Figure 1: This steam leak is clearly suffering from improper insulation, as well as improper design. This leak is not only a waste of energy; it will, sooner or later, result in unscheduled equipment downtime and is an obvious safety hazard.

While the benefits of equipment reliability are most noted for reducing the cost of maintenance, the benefits of reliable assets reach far beyond the cost of eliminating emergency and demand maintenance. Working for a previous employer more than 20 years ago, I was involved in an effort to improve the reliability of individual assets by searching through our maintenance history for areas where we were spending the most time and money with regard to emergency/demand work orders. In wrapping up each project, we highlighted the benefits and savings derived to drive home the point that equipment reliability would deliver more than a reduction in maintenance costs. For each project, we would report the following information:

• Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) in the months before the project and following the implementation.

• Number of maintenance man-hours dedicated to maintaining the asset 12 months prior to the start of the project and again in the months following implementation.

• Parts costs before and after the project.

• Energy usage/costs in the 12 months prior to the start of the project and usage in the months following implementation.

Nearly every time our teams reported this information in meetings to management I found it interesting that someone would comment that the savings and increase in productivity were significant but that the energy savings were insignificant.

– As a company we generate our own utilities, so the 25 percent reduction in energy usage for this asset will not result in a cost savings to the company. Unless the savings were significant enough to warrant the shutdown of one of our boilers or turbines it would have no impact on the company bottom line.

I believe one would now get a totally different response should they be able to reduce energy consumption at any manufacturing facility. Regardless of one’s beliefs with regard to global warming, reducing energy consumption is the right thing to do, especially when we can show that this reduction in energy consumption is a by-product of improved equipment /manufacturing reliability.

As reliability engineers and consultants, we find it exciting that nearly every major company in the world includes pages regarding energy efficiency and environmental responsibility on their corporate websites. We’re excited because we know that reliable systems, reliable processes, and reliable assets are both energy efficient and environmentally responsible.

In our book Clean, Green, & Reliable, we focus on ten of the most common industrial systems and the equipment utilized in these systems to address specific reliability tasks and technologies that yield improved reliability and “bottom-line” energy savings. We take an in-depth look at systems, including electrical power distribution, air handling, compressed air, steam systems, hydraulic systems, air / gas conveyance systems, and refrigeration systems, to name a few. In this article, we will highlight a few of our findings from researching and reading about the various reliability tools and methods that made general claims regarding energy savings.

Steam systems

In the world of manufacturing, we tend to use steam for an unlimited number of uses, from turning turbines to create steam to heating our buildings for comfort. Steam is often the choice because it is relatively simple and can be a somewhat reliable source of energy. If the words relatively simple and somewhat reliable seem cautious, it’s because many of us tend to take steam for granted. There seems to be a mentality that concludes, We have steam readily available in the area for use in our process, so why not take advantage of it being there and use it for as many things as possible.

This is where the trouble begins. In designing the steam header for your process equipment, one would hope that your engineers performed the proper calculations for the steam and condensate loop that included temperature, pressure, density, volume, heat, work, and energy. Performed properly, the calculation ensures we have the right amount of steam and energy available for manufacturing. Any additions to this system that demand steam will impact this system and may have an impact on its original intent. While this all would seem to be common sense, those of us who have worked with manufacturing companies around the world can all share stories of unreliable and inefficient steam systems.

Figure 3: Continuous Improvement Cycle

The steam leak pictured in Figure 1 is just one example of the thousands of steam leaks we see at plants around the world. It is quite clear that this system is suffering from at least a few of the common mistakes we see with steam and condensate systems. It is clearly suffering from improper insulation, as well as improper design. This leak is not only a waste of energy; it sooner or later will result in unscheduled equipment down-time and is an obvious safety hazard.

Refrigeration systems

Refrigeration systems are very similar to Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, in that most cases are ripe for changes in design and maintenance practices that will have a direct impact on the reliability and energy efficiency of the asset. Likely because refrigeration systems are a key element in most HVAC systems, they are seen as a utility, and people as a rule want comfort and functionality over efficiency. We simply want utilities to work, and when they do we forget about them. Refrigeration systems are comprised of some form of combination of condensers, compressors, evaporators, valves, absorbers, pumps, and chillers, which presents many opportunities to optimize the efficiency of these components.

Contamination is one of the major defects of refrigeration systems. When a chiller operates with contaminated refrigerant, performance will decline, power use increases, and operating costs have the potential to increase exponentially. Contamination can be air, oil, moisture, dirt, or acid. If contamination is not detected and addressed, catastrophic damage can result.

The most common contaminant in refrigerants is oil. ASHRAE research project 601-TRP sampled refrigerant from 10 randomly selected chillers and concluded that most contained excess oil, even though three of them had recently had their refrigerant recycled.

