Such was the case at the Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem), where asset availability and uptime remained below targeted levels in relatively new plants. Management was frustrated with the difficulty in achieving the high level of performance needed to compete in world markets.

Established in 1999, Sipchem began producing methanol, butandiol, and tetrahydrofuran in Jubail, Saudi Arabia in 2004. The Acetyls Complex began producing acetic acid and acetic anhydride in 2009. Downstream products now include ethylene vinyl acetate, low-density polyethylene, ethyl acetate, and butyl acetate.

During the early years, plant trips were too frequent, and plant personnel could only react to process disruptions. Even with thousands of smart field devices generating ever-increasing volumes of data on the condition of critical production assets, no effective method was in use to apply that information to prevent unexpected equipment failures. In addition, personnel had no good way of knowing if routine maintenance was being carried out too frequently or not often enough. Nor could they easily identify the `bad actors’ − those few machines and field devices that cause the most problems.

There were plenty of questions including:

• How can maintenance practices be changed to produce better results?
• What equipment fails most often and what’s behind that failure frequency?
• Which assets represent the greatest risk to availability?
• Are maintenance dollars being spent correctly to achieve high reliability?

For answers, Sipchem turned to Emerson Process Management’s Asset Optimization Services group to help improve plant performance. In the last four years, this group has performed Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) on all existing production units at Sipchem, covering approximately 20,000 assets.

This work, which began in the Acetyls Complex, involved validating information that had already been entered into the SAP Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and including many more assets, some of which were purposely omitted from SAP when the plant was built. Also, the general terminology (rather than tag numbers) used to describe assets was confusing. That created a real problem for the maintenance organisation because there was no way of tracking many of the maintenance procedures, and no idea where maintenance dollars were being spent.

In the end, some 5,000 assets listed in the Integraph Intools software, which was used in designing and starting up the complex, were properly identified and transitioned into the CMMS. Asset Ranking criteria were developed initially as a part of the RCM process. Every asset was ranked according to its importance in maintaining product throughput, quality, safety, and environmental compliance. Among the highest-ranking assets were: the reactor area UPS distribution panel; the `blowdown drum’ pump motor; crude pump motors; and a flash column side draw pump.

Figure 1. Sipchem’s Jubail Complex finds that Emerson’s AMS Suite predictive maintenance software helps to prevent unexpected shutdowns.

Figure 2. Comparative maintenance costs for three different plants.

Those high priority assets now receive immediate maintenance when necessary, while those of less importance receive attention commensurate with their criticality ranking. With all of these assets now in the CMMS, we are able to provide more effective maintenance for the entire Acetyls Complex. This is the essence of reliability centred maintenance. At the same time, a very complete record of all maintenance activities is kept and continually updated.

Need for Asset Monitoring

Most of the field instrumentation at Sipchem incorporates predictive intelligence, and our new maintenance programme utilises the diagnostic information derived from those smart field devices. This has involved implementing Emerson’s AMS Suite predictive maintenance software, which was initially installed on-site but not fully utilised. This software provides easy access to the field-generated data via the DeltaV™ digital automation system. In this way maintenance and control room personnel can obtain real time performance information from any specific smart transmitter or control valve at any time.

This software continually monitors the online devices and raises a Status Alert when the performance of any device, or the equipment to which it is mounted, falls below a prescribed norm. Maintenance and reliability managers can evaluate the situation and estimate whether deteriorating equipment needs immediate attention, or they can allow it to continue running − with maintenance to be performed at the next scheduled shutdown.

Knowledge is the key for the predictive maintenance strategy under which our plants operate today. Our managers are now able to make informed and timely maintenance decisions, improving reliability and increasing plant availability.

Predictive maintenance has proved to be less expensive over the long run than preventative maintenance and far less costly than reactive maintenance, where personnel rush to remedy unexpected equipment failures with no long-term strategy. Figure 2 shows comparative maintenance costs for three different plants in 2010 and 2011. As indicated, costs were reduced significantly in every plant.

Asset Performance Management

Another part of the Emerson solution is designed to give management a much better understanding (plus documentation) of what is happening in the Sipchem production units by automating the flow of data from the field to our business network. To accomplish this, Sipchem chose to implement Emerson’s AMS Suite: Asset Performance Management, built on Meridium’s APM software. This application is capable of processing the huge volumes of field-based information being collected.

AMS Suite APM integrates predictive intelligence with asset reliability information and delivers accurate data to the CMMS. This enables creation of precise maintenance orders based on the criticality ranking of the assets, giving us a powerful tool to improve the performance of the equipment that is most important to plant reliability.

