Proactive Maintenance of Onboard Ships - Term Paper Example

Proactive Maintenance Onboard Ships Name Institution Course ABSTRACT The need for effective maintenance processes has risen with the increase of demand for equipment that has the ability to effectively operate and achieve quality production. Such has been the need for effective maintenance steps that can realize enhanced operation of marine ships. This paper thus undertakes a review of relevant themes in the field of proactive maintenance of ships. Special focus is given to the operations that yield effective maintenance of components of ships. The basic approaches to maintenance, scheduling and planning are discussed. The preventive and predictive maintenance forms are as well elaborated. Lubrication, maintenance costing, the maintenance department and maintenance safety, sustainability and the environment make the major part of the paper. The paper finally undertakes a personal reflection of a case of failure of a ship with regard to ineffective maintenance practice. The findings of this paper can thus adequately inform the maintenance of onboard ships to reduce instances of failure and risks presented though such mechanical breakdowns. The essence of efficiency in maintenance systems is presented, and the arguments are a helpful guide to any engineering maintenance process. KEY THEMES 1. Fundamental approaches to maintenance, planning and the scheduling function 2. Preventive and Predictive Maintenance 3. Component life time and reliability 4. Lubrication 5. Maintenance costing and documentation 6. The maintenance organisation (department), report writing 7. Maintenance Safety 8. Sustainable maintenance and the environment INTRODUCTION LITERATURE REVIEW Fundamental approaches to maintenance, planning and the scheduling process The process of maintenance is as critical as any other effort undertaken by an organization to realize effective production with regard to costs of production and quality of goods produced (Hall, 2014). However, different firms undertaken different measures of planning and scheduling for their operation. In the process of maintenance of ship equipment, planning and scheduling of the activities of a maintenance process are critical towards achieving equipment efficiency. Planning Planning in maintenance should be a consistent activity. The process of planning identifies the order of activities that are to be undertaken during a maintenance process. (Lees & Williamson, 2013). It is therefore necessary that the equipment to be maintained, the relevant skills and personnel desired, the documents relevant to the maintenance practice, the procedures of the maintenance process as specified by the equipment manufacturer, the sessions of the maintenance and the spare parts of the equipment to be repaired or replaced have to be identified, provided and focused on. In addition to this, a good maintenance planning system identifies the cost projections to be incurred in equipment maintenance. Scheduling In maintenance, scheduling undertakes the coordination of activities and logistics of repair and replacement of an equipment in totality (Palmer, 2005). The process is recommended for effective execution of maintenance in addition to identification of areas in planning that could not be efficiently covered. Capacity scheduling experts are entrusted with the responsibility of the scheduling process. The basic concepts of the scheduling process include; Determination of overhead time such as breaks, toolbox and safety meeting time, training periods and holidays is undertaken. The time taken for preventive maintenance needs to be determined to ensure that adequate time is dedicated toward effective and wholesome maintenance to realize high levels of maintenance practice (Peters, 2015). The scheduling manner also needs to necessarily incorporate the approved and corrective measures for the maintenance process. Such measures need to be identified by the plan of maintenance operation and the system for action prioritization. Preventive and predictive maintenance Preventive maintenance Preventive maintenance is understood as an interval or time-based service that has been adequately planned with intent to identify and avert occurrence of potential mechanical failure of the equipment or part of its components. Preventive maintenance is objective as it is an attempt at extending the component life time of the equipment (Gross, 2002). The maintenance also seeks to avoid any activities of equipment repair or replacement which has not been planned for. Replacement of minor components, adjustment, cleaning, lubrication and painting form the major activities undertaken during the process of preventive maintenance of equipment. This form of maintenance is usually carried out while the machinery is turned off from operation. Predictive maintenance Predictive maintenance is carried out with two major objectives. The process seeks to project when failure of equipment is likely to occur, followed by measures put in place to prevent the actual occurrence of the projected failure of the equipment. The process thus will undertake appropriate maintenance thought to avert the occurrence of the failure. The process has tasks dedicated towards inspection for future failure indicators. Therefore, maintenance must necessarily be planned prior to the instance of equipment failure. The process of predictive maintenance works in such a way that it affords frequent maintenance of equipment so as to avert reactive maintenance which has not been planned for. This kind of maintenance helps organizations reduce the costs incurred in undertaking preventive maintenance. Predictive maintenance is carried out when the equipment is in operation. Mobley (2002) says that since there are numerous ways of undertaking predictive maintenance, it is preferable that the chosen mode of failure prevention in predictive maintenance achieves accurate failure prediction and allow sufficient time for planning and execution of maintenance after signaling of equipment failure. Component life time and reliability Reliability and life time of machinery are understood as intertwined. The manufacturers of a given equipment are expected to provide the time for which the equipment is expected to run in smooth operation without any mechanical breakdown, implying a period within which the equipment faces no failure and subsequent repair or minor replacement (In Kadry&In El,2015). The service life when an equipment achieves its full utility describes its component life. Everymechanical equipment is set to operate effectively without any failure for a specific time frame, after which its utility might