Study on maintenance methods in Petrochemical Companies of Iran

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) and Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) are methods, technics and tools which have been widely used in the world class companies. By implementing and evaluating of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and also using the best practice as a benchmarking, companies can move towards excellence and continuous improvement of their business. Production and asset management are two important missions of Oil, Gas, Refinery and Petrochemical companies. Ensuring maximum availability of physical assets and considering critical relationship of the maintenance with the production, increases performance and stability. Using these tools causes optimizing cost and improving productivity. The study examines the situation of aforesaid methods in the petrochemical industry in Iran (50 companies). A ten-year survey data shows that there are the following challenges in the subsidiary firms of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) of Iran: 1-Lack of common vision (no integration among mission, vision, values, and goals) 2-Behavior and work culture (systems thinking, team working, system of recognition and reward, savings, flexibility and alignment, empowering human resources, scientific management, and outsourcing contractors)3-Production supports (maintenance mechanization, standardization, production optimization, and tactics of maintenance, spare parts and tools) 4-Reliability of equipment, team, and process, and also risk assessment5-Process and evaluation (process, planning and scheduling, indicators, evaluation and control) 6-Learning and continuous improvement Comparing with the best practices and regional competitors shows that they are successful in using above mentioned maintenance tools. Results of the above challenges show that their effects are essential on safety, environment, profitability, and employee satisfaction, reliability of production and business requirements.It is concluded that using appropriate maintenance methods and tools can improve reliability, safety, environment, employee satisfaction, and business profitability.

Keywords:

RCM , TPM , RBI , KPI , OEE , and NPC