Maintenance Organization (Vol.

1, Issue 1) April 2002

EPRI AND SOUTHERN COMPANY BUILD A HIGH ACCOUNTABILITY

MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATION WITH PLANNING & SCHEDULING

Mark DeCoster, EPRI, USA

madecost@epri.com

Randy Jones, Southern Company, USA

.
Dr Mark DeCoster is a Project Manager for
EPRI's Plant Maintenance Optimization
(PMO) Target. The PMO mission is to
develop and demonstrate products and
services that improve use of power plant
maintenance resources and increase
profitability for generation businesses.
Before EPRI, Dr Decoster managed research
projects at General Electric Company.

BACKGROUND

EPRI is a nonprofit organization committed to providing science and technology-based solutions

of indispensable value to its global energy customers. EPRI’s Plant Maintenance Optimization
Target has a mission to develop and demonstrate products and services that improve use of
power plant maintenance resources and increase profitability for generation businesses. Over the
years that included developments in predictive maintenance, reliability centered maintenance and
maintenance work process. These developments have been demonstrated at EPRI's M&D
Center, and are delivered by EPRI's new subsidiary EPRIsolutions.

Southern Company is a super-regional energy company with more than 32,000 megawatts of
electric generating capacity in the Southeast. It is one of the largest producers of electricity in the
U.S. Southern Company brands are synonymous with excellent customer service, high
reliability, and retail electric prices that are 15 percent below the national average. The vision of
Southern Company is "to be the world's best generating company." In the late 1990's Southern
Company focussed on reliability and cost, and established a collaborative project with EPRI to
meet those goals. That project is called the Plant Reliability Optimization (PRO) Program.
While Southern Company implemented a successful predictive maintenance (PDM) program in
the mid 1990's, they needed to optimize and fully integrate PDM into the daily maintenance
process with the PRO Program.

The PRO Program consists of two main processes. The first process determines a maintenance
basis through Streamlined Reliability Centered Maintenance (Streamlined RCM) analysis. A
maintenance basis identifies the right mix of maintenance tasks for each piece of equipment.
Maintenance Organization (Vol. 1, Issue 1) April 2002 2

Even though Streamlined RCM tends to create a strong reliance on Predictive Maintenance
(PDM); the mix can include Preventive Maintenance (PM), Corrective Maintenance (CM), and
Proactive Maintenance (PAM). The second process in the PRO program is the maintenance
work process itself, which includes planning and scheduling. An efficient work process
accomplishes all the work identified in the maintenance basis.

A major challenge at Southern Company is creating consistent high performance at all its
generating facilities. Many of the following processes are presented in the form of company-
wide standards. At the beginning of the PRO Program each generating facility had particular
strengths and weaknesses, as well as different operating missions (base loaded, load following
etc.). The challenge was to improve all facilities to an optimum level with standard systems so
information could be exchanged between facilities.

The final element of the PRO Program is consistency in the maintenance organizations. Roles
and responsibilities of important individuals in each organization are described in this report,
along with the metrics that allow those individuals to achieve optimum performance.

The content of this report is based both on Southern Company specific information as well as
industry generic information from EPRI. In general, industry generic terminology is used
instead of Southern Company specific titles for systems and jobs.

MAINTENANCE MODEL

The overall maintenance model is illustrated below. This shows the maintenance basis on the
left and the work process on the right.

Maintenance Basis
Identifying the Right Work

PM CM
Time Equipment Work Process
Based Failure Accomplishing the Work

S-RCM Work Work Work Work

Identify Planning Scheduling Execution Close-out
Task Type

PdM PAM Continuous

Condition Experience Improvement
Based Based
Maintenance Organization (Vol. 1, Issue 1) April 2002 3

STREAMLINED RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance)

Streamlined RCM analysis is a thorough and proven method for optimizing maintenance for
each piece of equipment, single processes or systems, component types, or an entire generating
facility. The primary objectives of Streamlined RCM are:
• Identify critical systems, subsystems, components, and/or equipment.
• Improve unit availability by preventing critical system/equipment failures.
• Optimize maintenance activities by reallocating PM and PDM resources to critical and high
maintenance equipment to improve reliability and reduce maintenance costs.
• Identify potential operating or design changes that could improve equipment reliability.

