Industrial Automation

and Optimisation

Advanced
Control-System
Maintenance
Solutions
MAINTENANCE
WHY FOCUS ON MAINTENANCE
Investment in maintenance activities is unavoidable.
Even with the best intentions and designs, plant
equipment will still wear out over time and require
additional investment.
Deciding on which maintenance regime to adopt for
a particular plant is not straightforward, as there are
many factors that impact the extent and nature of
maintenance strategies.
Essentially there are two major approaches to
maintenance: reactive and proactive.
In a reactive scenario the focus is typically on managing
cost down. Every dollar spent on maintenance is
considered a loss to the company. In its most basic
form the role of maintenance in this scenario is to
keep the lights on.
In the short term a reactive approach may suffice,
but experience shows that over time the impact
of failures tend to be compounded, driving plant
running costs up, and plant availability down.
In proactive scenarios maintenance is treated as
a strategic tool. This approach, if implemented
correctly, could create significant competitive
advantage over time.
That said not all proactive maintenance actions are
positive. Consider for example the case where routine
maintenance is unnecessary. In these circumstances
the equipment may still be in good running order,
and active servicing may inject failures through faulty
replacement parts or human error.
While there is no one-fits-all solution to planning
an effective maintenance campaign, there are
considerations that could help steer decisions.
Safety
Clearly a proactive approach is favored when personal
safety is at stake. A reactive approach could lead to
significant disaster to life and property. An example
is replacing the brake linings on a vehicle as part of
proactive maintenance plan.
Proactive measures are available to constantly
measure and monitor safety in the plant. Every alarm
on the system is an indication that someone’s safety
might be at risk.
The concept of safety extends to both tangible and
intangible assets. A proactive approach could help
ensure that the necessary measures are in place
to safeguard physical assets as well as intellectual
property.
Moore | 2
GOOD MAINTENANCE PRACTICES
IDEAL MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES
Design maintainability into the plant upfront
During the design and construction phases the
emphasis is on process and system design. This is the Asset
Management
ideal opportunity to embed tools and systems in the
architecture in order to facilitate effective longterm
plant maintenance.
Co Safet arks
mp y
Confirm that asset efficiencies and performance lia
nce n chm
Be
conform to specification
When plants come on-stream for the first time asset Op l
ti tro
signatures should be captured so that a baseline Ma mize C on
na d A s
of good performance is recorded. Performance in gem lar ces lity
en m Pro tabi
later years can then be benchmarked against these DC t S
SH e
signatures to detect degradation. Ch ealt -lin
eck h On port
s Op
tim Su
p
Maintain plant control systems pro-actively cy
Sp ized
a rgen e
While break-fix activities can never be eliminated, Ho res e s
ldi Em spon
Financial a far more effective maintenance regime entails ng R e
There are many financial factors to consider routine, proactive checks of system health and
when making maintenance decisions. Some preventive actions to keep system releases and
examples include: patches up to date.
• A proactive approach could yield significant
returns when plant downtimes and startups Maintain plant system safety
Results
are costly. Invariably changes are made to systems to stabilize
• Conversely, it may be better to adopt a plants, and sometimes simply to ‘get the plant going 99 Safer plant operation.
reactive approach in certain plant areas again’. If these changes are not periodically reviewed
the safe design and functioning of plants could be 99 Visibility of all asset efficiencies and
where, for example, it is not feasible to hold downtimes.
costly spare parts. That said the lifespan compromised. Regular checks identify weak links
of critical equipment could be extended and poor change-management practice. 99 Management reports on the
through sensible and informed servicing Train personal and provide on-site expertise effectiveness of the maintenance
approaches. Regular training ensures staff are confident to strategy.
• Complex processes favor a proactive manage and maintain their plants. At times it may be
approach due to the high level of interaction necessary to bring external experts to site to provide 99 Lower maintenance spend.
between plant components, and the expert opinion and assistance. 99 Improved effectiveness of system spare
propensity for instabilities to accelerate
Monitor and report deviations in plant performance holdings.
equipment wear and tear.
Plants invariably wear over time. By tracking
Conclusion 99 Focused maintenance expenditure on
performance over the long haul any deviations from
A well-considered maintenance approach assets causing lost production.
expected performance is flagged and reported.
that focuses on the big picture could create
competitive advantage by balancing plant Adapt maintenance to the new plant configuration 99 Improved root-cause analysis.
demands with available financial resource and Plant configuration and performance parameters 99 Improved product quality.
management focus. This could entail a sensible may be affected by refurbishment activities. Once
combination of both reactive and proactive refurbishment work is completed performance 99 Minimized production downtime.
strategies. parameters should be re-calibrated and appropriate
changes made to maintenance planning if necessary. 99 Improved plant uptime, yield, and
Regardless of the approach adopted, it is
incumbent on management to understand the profitability.
efficacy of the current maintenance philosophy,
and the potential value that could be created
through a strategic approach when planning
maintenance.
Moore | 3
OUR SERVICE PROPOSITIONS AND THEIR IMPACT