reduce, and failures become frequent, thus the equipment will need more maintenance. To determine the life time of machinery thus implies that consideration of its usability while undergoing repairs and replacements is insignificant. In most cases, the component lifetime of a product is averagely equal to its warranty period as determined by the manufacturer on the point of sale. The manufacturer is responsible for the determination of the component life time through consideration of the techniques of equipment modelling and hypothetical calculations. The projected probability of component performance and effectiveness over a specific time period gives the reliability of an equipment (O'Connor &Kleyner, 2012). Measurement of the component life of equipment can be done through analyzing the components life time distribution. The component life of the equipment is a representation of the quality of service and the extent to which the operation of the component is likely to satisfy the demands of the users. When the component life of the equipment can be determined, it becomes easy to observe safety in the use of the component. Lubrication Lubrication is an important step for reliable operation in surfaces that are in contact. Such components as rolling elements, cages and raceways. With effective lubricant application, wear forces between the surfaces in motion is minimized thus protecting the surfaces from the destructive corrosive effect (Lewellen, 2014). Just like the mode of maintenance selected, effective choice of lubrication and the lubricant to be used. A wide range of lubricants is available in form of oils, greases and compounds made out of graphite. The conditions of operation of the equipment are a key factor of consideration when selecting the most effective method of lubrication and the lubricant needed. Such factors include the acceptable operation temperature and the speed required. However, other factors as the load and vibration also may influence the choice of lubrication and lubricant settled upon. It is easy to determine the acceptable temperature of operation if the minimum lubricant amount is known. It is worth noting that the amount of lubricant might increase if the lubricant is expected to play further roles of suction of extra heat generated and sealing purposes. Due to contamination, ageing and mechanical overwork, it is important that a lubricant gets regularly replaced to replenish its lubrication ability. Maintenance costing and documentation The importance of processes of equipment maintenance cannot be overlooked in any firm. Marine-based operational industries have component maintenance rating highly among their priorities as their productivity largely relies on the fitness condition of their machinery. With equipment that is adequately maintained, it is possible for such companies with large ships for cargo transportation to realize their set business targets, in addition to prevention of unplanned stall of business operations. Reese (2012) argues firms with effectively designed systems for maintenance costing realize optimal control over their maintenance processes. To enhance the results of systems of maintenance costing have ensured that their design for such costing allows for long term and control over the process of maintenance. After the adoption of such effectively designed costing maintenance systems, the overall company operational effectiveness can be enhanced with the implementation of alternative means of maintenance control, although these means are to operate on lower maintenance levels. Maintenance department. Since the maintenance of an organization’s components requires a lot of attention, it is important that there be a department that is purely charged with components maintenance. This department has a duty of ensuring that every necessary maintenance process and target is achieved. For this department to accomplish its mission, it has to lay down ways and strategies to help it stay in vision. (Mayer, Irani&Adra, 2008) define such ways as discussed below; Delegation of work to responsible department units. Maintenance is easily and fully carried out if every unit of a department is charged with its responsibilities. Ensure management and analysis of the costs incurred by a department. A department’s costs need to be carefully managed to ensure adherence to budgets. Allocation of various duties and responsibilities to specific members of staff. There is a high chance of a safe maintenance process if duties are allocated to supervisors in their areas of expertise. Maintenance safety Safety is a factor that every plant tries to observe as it carries out its maintenance, repair and replacement of equipment, both in good conditionand those that are faulty. According toHarren& Coasts, Oceans, PortsandRiversInstitute (American Societyof Civil Engineers)(2010), the site for maintenance processes must be designed in such way that it exposes the maintenance experts and the equipment to minimum risk possible. Maintenance is a process that advocates for safety observation as a result of the high costs which could be incurred on top of the maintenance costs, as well as the risk of the health of the expert. Safety observation does not discriminate on the maintenance type being executed. The most common step towards ensuring safety at the maintenance site entails ensuring that all the power sources to the maintenance site have been switched off. To achieve safety in the process of equipment maintenance, the measures herein elaborated are advocated for (Harren& Coasts, Oceans, PortsandRiversInstitute (American Societyof Civil Engineers), 2010); Identification of the core steps that the maintenance process entails is key toward achieving safety. This step helps for effective planning for the maintenance process and keen observance of the safety tips necessary in the execution of maintenance. A company should be in a position to identify all its equipment and possess the processes of maintenance relevant to each and every equipment. For optimal safety observation, it is recommended that the maintenance procedures be carried out as specified by the component developer. Safety observation requires that the equipment to be maintained is isolated from the rest of the company’s equipment that are in perfect condition and in operation. This ensures that faulty machinery is not involved in the production processes of firms. This reduces the risk of property and life destruction. The costs of maintenance are further reduced when the faulty equipment is isolated for repair as opposed to the costs incurred with continued operation of an equipment which has been identified with