In order to achieve consistency between generating facilities, standard criteria for determining
system or equipment criticality were established. Failure of critical equipment results in one of
the following:
• a unit trip,
• derate of a unit,
• safety hazard for plant personnel or equipment,
• loss of critical monitoring equipment (e.g., vital control room indicators or alarms),
• violation of codes, environmental compliance or insurance obligations or other operating
constraints, or
• significant heat rate degradation.

Streamlined RCM tends to emphasize predictive maintenance (PDM). PDM is a planned and
disciplined approach to maintenance activities. It involves equipment monitoring and relies on
the fact that the majority of equipment failures do not occur instantaneously, but develop over a
period of time. PDM is a process which:
• Uses advanced diagnostic technologies, predictive maintenance concepts, and people skills.
• Combines applicable diagnostic and performance data, maintenance histories, operation logs
and design data.
• Promotes timely, economic decision-making about maintenance requirements of
major/critical systems and equipment.

PLANNING AND SCHEDULING

Planning and scheduling are important to the effectiveness of the maintenance work process.
Planning and scheduling:
• Ensure proper usage of maintenance tools (e.g., Computerized Maintenance Management
System, CMMS)
• Optimize use of resources (dollars, people, time, materials, etc.)
• Evaluate and plan all maintenance work orders
• Prepare work packages
• Identify concurrent work opportunities (i.e., work order bundling)
• Manage backlog of work orders and prioritize/schedule same
• Integrate work orders as appropriate into outage planning
Maintenance Organization (Vol. 1, Issue 1) April 2002 4

• Ensure adequate documentation of work order close-outs

• Manage planning for long-term activities (> 1 year) and short- term activities < 1 year

Planning

Some jobs require a minimal level of planning while others that are more complex require very
detailed plans and advance coordination. Elements of a well-planned job include labor
estimates, materials and parts estimates, detailed job steps, contractor requirements, specialty
tool requirements, coordination between internal crafts and with dispatch. The following
procedures describe the requirements for work planning for all work order types.

Typically, the Maintenance Superintendent is accountable for the work planning process and for
ensuring that the planning for the work is completed thoroughly and efficiently by the
responsible personnel This means they must follow up frequently with planners on the status of
the backlog and plan quality, communicate with maintenance supervisors and crews to ensure
that work order plans are complete and useful, and reinforce to other members of the
organization what planners require to do their jobs effectively (such as detailed work order
problem descriptions). In general, the Maintenance Superintendent is responsible for setting
clear expectations for all participants in the planning process.

Minimum Requirements for a Planned Job

The first step in planning is to define the level of planning required for a particular job. Some
jobs will require only a minimal amount of planning, but it is important to define what those
minimum requirements are. The following activities are basic requirements for any job to be
considered truly "planned."
• Ensure the correct equipment identification number is on the work order (this will also ensure
that the correct accounting code is on the work order),
• Prepare a man hours estimate for all crafts involved in the job,
• Determine whether manpower will be available on scheduled dates,
• Create a list of what parts and materials will be required for the job and estimate their cost,
• Determine if the parts and materials are available and order or purchase as necessary,
• Determine what clearances are required and prepare clearance request forms,
• Change the status of the work order in the CMMS to indicate that it is ready to be scheduled,
• Print a copy of the work order, the work order plan and the Planning Checklist and place with
the clearance request form(s) in the job package.

