Many of the challenges and opportunities associated with industry begin and end with equipment. In the diverse and demanding working conditions of the industry, efficiently and effectively maintaining physical assets, whilst also limiting the costs and disruptions during this process, is essential for optimising performance and profits.
Maintaining and managing the complex equipment that mining companies rely on remains an ongoing challenge for decision makers.
The range of specialised equipment and related systems present challenging obstacles to the operations and maintenance of physical assets.
Reviews of this type provide the use with the confidence that the equipment is as specified and meets the documented requirements of Australian Standards, Codes of Practice, Guidelines and other internal documentation.
To assist with the development of appropriate documentation, AXYS Consulting provides the services for the development of procedures to the sites specific layout and requirements.
The integration of risk assessments and procedures allows for the development of detailed procedures which include specific safety step requirements along with itemised requirements for special tools and equipment along with safety equipment.
The process includes the detection of a potentially dangerous condition resulting in the activation of a protective or corrective device or mechanism to prevent hazardous events arising or providing mitigation to reduce the fight consequence of the hazardous event.
Traditionally, such safety functions were provided by mechanical or “hard wired” electrical systems that had well understood failure modes and behaviours under fault conditions.
The use of programmable devices and embedded software to perform these safety functions has provided benefits such as flexibility, increased functionality and ease of use, however the failure behaviour has become less predictable.
Function Safety is primarily concerned with the management of risks introduced by processes, plant and machinery.
AXYS Consulting can provide assistance with the management of Functional Safety in both the process industry and in mining and other industries as we are Functional Safety Engineers in both Safety Instrumented Systems (TÜV Rheinland, SIS) and Machinery (TÜV Rheinland, Machinery )
This balance is determined based on the downtime costs, lead times, and safety and environmental considerations on the one hand, and the capital cost requirements, warehouse charges, OEM recommendations and budgets on the other.
The cost of holding spares may be broadly divided into two categories – risked costsand holding costs.
Risked costs are calculated from the probability of spare partdemand multiplied by the penalty of not holding the spare part. Holding costs includethe capital cost of purchasing the spares together with the cost of storing andmaintaining the spares.
Spares strategy analysis seeks to achieve a balance between holding extensive stocksof valuable spares (which may never be required) and the exposure to productiondisruption and subsequent losses in the event of failure of a critical machine.
Different programs for the development of maintenance strategies are available and range from basic facilitated workshops through to third generation tools such as Reliability-centred Maintenance.
Strategies may be developed from a detailed Failure Modes and Effects Analysis or Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis where the equipment is analysed from a component or function standpoint. Both of these processes can define a maintenance strategy.
The RCM methodology is used to determine the maintenance requirements of any physical asset in its operating context. It is used to decide what must be done to ensure that any physical asset, system or process continues to do whatever its users want it to do.
The application of RCM completely transforms the view that any organization has of its physical assets. Not only does it revolutionise views about maintenance and how maintenance and operations work together but it also leads to a far broader and deeper understanding about how things work.
The RCM process identifies the ways in which the system can fail to live up to these expectations (failed states), followed by an FMEA (failure modes and effects analysis), to identify all the events which are reasonably likely to cause each failed state.
The RCM process then identifies the appropriate failure management policy for dealing with each failure mode in the view of its consequences and technical characteristics. Failure management policy options include:
The RCM process provides powerful rules for deciding if any failure management policy is technically appropriate. It also provides precise criteria for deciding how often routine tasks should be done.
From the maintenance development time is spent grouping the appropriate tasks and the development of the overall maintenance implementation to align with the site maintenance strategy.
AXYS Consulting offersproject management services for each stage of a project’s lifecycle, providing clients technical knowledge and industry insight across their sites to deliver solutions that provide sustainable outcomes.
Services include providing project management professional resourcing along with a full range of project reporting
A good risk management plan with appropriate risk management strategies can minimise costly and stressful problems, and may also reduce insurance claims and premiums.
Risk Management follows a series of steps that develop as a progressive PLANNED approach to managing the risk presented by hazards in your workplace. The strength of your risk management plan relies heavily on how effectively you consult and how well you monitor your outcomes. Contemporary Risk Management Practices have cemented themselves, along with legislation, in the principles of Continuous Improvement.
