This article comes from ABB
Utility maintenance managers are increasingly coming to realize that it is wasteful to perform maintenance on a fixed schedule. Many of them are making the transition to a condition based maintenance strategy. This white paper summarizes a four-step process for successfully making that transition.
The transition by utilities from time or interval-based maintenance to CBM is accelerating.
In a meeting with a maintenance services supplier, a utility’s maintenance manager described the scenario of his wife and her new car. He explained how the car displays messages on the dashboard regarding potential maintenance issues and suggests the appropriate response or action. It simultaneously sends a message to the dealer alerting them to the issue.
“Why,” the utility manager asked, “couldn’t the same scenario play out with my transformers, breakers, and other assets?” Why indeed. That utility is, in fact, now far along in the process of deploying a condition-based maintenance (CBM) solution that is accomplishing just that. Managers and engineers in a growing number of utilities are realizing that successful CBM deployments result in lower maintenance costs with increased reliability.
Several years ago, the Aberdeen Group found that nearly half of survey respondents planned to implement this type of solution. The transition by utilities from time or interval-based maintenance to CBM is accelerating. Resistance to the transition is eroding as the financial, performance, and reliability benefits become clearer, and as the next generation of maintenance personnel, not steeped in the culture of interval-based maintenance, enters the field.
In this white paper, ABB authors describes how utilities are capitalizing on the increasing availability of digital asset data and improved communication infrastructure as they adopt CBM to optimize their maintenance efforts. We will describe a four-step process to transitioning to CBM, and identify common barriers to successful implementations and how those barriers can be overcome. Resistance to change
The appeal of CBM is highly intuitive. No facility owner would automatically repair or replace their roof after some fixed time interval. While the warranty may indicate the owner could expect 15 years of life, weather conditions and other factors will greatly shorten or extend actual life. Based on the condition or performance of the roof, the owner will devote money, time and attention to it only when it begins to show trouble. Similarly, with power equipment, actual duty levels and asset condition should drive specific maintenance schedules.
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Windpower Engineering & Development
Filed Under: Renewable energy