More In-Depth Planning

Some work orders may require considerably more detailed planning. This can include more
research, field job scoping, or troubleshooting the problem with the originating department.
Maintenance Organization (Vol. 1, Issue 1) April 2002 5

Field Job Scoping

Many maintenance jobs would benefit from being scoped in the field. That is, the person doing
the planning should actually go to the job site so that job steps, materials planning and labor
estimates (including even the number of people that can fit into the work space) can be as precise
as possible. Looking at the problem can also help clarify the job priority.

Even for recurring jobs conditions can change. There may be new developments that relate to
safety. Equipment access may be hampered by scaffolding or by new equipment that has been
installed. Equipment may need cleaning or lights may have burned out. Any needs that can be
anticipated, from ladders to power washers, to confined space permits, will speed up the work
and make it more likely that the job will be done correctly and safely.

Responsibilities

As with any process, it is imperative that roles and responsibilities for each person involved in
doing the work, its supervision or planning be clearly defined and communicated. If specific
responsibilities are not defined and documented, it is impossible to hold people accountable for
their part in the process. The more detail that is provided, the more likely it is that the integrity
of the plan will be maintained. Following are sample responsibility definitions for planners and
maintenance supervisors.

Planner Responsibilities
• Closely adhere to the planning process as described in the work process manual.
• Gather all necessary information per the planning process guidelines and develop the job
package.
• Prepare the job package and place it in numerical order (according to work order number) in
the appropriate scheduled week in the file cabinet. Each craft and crew will have file folders
designated for scheduled weeks.
• Review the information supplied by the 1st Line Supervisor in order to identify problems and
suggestions for improved job packages.
• Review run, repair or retire issues with the 1st Line Supervisor.
• Update standard job plans in the CMMS.
• Update preventive maintenance master files to adjust frequencies.
• Return originals of OEM manuals and prints.
• Sample Maintenance Supervisor Responsibilities
• Retrieve the job packages from the file cabinet for jobs scheduled in week one and review
them for accuracy and completeness.
• After performing the work, write comments on the work order plan to include the following
type of information.
• Identify when man-hour estimates were too high or too low.
• Identify if the job steps were complete and accurate.
• Identify if the parts and materials were complete and accurate.
• Identify other job package elements that could be improved.
• Return the job package to the planner.
Maintenance Organization (Vol. 1, Issue 1) April 2002 6

Scheduling Process - Multi-Week Management

The purpose of a multi week scheduling is to ensure that the highest plant priority work is being
completed on a weekly basis and that clarity, consensus and commitment regarding work to be
done is achieved through joint prioritization. Work selected is based on what is important to the
operation of the plant in order to maximize availability and minimize cost. Preventive and
predictive maintenance are essential to accomplishing these goals. Effective long-range
scheduling will aid in ensuring that these activities are accomplished consistently.

The multi week Scheduling Process is a system used to plan and execute all on-line and off-line
maintenance. It is a well-integrated, interdepartmental plan that will promote employees to work
safely without undue interference with normal operations or power generation, and, therefore
will ultimately, reduce the cost per kilowatt-hour.

The process is designed to ensure that the work identified at the initial stage equals the work
completed at the end of the cycle. It also provides clear direction for integrating emergency
work and sponsored* work into the process so that it doesn't adversely impact the schedule. The
Plant would be able to track every job that enters the system from start to finish, whether it is a
modification that is a project with a due date, or maintenance work that is scheduled in a multi
week cycle.

While the Supervisor reporting to the Plant Manager is the primary owner of the P&S (Planning
and Scheduling) Processes, there is a need for support from all other groups on site to complete
the jobs as scheduled in the P&S Process.