mechanical failure in future. Further, safety is enhanced with noting on the equipment that it is under maintenance, with specific identification of due dates for the repair process. Staff induction on the maintenance procedures and safety standards enhances the levels of safety achieved in the execution of given processes of equipment repair and replacement. The staff should be provided with appropriate protective gear while interacting with equipment under maintenance, just as the maintenance engineers. Such induction enhances the technical knowledge base of employees, which realizes optimal safety standards if they are involved in the process. The experts on repair necessarily need to be adequately informed on the key steps of equipment maintenance procedure being executed. On completion of the execution of equipment maintenance, it is recommended that the supervisor in charge of the company’s maintenance process adequately supervises and gives a report on the condition of the machine before it can be dedicated to operational activities of the firm. The supervisor should only authenticate use of the equipment upon satisfactory confirmation of the good condition of the equipment for operation. Sustainable maintenance and the environment Although the process of maintenance is aimed at achieving effectiveness and reliability of machinery, it is important that the process is carried out in ways that present least environmental harm. The process of maintenance, in addition to environmental protection, should ensure that the utility of natural resources (In Zhou et al., 2013). In this regard, depletion of natural resources is minimized while equipment maintenance is executed to realize optimal results of use of machinery. Selection of appropriate maintenance sites. Viable maintenance realizes sustainability through consideration of such factors as utility and availability of energy sources, modes of equipment transportation, accessibility of the maintenance site and reuse of tools needed in the maintenance process. In this regard, the process of maintenance should uphold sustainability while meeting its set objectives through effective use of natural resources where necessary. Sustainable maintenance upholds effective use of water resources (In Zhou et al., 2013). Maintenance processes ought to ensure that the use of water in the cooling of equipment is efficient and optimal. The cooling of equipment system should be designed in such ways that it recycles water then uses it for cooling. Such measures ensure that depletion of natural resources is minimized, although the trends for world population show significant continuous increase. The use of energy in the process of component repair and replacement should use the least energy quantities possible to realize effective results. Due to increase in demand for energy for industrial process, burning of fossil fuels for maintenance is a common phenomenon. However, sustainablemaintenance demands that companies exploit natural energy sources as wind and solar for their energy needs, thereby reducing emission of green effect gases and depletion of fossil fuels. CRITICAL REFLECTION Failure of the Electronically Controlled Main Engine MAN B&W 12K98ME-C of Savannah Express and suggested solutions On the 19th of July, 2005, the German flagged, one of the world’s vessels made contact at 201 berth with a linkspan, at the Docks of Southampton (Great Britain & Great Britain., 2006). There was subsequent loss of power from the astern engine. The vessel had notably experienced failure of engine operation early in the morning. This failure was reported as Savannah Express neared the pilotage area for boarding and the Nab Tower. After the repairs were executed, the vessel thus sailed toward Southampton. Although the pilot was fully aware of the engine condition with regard to the failure experienced, he did not have information regarding the turning of the engine being turned on air astern. After an hour of the vessel moving toward Southampton, the driver was duly informed that the reason behind the acute failure of the vessel’s engine had not adequately been determined. The driver was further informed that the authorities manning the harbor had not duly been alerted of the engine failure, nor had significant preventive maintenance measures been executed. The design of the slow speed, big sized and diesel engine of the vessel was characteristically revolutionary. The main engine’s design still lacked the gear for mechanical timing as well as the normal camshaft(Great Britain & Great Britain., 2006). These had been replaced with an electro-hydraulic system that was computer operated. This system that was computer controlled had experienced a series of failures since April of the same year while leaving Korea. At its previous call port at Singapore, the vessel had been inspected by an expert in engine service engineering from the firm which manufactured the vessels engine. The expert diagnosed a number of issues which could be rectified courtesy of guarantee claims. The pressure systems had a total of 3 out of the 4 sensors fail. This had confirmed the faulty state of the hydraulic system of the vessel in the previous 2 months. However, the engineer was not in a position to provide the spare parts due to lack of their supply. The chief engineer was of the opinion that the ineffectiveness of the last sensor would not have any implications on the functionality of the engine of the vessel. Such erroneous judgement misguided the intuitions of the sailor that the vessel would sail perfectly with a single sensor in place. The failure of the main engine of the Savannah Express can be linked to some of the improper measures of maintenance which were executed. The engineer undertaking the repair of the engine at Singapore was not adequately provided with the relevant components that were needed in order to effectively undertake the repair process. Although the engineer from the engine manufacturer’s company did undertake corrective measures to ensure safety and reliability of the vessel, there was inadequate planning for the repair process. The inadequacy in the process is shown by the lack of adequate supply of spare parts for the corrective measures of engine failure. The maintenance team failed to undertake effective inspection of the vessel after repair process execution. The guidelines for safety maintenance demand that any equipment be investigated for reliability and safety after the repair process. The chief supervisor for the repair process form the engine construction company failed to undertake accurate inspection of the state of the engine of the vessel. He thus gave an erroneous report