Using Asset Criticality to Move Past

Squeaky Wheel Decision Making

James Kovacevic MMP, CMRP, CAMA, Principal Instructor at Eruditio
www.eruditio.com | 843.375.8222 | Coach@eruditio.com
Hi, My Name is James
Issues With Decision Making

Decisions need to;

• Be data driven
• Support organizational objectives
• Take into account competing
objectives
• Prioritize resource usage
What is Critical?

Asset Criticality
Rank the following equipment associated with the Ford
Pickup "Asset in order
of criticality, with "1" most critical, and “8" least critical.

_____ Windshield Wipers _____ Fuel Pump

_____ Headlights _____ Tires

_____ Brakes _____ Windshield

_____ Seat Belts _____ Air conditioner

Why the Differences?

• Different experiences
• Different objectives
• Different operating contexts
• Different priorities

This is why stakeholders never agree on what asset(s) are the

most important in the plant
iBL™ Project Themes, Plans and Activities
What Level is Criticality Needed At?

• Does your
organization
have asset
data or system
data?
Ensuring Proper Distribution

• Asset Criticality needs to provide a ranking of assets to make

decisions on where to focus resources
• If assets have the same ranking, which one takes precedent?
• If we have decide between assets with the same ranking, it
defeats the purpose of criticality
Criticality Analysis
• Good
– Used Entire Range
• Bad
– Strong central tendency
– Little to no resolution in
over 80% of the group
– Completely random
• Assessment Normally Distributed

– Poor Distribution
Criticality Analysis
Good
– Used Entire Range
– Slightly better than
Normally Distributed
Bad
– 2 major tendencies
– Critical or Not
Assessment Bi-Modal
– Poor Distribution
Criticality Analysis
Good
– Used Entire Range
– Slightly better than
Normally Distributed
Bad
– 2 major tendencies
– Critical or Not
Assessment Bi-Modal
– Poor Distribution
Criticality Analysis
Good
– Used Entire Range
Bad
– Strong tendency to
the left
– Essentially nothing is
critical
Right Tailed
Assessment
– Poor Distribution
Criticality Analysis
Good
– Used Entire Range
Bad
– Strong tendency to
the right
– Essentially everything
is critical
Assessment Left Tailed
– Poor Distribution
Criticality Analysis
Good
– Nothing
Bad
– Strong tendency to
the left
– Didn’t use all of range
– Nothing is critical
Assessment
Right Short
– Terrible Distribution
Is the Ranking Granular Enough?

• Minimum = Square Root of the Size of the Data Set

• Example:
– Equipment Base = 10,000 Assets
– Need 100 “Steps” of Resolution
– 20 Questions with 5 Answers Each Rule of Thumb:
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑡
= 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠& 𝑅𝑖𝑠𝑘 𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒
𝑁𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐿𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑂𝑓
Resolution
Evaluation Criteria
Mandatory Optional
• Maintainability
• Operational Impact
• Accessibility
• Safety Impact
• Spare Parts Availability / Lead Time
• Environmental Impact • Redundancy / Contingency Plan
• Quality Impact • Replacement Cost
• Asset Age
• Repair Time / MTTR
• Reliability / MTBF

Copyright © 2019 | Eruditio, LLC | All Rights Reserved

Ranking Matrix
Weight Category Catastrophic - 4
A failure of this system could
5 Safety Consequences
result in personnel death.
A failure of this system could
Environmental result in a major
4 result in a moderate
Consequences environmental issue and/or
criminal action or fines
Manufacturing A Failure could result in a loss A Failure could result in a loss
3
Consequences of 100% capacity
A failure of this system could
Quality/Scrap Costs
3 produce a defect costing more
Consequences
than $500,000
System is difficult to maintain
- most maintenance tasks
1 Maintainability require use of lifts or booms;
supplier support required to and/or ladders; maintenance
perform maintenance
Accessibility No access to system - in
2 system - small windows of
Consequences service 24/7, 365
Severe - 3
A failure of this system could A failure of this system could
result in major injury to
personnel
A failure of this system could
environmental issue
of 75% capacity
A failure of this system could
produce a defect costing
between $500,000 and
$250,000
System is somewhat difficult
to maintain - most
maintenance tasks require
special tools, harnesses,
engineer required to perform
maintenance
Limited to no access to
unplanned opportunities exist
Moderate -2 Minor -1 Negligible -0
A failure of this system could
result in requirement of Safe A failure of this system will
result in minor injury to
Entry Permit to repair and/or have no safety impact
personnel
wearing PPE to repair
A failure of this system could
A failure of this system could A failure of this system will
result in a localized, but
result in a localized, easily have no environmental
difficult to contain
containable environmental issue impact
environmental issue
A Failure could result in a loss A Failure could result in a loss of A Failure will not result in a
of 50% capacity 25% capacity loss of capacity
A failure of this system could
A failure of this system could
produce a defect costing A failure of this system will
produce a defect costing
between $250,000 and have no scrap costs impact
between $50,000 and $5,000
$50,000
System is not difficult to
maintain - most maintenance
System is moderately
tasks do not require additional No maintainability
maintainable - most
tools, but require special restrictions; operator could
maintenance tasks require
maintenance skills; maintenance perform maintenance
PPE and/or permits;
technician required to perform
maintenance
Limited access to system -
Open access to system with No accessibility restrictions to
small windows of planned
coordination system - accessible 24/7, 365
opportunities exist
Establishing Categories & Risk Levels
Operations Safety Environment Design Maintenance MRO

Operational Severity

Single Point Failure

Safety While Maint.