OUR SERVICE ACTION AND IMPACT

Reactive Proactive
PROPOSITIONS Break/Fix
System Uptime Proactive Safety Asset Efficiency System Security
Not essential to production Essential to production

Telephone and email 99 Remote expert guidance to solve

support non-urgent issues.

Remote-access and online 99 Remote expert intervention to 99 Experts assist remotely to

support solve non-urgent issues. minimize the impacts of outages.

99 Engineer deployed to site to

Next-business-day support solve non-urgent issues.

Scheduled site 99 Engineer deployed to site at an

agreed date to solve non-urgent
99 Regular reviews of the system
lower the risk of unexpected
interventions issues. shutdowns.

24x7 emergency 99 Remote expert guidance to solve

telephonic support urgent issues.

99 Emergency mobilization of
Service- Emergency site call-outs engineers to site to solve urgent
issues.
based
Solutions Minor enhancements
99 Minor changes to control strategies are tested beforehand on simulator equipment at our offices to reduce the
risk of unexpected, adverse impacts on the real plant environment.

99 The latest software bug fixes 99 The latest software patches and
Software maintenance reduce the probability of enhancements ensure up-to-date
unplanned plant shutdowns. cyber security is in place.

99 Regular review of hardware faults 99 Regular reviews of hardware help

Hardware maintenance lowers the risk of unexpected to limit the probability of plant
plant shutdowns. disasters.

Periodic system health 99 Regular review of system faults

lowers the risk of unexpected
checks and reports plant shutdowns.

99 We determine the optimum spares holding for the system, and monitor site draw-down. This ensures there’s a
Spares review greater likelihood to have the appropriate spares to hand in the event of system hardware failures.

99 DCS and operator training (either in-house, or on site) has a positive impact across the board, depending on the nature of the training and the audience. Frequency of training plays an important role to keep knowledge fresh, and
Training to keep up with the latest developments with the control systems.

99 Constant monitoring of assets 99 Constant monitoring of assets

Equipment Condition identifies impending failure, and identifies impending failure, and
Monitoring (ECM) gives maintenance chance to
intervene.
gives maintenance chance to
intervene.
99 Benchmark against international
Package- Alarm Management (AM) standards for health and safety,
and manage alarms effectively.
based 99 Greater operational stability
Control Performance
Solutions 99 Improved control-loop stability on a plant-wide scale reduces wear and tear, thus reducing the probability of means more can be squeezed
Management (CPM) equipment failure, and improving plant uptime. out of existing assets, without
increasing input costs.
99 Understanding assess downtime
Downtime Reporter provides insight into bottlenecks,
and focuses maintenance spend.

