May 6, 2022
An early-stage maintenance strategy has a significant impact on the plant’s life cycle costs
The phase in the projects when you engage maintenance experts plays a significant role. When a new plant and its equipment are designed and purchased based on its Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) aspects, you will ensure sustainable production far into the future.
A world-class production organization involves maintenance professionals at an early stage of a greenfield project. These professionals know how to perform life cycle cost (LCC) and RAMS analyses to ensure that all aspects are truly considered when developing a new production plant. Focusing on these aspects in an early phase will have a significant impact on ROI and plant performance.
Up to 80% of plant’s life cycle cost is determined before commissioning
Did you know that over the half of the plant’s life cycle costs are determined before commissioning? That is the reason why every aspect should be thought through carefully already at an early stage. By doing this you can ensure that everything will go as smoothly as possible when it is time to start the production. Otherwise, the likelihood of unexpected situations and cost estimation overruns will increase.
Quant Finland’s Business Development Manager Mikko Haanpää has been involved in developing maintenance operations and strategy at customer’s new plant in Harjavalta, Finland. He tells about his experiences how engaging maintenance experts into the project can make a difference at any greenfield project.
-By involving maintenance professionals already at an early phase of a greenfield project from design, equipment selection & procurement, to construction and finally to commissioning and start-up of the plant, you can ensure smooth ramp-up of production and reach sustainable production levels faster. In addition, involving maintenance professionals in the project will significantly reduce the plant’s life cycle cost in the future, he says.
Quant has been involved in several greenfield projects around the world, and the gained experience is used to support the new projects. Maximiliano Cerveny, Engineering Manager from Brazil, explains what negative effects there might come up, if the maintenance strategy is not clear from an early stage.
-Quant has over 30 years of experience and know-how from supporting greenfield projects in various industries around the globe. We have learned from experience to consider all Life Cycle Management aspects. A late implementation of maintenance processes and strategies with the consequent delay in staff development in maintenance methodologies and practices can lead to a fast deterioration of assets after commissioning and lower plant productivity. According to our experience from a project with an automotive customer, training and development of personnel at an early phase of the project catered for successful start-up of operations, says Cerveny.
For a safe and sustainable production plant
A new plant must be operated responsibly and maintained properly for it to function as planned. Usually the costs of operation, maintenance, and de-commissioning exceed initial investment costs many times over; these costs are often 2-20 times greater than the initial procurement costs of a new plant.
Therefore, any company aiming for a sustainable production, needs to have a clear maintenance strategy, as well as practices, knowhow and technology embedded into their processes to operate a new production plant successfully.
When maintenance is engaged from the start in a greenfield project, the risk of encountering challenges in the start-up phase is considerably smaller. The start-up phase of the project is normally quite complex, and there is a strong pressure to meet the planned project timeline in order to start to get return on the investment. For these reasons it is essential to pay attention to developing maintenance strategies, processes and organization well before the start-up phase.
Some of the benefits we generate in a Greenfield partnership:
Sustainability is considered right from the start with a focus on Life Cycle Management combined with digital analysis and simulation to provide information and options for cost optimization.
We are focusing on Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) and Life Cycle Cost (LCC) already in the design phase and these topics continue to be key drivers throughout the whole project. Experienced and skilled engineers focus on a validated process and the system tools support understanding and managing the Life Cycle Cost (LCC).
Quant is an independent partner who supports the customer also with OEM relations to ensure meeting the long term aspects and the targets of the future plant.
World class maintenance strategy and the implementation of the maintenance processes extend lifetime of the equipment and the whole production plant. Quant as a maintenance provider operates always in sustainable and safe way.
Learn more about Greenfield projects