This software, which can be customised for each user, features a Device Dashboard providing an immediate view of asset performance, availability, and maintenance in each plant. Also displayed are historical charts showing monthly results for overall equipment effectiveness, availability, and maintenance costs. Designed for easy navigation, this system allows users to obtain greater detail on any of these factors.

Without doubt, asset ranking helps us shine the reliability spotlight on assets that need our attention from both the operational and maintenance perspectives. Failures are tracked, so the ‘bad actors’ that occupy so much maintenance time and expense can be spotted and replaced. Some of the frequently failing assets we were able to identify included a carbon dioxide compressor seal, catalyst recycle pumps, high pressure methanol feed pumps, and high pressure reactor feed pumps.

We also identified some of those elusive ‘performance gaps’ that often cause process plants to ‘typically operate 20 per cent below full production capacity,’ according to the Boston-based ARC Advisory Group [1]. One performance gap that was identified by this system and subsequently corrected involved tar receiver pumps.

Benefits

• Predictive maintenance helps prevent unexpected shutdowns and allows poorly performing assets to be repaired or replaced at the next scheduled maintenance period.
• The Asset Ranking criteria developed by our joint Reliability Team is used in virtually every facet of reliability improvement.
• Sipchem reliability personnel are able to quickly access information from multiple plants and view reports in near real-time.
• Maintenance is improved by creating and using KPIs to measure, track, and evaluate the performance of each plant.
• Identifying and replacing `bad actors’ has had a strong positive impact on maintenance and reliability.
• Active alerts have been substantially reduced.

Figure 3 shows how “active alerts” were essentially eliminated in six different production units during the summer of 2012 after AMS Suite APM was implemented.

Figure 3. “Active alerts” were essentially eliminated in six different production units during the summer of 2012 after AMS Suite APM was implemented in June.

Conclusion

Real-time analytics and the reporting of overall plant health provide management with answers to many questions regarding production assets in complex systems. Repetitive tasks are eliminated, recurring problems are identified and corrected, reactive maintenance is a thing of the past, and operating practices are improved. The Sipchem Jubail Complex now has the foundation to be a world-class chemical production facility.

»»This article has originally been published in Chemical Processing Magazine (www.chemicalprocessing.com).

NEWS

SKF Successfully Closes Offer to Acquire Kaydon Corporation

»»Gothenburg, Sweden, 16 October, 2013: The SKF Group today announced the successful completion of its all cash tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Kaydon Corporation (NYSE:KDN) for USD 35.50 in cash. SKF expects to complete the acquisition of Kaydon later today through a merger under Section 251(h) of the Delaware General Corporation Law. – I am delighted that Kaydon and its employees will be joining the SKF Group. Kaydon brings to SKF a highly complementary product portfolio and an improved customer and geographic presence. They have a strong leadership team, as well as highly skilled and qualified employees, says Tom Johnstone, SKF President and CEO. – This acquisition fully supports SKF’s strategy to become a knowledge engineering company and will enable us to even better serve our customers and distributors around the world. Kaydon is a diversified industrial manufacturer with three distinct business areas: friction control products (primarily bearings), velocity control products and specialty products, including environmental services. Kaydon has a global footprint with 62 % of its sales generated in North America, 24 % in Europe, 12 % in Asia Pacific and 2 % in the rest of the world. In 2012, the company had sales of USD 475 million, with an adjusted operating profit of around 16 % and has over 2,100 employees. SKF expects to achieve annual cost synergies of USD 30 million and sales synergies of USD 50 million over the next several years. This will be achieved by leveraging synergies in cost and purchasing, in distribution and sales channels and by utilizing the combined manufacturing foot print. The tender offer expired on 11.59 p.m., Eastern Time on 15 October, 2013, and a total of 25,463,526 shares were validly tendered into and not validly withdrawn from the tender offer, representing approximately 77.1 % of Kaydon’s outstanding shares on a fully diluted basis. The condition of the tender offer that a majority of Kaydon’s outstanding shares on a fully- diluted basis be validly tendered and not withdrawn has been satisfied. As a result of the merger planned later today, Kaydon will be a wholly owned subsidiary of SKF from 16 October, 2013 and will be reported outside the existing business areas. All remaining eligible Kaydon shares will be converted into the right to receive USD 35.50 per share in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes, the same price that was paid in the tender offer (eligible shares exclude those for which holders properly demanded appraisal under Delaware law). Following completion of the merger, the common stock of Kaydon will cease to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange and will no longer be listed. »»Further information www.skf.com