Moore | 4 Moore | 5
MAINTENANCE SUCCESSES
EMERGENCY SUPPORT CONTRACT
Petrochemical Refinery
Scope: 24/7 x 365 Compressor Control Emergency Support
Moore is contracted to provide ongoing emergency support to a large
petrochemical company. The support is primarily for compressor
automation and control.
Due to the our expertise in providing compressor anti-surge and compressor automation and control
systems the client has contracted Moore as the last line of defense in preventing shut-downs or damage
to the expensive machinery.
The contract allows the client to attempt to solve the problem first and normalize the situation. However,
if the issue escalates to the point of impending damage or lost production the client can call Moore to
provide emergency assistance and expertise.
The reason Moore was chosen for this contract is due to the high level of commitment we have shown
over the past three decades. This has instilled a deep sense of trust with top management. Given the
critical role compressors play in a refinery, it was a natural extension of our services to be more intimately
involved with improving plant up-time.
REMOTE SUPPORT FOR OFFSHORE PLATFORM
Offshore Production Platform
Scope: 24/7 x 365 Remote Support to an Oil & Gas platform
Moore is contracted to provide remote support to a production
management system that is offshore Canada. The client has provided
Moore with remote log-in credentials and through this Moore is able
to pro-actively provide fixes to the system without physically going to site. This saves approximately 16
hours of travel time to get to the remote location.
To date a number of fixes and improvements to the system have been provided via this remote link and
has saved the client delays and travel costs.
Client quotation:
“I am pleased with the support provided by Moore for the Deep Panuke PIMS. Whenever there were
technical issues Moore helped us with their expert knowledge to resolve them successfully.”
Moore | 6
ENGINEERING SUPPORT
Fleet-wide FPSO
Scope: Next-business-day support for 11 FPSOs around the globe
Moore has been contracted for a number of years to provide technical
support to a growing number of FPSOs in this client’s fleet.
The support includes telephonic and email support to resolve critical and non-critical FPSO issues.
Copies of system configurations are kept at our offices, and hence we are able to replicate issues. When
we are confident that we know how to resolve the issue we guide on-site, offshore client personnel
through the implementation fixes.
The client also makes use of the service-level agreement to carry out proactive health-care checks, and
to review their critical spares holdings. These checks ensure that the equipment needed to safely shut
down the processes to prevent damage or oil spills has been recently checked. System-level errors and
issues are examined and resolved during these routine checks.
Client reference:
“ Moore has been providing support to our FPSO since 2006, on which we are proud to say we had a up
time of 99.999%. Throughout this time we did a couple of big projects which was dealt with the required
professionalism that is needed to stay competitive with the demands of the oil and gas industry.”
PRODUCTION-MANAGEMENT SYSTEM SUPPORT
Major Colliery
Scope: Plant-wide Production-management system support
A global mining concern has contracted Moore to provide remote
support of its production management system. This entails a remote
log-in system that allows Moore to provide system support and fixes
when general issues need resolving, or when system enhancements are required.
Client reference:
“The service provided by the engineers at Moore is incredibly pleasing, considering the amount of
changes that the system required on the downtime reporter in preparation for the software upgrade.
Moore team was always willing to assist.
With the downtime reporter being used to identify root-cause analyses, action plans are put in place to
address any deviations identified and this has resulted in improved plant performance.”
Moore | 7
 Key Clients: Contact us:
South Africa:
Head Office (Johannesburg)
info@moore.co.za
Tel: +27 (11) 466 1673

(Vanderbijlpark) - Tel: +27 (16) 932 4471

(Secunda) - Tel: +27 (17) 631 2744
(Westville) - Tel: +27 (31) 003 3100

USA (Houston)
info@moore-us.com
Tel: +1 832-299-6759

Europe (London)
info@moore-eme.com
Tel: +44 777 265 1605

Singapore
info@moore-sg.com
Tel: +65 6742 0776

Moore is an equal-opportunities employer.

We are ISO 9001:2008 and OHSAS 18001:2007 accredited, and IEC 61508 and IEC
61511 certified.

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