Spares Lead Time

Asset Criticality
Chemical Spills
Personal Injury

Air Emissions
Fire/Explosion

Maintainability

Failure Rate
Asset
Asset Description
Number

B- 3A Filter feed pump

F3P101APM
P
100 12 0 24 0 30 40 25 20 0 251
B-F3P101A 3A filter feed piping

100 12 0 24 0 30 40 50 20 0 276
B- 3B filter feed pump
F3P101BPMP

20 12 0 24 0 30 40 25 20 0 171
Criticality Analysis
Good
– Used entire scale
– No Mode
Bad
– Nothing
Assessment No Mode
– Preferred Distribution
Real World Example – Phosphate Mine
Phosphate Mine

120

100

80
# of Machines

60

40

20

Criticality Groups
Gut Check. Does Criticality Make Sense?

• Ask the team;

– Does the analysis align with gut feelings?
• If so, why / why not?
– Does the analysis provide good resolution?
• Don’t be afraid to revisit and revise the criteria and ranking
scale if the assets are bunched up
Using Criticality to Drive Decision Making

• Get the analysis results into the

EAM/CMMS
• Use the criticality to make informed
decisions;
– Equipment Strategy
– Work Prioritization
– Spare Parts Planning
– RCA / Continuous Improvement
Activities
Equipment Strategy Development

• Top 20% of assets get an FMEA /

RCM Analysis
• Top 21-40% of assets go through
a PM Optimization analysis
• Prioritized CAPEX for
systems/assets need to be
redesigned/replaced due to the
high risk to the site
• Where does PdM need to be
deployed first?
 Work Prioritization

• Using RIME focus on the most

Criticality Work Classification

Preventive Maintenance & Calibration

Working Condition/Safety/Security
important work first

Project/Capital Improvements
Planned Shutdown Work

Spare Equipment/Parts
– Breakdowns / Unscheduled Work

Product/ Quality Loss

General Maintenance
Potential Breakdown
Reliability Index For Maintenance Expenditures (R.I.M.E.)

EHS/Breakdown

Cost Reduction
– Backlog Management
Criticality
Shuts Down Entire Plant AND Limits Overall Production Output
10 9
10 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 – Scheduling Meeting
Shuts Down Multiple Production Lines, AND Not Limiting Overall Production Output 9 90 81 72 63 54 45 36 27 18 9
Shuts Down One Production Line OR No Critical Spare On-hand 8 80 72 64 56 48 40 32 24 16 8
Mobile Equipment 7 70 63 56 49 42 35 28 21 14 7
Critical Equipment (Spared) OR Support Equipment (Non-spared) 6 60 54 48 42 36 30 24 18 12 6
Support Equipment (Spared) 5 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5
Infrequently Used Production Equipment 4 40 36 32 28 24 20 16 12 8 4
Facilities Equipment OR Non-Production Limiting Equipment 3 30 27 24 21 18 15 12 9 6 3
Grounds 2 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2
Buildings/Offices 1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CMMS Code 1 2 3 4 5
Unplanned Planned
Spares Decision Making

• Which assets are a single point of failure with a large impact on

site output?
– Spares should be evaluated for stocking for these assets
• Which assets have no impact on site output if they fail?
– Spares should be evaluated for reduction in stock levels
Root Cause Analysis

• If it is not an important asset, save the resources for an RCA on

an important asset.
• Prioritize RCA actions such as;
– Training
– Maintenance SOP development
– CAPEX
Get Started with Asset Criticality

1. Define key stakeholders

2. Determine where you are measuring the impact of loss of asset or system
function.
3. Develop a list of criteria that will produce a granular ranking.
4. Develop a Criticality Analysis Matrix and a template to record the answers.
5. Define the system or group of assets to be evaluated first.
6. Select a team of SMEs that will be able to answer the questions in the analysis
honestly. Each department should be represented if possible.
7. Schedule a meeting and gather all of the SMEs
8. Begin the analysis by asking questions on the impact of a factor based upon the
criteria selected.
9. Record the values into the template that was created.
10. Once completed, rank the systems or assets from high value to lower value
11. Act on the analysis!
Asset Criticality Resources

• Podcasts
– Risk-Based Asset Criticality with Suzane Greeman
https://accendoreliability.com/podcast/rir/179-risk-based-asset-criticality-suzane-greeman/
– Understanding Asset Criticality with Susan Lubell
https://accendoreliability.com/podcast/rir/61-understanding-asset-criticality-susan-lubell/
– Using Criticality to Determine Your Maintenance Strategy
https://accendoreliability.com/podcast/rir/using-criticality-determine-maintenance-strategy/
• Blogs
– 3 Ways to Improve Profitability with a Criticality Analysis
https://hpreliability.com/3-ways-to-improve-profitability-with-a-criticality-analysis/
– What is a Criticality Analysis? How does it Work?
https://hpreliability.com/what-is-a-criticality-analysis-how-does-it-work/