with regard to the condition of the engine, which implied that the vessel would adequately undertake its voyage to its next call point without any form of mechanical failure. His idea of the Savannah Express sailing with a single functional sensor was completely wrong, although that was the impression that was equally created on the master pilot. However, the vessel still experienced failure of the engine, implying that the report by the final chief supervisor was characteristic of impaired technical understanding of operation of the engine. The quality of preventive maintenance of the vessel was questionable. Preventive maintenance is aimed at achieving reduced unplanned breakdown of machinery. Preventive maintenance is such a method that affords adequate time for the maintenance tem to devise effective and reliable measures for repair processes that have ultimate extension to the life time of the component in addition to achieving adequate operation of the component. The maintenance of the vessel was not quality at the preventive level. This confirmed by the fact that the vessel had experienced previous engine failures. However, the vessel’s engine system still faced failure two months later, a sign that the measures undertaken to avert occurrence of further failures were unreliable. Safety maintenance was not highly regarded by the maintenance undertaken to enhance vessel effectiveness. Observance of maintenance safety calls for repair and replacement of components while ensuring that the process does not expose the human life and the property involved at risk. The replacement of the main engine’s normal camshaft and mechanical system for timing with a computer controlled system sounds like an effective step towards maintenance. However, this replacement was not efficient enough as it was associated with the future failure of the engine system of the vessel. Thus, the failure realized extra maintenance costs through frequent failures which needed repair before the vessel could be in operation. Suggested solutions The failure of the engine system for Savannah Express could have been adequately responded to, had the maintenance team taken the appropriate measures. Firstly, adequate preparation for a maintenance process is key towards achieving reliability of an equipment. The repair of the vessel’s engine to curb future failure was insufficient as there were series of breakdowns after the initial repair. The maintenance experts ought to have adequately planned for the repair and avail the necessary spares for the repair. There should have been effective after repair inspection to determine the condition of the vessel before it could be approved fit for operation. The chief engineer should be adequately informed and competent enough to give reliable report on the vessel’s condition. The repair team did not carry out preventive and predictive maintenance. These forms of maintenance could have averted the occurrence of future mechanical failure from the initial diagnosis of engine fault. The processes would have potentially identified the most effective replacement for the engine components instead of the faulty computer controlled system. SUMMARY The type of inspection carried on equipment is essential in the process of maintenance. Determination of an inspection should consider the technological requirements. Maintenance forms entail the predictive and preventive inspection modes. The acquaintance of an equipment’s condition before its breakdown is of great importance at this level. This gives an organization a chance to prepare for defects that may be noticed in replacements or repairs. The core goal of maintenance is to determine an equipment’s lifetime which is the period such an equipment is expected to operate in absence of any repairs. The reliability of an equipment during operations, is to be determined be in a favorable condition for it to achieve the expected results of operation. For maintenance to be effective, an equipment should be adequately lubricated. Lubrication reduces friction of an equipment which in turn minimizes depreciation of an equipment. Recording of the maintenance costs, observing safety measures and carrying out sustainable maintenance indicate an effective maintenance. All these factors give an indication of maintenance effectiveness for any firm. However, the maintenance process can be tiring and cumbersome hence if not properly carried out there will be disastrous results. References Great Britain.,& Great Britain. (2006). Report on the investigation of the engine failure of Savannah Express and her subsequeny contact with a linkspan at Southampton Docks, 19 July 2005. Southampton: Marine Accident Investigation Branch. Gross, J. M. (2002). Fundamentals of preventive maintenance. New York: AMACOM. Hall, D. T. (2014). Practical marine electrical knowledge. Harren, P. A., & Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute (American Society of Civil Engineers). (2010). Safe operation and maintenance of dry dock facilities. Reston, VA: American Society of Civil Engineers. In Kadry, S., & In El, H. A. (2015). Numerical methods for reliability and safety assessment: Multiscale and multiphysics systems. In Zhou, X., In He, G., In Fan, Y., In Xiao, Y., In Kunnath, S. K., & In Monti, G. (2013). Advances in civil infrastructure engineering: Selected peer reviewed papers from the proceedings of the first international conference on advances in civil infrastructure engineering (ICACI 2012), September 15-16, 2012, Changsha, China. Lees, G., & Williamson, W. (2013). Handbook for Marine Radio Communication 5E. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Lewellen, D. (January 01, 2014). Rail lubrication systems and friction modifiers. Progressive Railroading. Mayer, B. R. I. A. N., Irani, S. H. A. H. R. U. K. H., &Adra, H. O. S. N. I. (October 01, 2008). TECHNICAL PAPER: Virtual Shop Clusters: A New Layout Concept for a Ship Repair and Maintenance Facility. Naval Engineers Journal, 120, 2, 99-111. Mobley, R. K. (2002). An introduction to predictive maintenance. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann. O'Connor, P. D. T., &Kleyner, A. (2012). Practical reliability engineering. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Palmer, Richard D. (2005). Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook. McGraw-Hill Pub. Peters, R. W. (2015). Reliable Maintenance Planning, Estimating, and Scheduling. Waltham, MA: Gulf Professional Publishing. Reese, C. D. (2012). Accident/incident prevention techniques. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to show my appreciation to those whose support and ideas saw the completion of this work. Read More

