintenance (ECM). It discusses the principles and relates them to the measurement of ECM performance. The development and implementation of the ECM approach is elaborated based on a pilot program in the radio unit of an electricity company in Hong Kong. Two ECM performance indices (i.e. individual system effectiveness (ISE) and overall system effectiveness (OSE)) were introduced to monitor the ECM process in the company. Being an integrated maintenance approach, ECM focuses on system functions and customer service, and may contribute to the continuous improvement of maintenance management practices in organizations irrespective of their business nature and size.

The purpose of this paper is to present a study of reliability-centred maintenance (RCM), which is conducted on the key sub-assets of a newly constructed road junction infrastructure in Nigeria.

The classical RCM methodology, a type of RCM, which has a top down, zero-based approach for maintenance analysis, is implemented in this study.

The implementation of the classical RCM is successful in its application of various PM policies assigned to the assets and it shows that its application in the highway industry could reduce excessive maintenance backlog and frequent reactive maintenance by effective optimisation of its preventive maintenance (PM) intervals.

Road junctions are originators of more than 70 per cent of road traffic congestion and account for high accident rate. The traditional methods of reliability assurance used in the highway industry such as reactive maintenance and routine maintenance are often inadequate to meet the round the clock usage demands of these assets, thus the consideration for the application of a systematic RCM process for maintaining the system function by selecting and applying effective PM tasks.

It uses an approach that critically develops and analyses thoroughly preventive and continuous maintenance strategy in a new circumstance with environment of uncertainty and limited operating data. The case-based reasoning cycle has been applied in the RCM approach with real-time data obtained from a UK-based network maintenance management system for highway infrastructures.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of research and development in the measurement of maintenance performance. It considers the problems of various measuring parameters and comments on the lack of structure in and references for the measurement of maintenance performance. The main focus is to determine how value can be created for organizations by measuring maintenance performance, examining such maintenance strategies as condition‐based maintenance, reliability‐centred maintenance, e‐maintenance, etc. In other words, the objectives are to find frameworks or models that can be used to evaluate different maintenance strategies and determine the value of these frameworks for an organization.

A state‐of‐the‐art literature review has been carried out to answer the following two research questions. First, what approaches and techniques are used for maintenance performance measurement (MPM) and which MPM techniques are optimal for evaluating maintenance strategies? Second, in general, how can MPM create value for organizations and, more specifically, which system of measurement is best for which maintenance strategy?

The body of knowledge on maintenance performance is both quantitatively and qualitatively based. Quantitative approaches include economic and technical ratios, value‐based and balanced scorecards, system audits, composite formulations, and statistical and partial maintenance productivity indices. Qualitative approaches include human factors, amongst other aspects. Qualitatively based approaches are adopted because of the inherent limitations of effectively measuring a complex function such as maintenance through quantitative models. Maintenance decision makers often come to the best conclusion using heuristics, backed up by qualitative assessment, supported by quantitative measures. Both maintenance performance perspectives are included in this overview.

A comprehensive review of maintenance performance metrics is offered, aiming to give, in a condensed form, an extensive introduction to MPM and a presentation of the state of the art in this field.

A major role of facilities management is ensuring the useability, reliability, and safety of the asset being managed. To achieve this management must use a system to control the maintenance function. The purpose of the paper is to identify and describe the various maintenance management models and systems available for facilities managers to consider.

Two comprehensive reviews of the literature were undertaken to categorise the various maintenance management models and identify popular models in practice.

The review identified 37 maintenance management models. From these, four were found to be popular: total productive maintenance (TPM), condition-based maintenance (CBM), reliability-centred maintenance (RCM), and condition monitoring (CM). While many thousands of papers can be found of these four models, the support in the literature for the remaining 33 models is very limited.

While providing a sound foundation for future research, the papers findings are based solely on reviewing literature.

For facilities managers seeking to expand their knowledge of a particular model or maintenance management systems in general, the paper provides a practical understanding.

Papers focused solely on identifying and describing maintenance management models are scarce and this paper makes a concerted attempt to link academic research with management practitioners.

This research is focused on the application of reliability‐centred maintenance (RCM) in a chipping and sawmill company. The aim of the study was to illustrate the application of RCM in a chipping and sawing mill.

RCM is a structured process, which develops or optimises maintenance requirements of a physical resource in its operating context in order to realise its inherent reliability by logically incorporating an optimal combination of reactive, preventive, condition‐based and proactive maintenance practices. A detailed analysis of the RCM approach is presented as a step towards improving preventive maintenance (PM) within a sawmill.

The study shows that the way that PM tasks are specified is a good indicator of the effectiveness of the PM program and could be a major source of maintenance‐related downtime. It is also revealed that most maintenance programs, which purport to be proactive, are in fact reactive. The paper also shows that RCM can be successfully applied to industries anywhere; even in less industrialized countries.

The paper focuses on a pilot study of a section of a chipping and sawmill. The development and implementation of the RCM approach is elaborated based on a pilot program in the edging unit of a sawmill company. Further application to the entire plant, albeit time‐consuming, is recommended.

Application of RCM in sawmill industries, within developing countries, has had limited application. The paper demonstrates that regardless of technological challenges in less developed economies, maintenance approaches such as RCM can still be fruitfully applied in order to achieve maintenance excellence. The paper should be useful for maintenance practitioners and researchers, particularly in less industrialized countries.

The purpose of this paper is to present issues and challenges of scheduled maintenance task development within the maintenance review board (MRB) process, and to find potential areas of improvement in the application of the MSG‐3 methodology for aircraft systems.

The issues and challenges as well as potential areas of improvement have been identified through a constructive review that consists of two parts. The first part is a benchmarking between the Maintenance Steering Group (MSG‐3) methodology and other established and documented versions of reliability‐centred maintenance (RCM). This benchmarking focuses on the MSG‐3 methodology and compares it with some RCM standards to identify differences and thereby find ways to facilitate the application of MSG‐3. The second part includes a discussion about methodologies and tools that can support different steps of the MSG‐3 methodology within the framework of the MRB process.

The MSG‐3 methodology is closely related to the RCM methodology, in which the anticipated consequences of failure are considered for risk evaluation. However, MSG‐3 considers neither environmental effects of failures nor operational consequences of hidden failures. Furthermore, in MSG‐3, the operational check (failure‐finding inspection) is given priority before all other tasks, whereas in RCM it is considered as a default action, where there is no other applicable and effective option. While RCM allows cost‐effectiveness analysis for all failures that have no safety consequences, MSG‐3 just allows it for failures with economic consequences. A maintenance program that is established through the MRB process fulfils the requirements of continuous airworthiness, but there is no foundation to claim that it is the optimal or the most effective program from an operator's point‐of‐view. The major challenge when striving to achieve a more effective maintenance program within the MRB process is to acquire supporting methodologies and tools for adequate risk analysis, for optimal interval assignments, and for selection of the most effective maintenance task.

The paper presents a critical review of existing aircraft scheduled maintenance program development methodologies, and demonstrates the differences between MSG‐3 and other RCM methodologies.