Of the ones that were recycled, the study showed oil content of 3 to 7 percent in the refrigerant. The other seven samples showed contamination levels ranging from 9 to more than 20 percent. Typically, little is done to identify and remove excess oil from chillers until it becomes a major problem. Why is this? Well, it is because oil on the refrigerant side typically does no damage to the system, gives little indication of its presence, and generally has significant costs associated with detection. It typically isn’t until performance has significantly degraded that oil is suspected.

Sustainable results

We hold a core belief that if doing something doesn’t provide a return on investment then it is likely not worth doing and certainly will not be sustainable. Everyone knows the old management adage that says, You can’t manage what you don’t measure. In other words, unless you measure something you will never know if it is getting better or worse. Savings can occur in the form of either repetitive, reoccurring savings or one-time savings. Recording before and after measurements are critical to eliminate the possibility of misrepresented or even unnoticed savings.

Measurement systems should be put into place to collect data and express results as standard key performance indicator (KPI) metrics. These metrics will be compared to benchmark data to help the organization evaluate and measure progress toward its defined goals.

It is important to communicate these metrics and the success of the programme both up and down the organization. People want to know how things are progressing and certainly like hearing the good news and how they are helping the organization become more efficient and environmentally responsible. With energy management metrics in place, your organization will begin to recognize the directly proportional relationship between equipment reliability and energy efficiency.

A great place to start selecting KPIs for your energy management should be from a scorecard that is used by your company to track energy costs (an example scorecard is shown in Figure 2). These types of scorecards should not only exist for the entire facility but also have the ability to drive down to specific areas, systems, and even the equipment level. Initially the thought might be that this information is hard to gather and requires substantial time. In reality, it couldn’t be easier utilizing the technology readily available today. In fact, in most cases you probably already have most if not all of the data needed, and it would take little additional time for the few additional data points to be collected.

We understand the key elements in sustaining positive results. The major elements we have discovered over the years involve impacting the entire organization’s beliefs and behaviours related to energy management.

To maximize sustainable results, it is imperative that your organization assumes ownership of any improvement initiative, process, or programme. Like many initiatives, energy management isn’t any different; behavioural changes are required, which leads to culture change. To sustain this change, everyone must be an active participant in development and implementation.

Beliefs are vital to the ability to change and must be modified prior to any behaviour change. Education and knowledge transfer are keys to changing beliefs. The most effective way to sustain change in your organization is to impact each and every level of the organization.

Figure 2: Energy Management Scorecard

Continuous improvement

The moment you stop looking to improve is the moment you open yourself up to competitors making inroads as they find ways to improve quality or reduce costs. Perfection will never be achieved, and thus improvement is always possible.

The continuous improvement cycle is an effective team-involvement tool and forms the basis for a lessons learned database and best practices, which are continually reinforced at the leadership level and reflected in changed KPIs, updated business processes, and continual modelling and monitoring.

Rigorous application of the continuous improvement cycle often realizes step change, while sharing lessons learned through a knowledge-management system ensures that change is sustained, despite leadership changes or staff turnover issues.

For more information on our research findings and how you can improve your company’s reliability through good energy management practices, pick up a copy of Clean, Green, & Reliable. This is a book about common sense. It’s about doing the right things for all the right reasons. It’s about making more with less and each of us doing our part to make our manufacturing companies more reliable, energy efficient, cost effective, and competitive.

[References]

Douglas J. Plucknette and Christopher A. Colson,Clean, Green & Reliable: A Sustainable Reliability Guide For Industrial Plants, reliabilityweb.com

Press, Florida, 2013, ASHRAE Research Project 601-TRP, “Chemical Analysis and Recycling of Used Refrigerant From Field Systems”

About the Authors:

Doug Plucknette is a Principal and the RCM Discipline Leader for Allied Reliability Group, creator of the RCM Blitz® Methodology, author of Reliability Centered Maintenance using... RCM Blitz, and co-author of Clean, Green & Reliable. Doug has been a featured speaker at conferences around the world and enjoys training and mentoring people in reliability tools and methods. www.rcmblitz.com

Chris Colson is the Director of Operations for Allied Reliability Group and co-author of Clean, Green & Reliable. Chris is a member of the Association of Energy Engineers and is a Certified Energy Manager. He is also an active member of the Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP) and served as SMRP’s M&RK Body of Knowledge Committee Chair from 2010 through 2013. Chris is passionate about improving operational capacity through equipment reliability and has written and spoken widely in the reliability engineering field. You can follow Chris on Twitter (@colsonchris) and learn more about the services Allied Reliability Group provides by visiting www.alliedreliabilitygroup.com .

Doug Plucknette

Principal,

Allied Reliability Group, USA,

plucknetted@alliedreliability.com

Chris Colson

Director of Operations,

Allied Reliability Group, USA,

colsonc@alliedreliability.com