The basic concepts of the scheduling process include; Determination of overhead time such as breaks, toolbox and safety meeting time, training periods and holidays is undertaken. The time taken for preventive maintenance needs to be determined to ensure that adequate time is dedicated toward effective and wholesome maintenance to realize high levels of maintenance practice (Peters, 2015). The scheduling manner also needs to necessarily incorporate the approved and corrective measures for the maintenance process.

Such measures need to be identified by the plan of maintenance operation and the system for action prioritization. Preventive and predictive maintenance Preventive maintenance Preventive maintenance is understood as an interval or time-based service that has been adequately planned with intent to identify and avert occurrence of potential mechanical failure of the equipment or part of its components. Preventive maintenance is objective as it is an attempt at extending the component life time of the equipment (Gross, 2002).

The maintenance also seeks to avoid any activities of equipment repair or replacement which has not been planned for. Replacement of minor components, adjustment, cleaning, lubrication and painting form the major activities undertaken during the process of preventive maintenance of equipment. This form of maintenance is usually carried out while the machinery is turned off from operation. Predictive maintenance Predictive maintenance is carried out with two major objectives. The process seeks to project when failure of equipment is likely to occur, followed by measures put in place to prevent the actual occurrence of the projected failure of the equipment.

The process thus will undertake appropriate maintenance thought to avert the occurrence of the failure. The process has tasks dedicated towards inspection for future failure indicators. Therefore, maintenance must necessarily be planned prior to the instance of equipment failure. The process of predictive maintenance works in such a way that it affords frequent maintenance of equipment so as to avert reactive maintenance which has not been planned for. This kind of maintenance helps organizations reduce the costs incurred in undertaking preventive maintenance.

Predictive maintenance is carried out when the equipment is in operation. Mobley (2002) says that since there are numerous ways of undertaking predictive maintenance, it is preferable that the chosen mode of failure prevention in predictive maintenance achieves accurate failure prediction and allow sufficient time for planning and execution of maintenance after signaling of equipment failure. Component life time and reliability Reliability and life time of machinery are understood as intertwined.

The manufacturers of a given equipment are expected to provide the time for which the equipment is expected to run in smooth operation without any mechanical breakdown, implying a period within which the equipment faces no failure and subsequent repair or minor replacement (In Kadry&In El,2015). The service life when an equipment achieves its full utility describes its component life. Everymechanical equipment is set to operate effectively without any failure for a specific time frame, after which its utility might reduce, and failures become frequent, thus the equipment will need more maintenance.

To determine the life time of machinery thus implies that consideration of its usability while undergoing repairs and replacements is insignificant. In most cases, the component lifetime of a product is averagely equal to its warranty period as determined by the manufacturer on the point of sale. The manufacturer is responsible for the determination of the component life time through consideration of the techniques of equipment modelling and hypothetical calculations. The projected probability of component performance and effectiveness over a specific time period gives the reliability of an equipment (O'Connor &Kleyner, 2012).

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