Schedules are prepared for each crew for the multi weeks following the current week, henceforth
referred to as Week T4, T3, T2, T1, and T0 (see Figure 5-1). Note that various multi-week
scenarios can exist depending on the unique situation at the plant. Which work will be scheduled
first is a matter of plant policy and joint prioritization, however, it is recommended that
preventive and predictive maintenance (PM and PDM) be the first items included in each of the
multi weeks, followed by higher priority corrective work and capital projects or modifications.
Each week the available labor is scheduled up to the following approximate amounts These
percentage amounts are approximate targets, and are based on experience with smooth running
work scheduling departments. Larger targets are difficult to attain and do not improve the work
flow, smaller targets tend to increase the last minute rush and under-utilize the workforce:
• Week T4: 30%
• Week T3: 50%
• Week T2: 70%
• Week T1: 70%
• Week T0: 100% this is the week work is executed

Work is scheduled against available labor resources, but only as man-hours available vs. man-
hours estimated for jobs for the entire week. Individuals can be matched up with jobs before the
workweek or during the daily scheduling process depending on a craft person's special skills and
Maintenance Organization (Vol. 1, Issue 1) April 2002 7

on coordination with other groups. Specific start dates within the week are not identified unless
they are required for coordination of resources or power production.

The intended outcome of multi week scheduling is published schedules for all Maintenance
crews, Coal and Yard crew, Operations crews and Engineering personnel.

Then, each day during work week T0, weekly scheduled work plus emergency and sponsored
work are combined in a daily schedule that reflects 100% of the available labor for each crew. It
is at this time that matching jobs up with individual craftspeople is finalized.

As work week T0 comes to a close all work incomplete or not started will be "rolled over into
subsequent work weeks. While emergency work must be done immediately, daily and weekly
sponsored work, although sometimes necessary, is costly and frustrating and should be avoided
when feasible.

MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATION
Maintenance Organization (Vol. 1, Issue 1) April 2002 8

Application of the PRO Program varies from one facility to the next depending on size and
operating mission. In addition, each facility has latitude and flexibility in how PRO is
implemented. However, to effectively build an optimum organization, certain minimum
standards were established for all facilities, including the following:

• Planning and Scheduling Organization – A Planning and Scheduling Organization is an

essential component of PRO. As such, Planning and Scheduling Group should be within the
same department as the relevant Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) specialists (e.g., CBM
Coordinator, PDM Specialist(s), Root Cause Analysis Coordinator, etc.). This ensures proper
integration and coordination. Planners are responsible for changing and implementing PMs
as well as pre-planning PMs; including labor, parts, tools, clearances, etc. (the work
package).

• PRO Coordinator – Each plant has a PRO Coordinator to oversee the PRO Program. The
PRO Coordinator integrates equipment data and diagnostic information and assist with many
maintenance decisions. In addition, the PRO Coordinator develops and maintains the
Equipment and Condition Indicators (E&CI) matrix and assures its compliance with the
maintenance basis. He also maintains the Condition Status Report (CSR) matrix.

• PDM Specialist – Each plant has a PDM Specialist to oversee the various diagnostic and
predictive maintenance technologies. In addition, the PDM Specialist trains plant
System/Equipment Owners and other plant personnel as required. Technology owners are
established as needed to collect equipment condition data and make conclusions about that
data.

• RCA Process Owner - Each plant has a RCA Process Owner who oversees Root Cause
Analysis.

• Key Systems – Key Systems are standardized at each plant to facilitate exchange of best
practices and cost information. All plants will adhere to the standards and definitions of
systems and sub-systems. The initial focus of a PDM program is on 10 key systems. There
are several other systems that may also be included in the PDM program during refinement
over time. Those ten key systems are:
• Condensate
• Feedwater
• Boiler/Steam Generator
• Turbine/Generator
• General Service Water
• Air and Gas Flow
• Ash Handling
• Station Service
• Fuel Supply
• Fuel Burning
• System/Equipment Owners – System/Equipment Owners are formally designated at each
plant to actively assist with reliability-centered maintenance decisions and recommend any
Maintenance Organization (Vol. 1, Issue 1) April 2002 9

changes to the overall maintenance strategy for the system/equipment. The

System/Equipment Owners also develop, track and publish system/equipment performance
metrics. These System/Equipment Owners may come from different departments (e.g.,
maintenance, operations, I&C, engineering, etc.). They must possess a strong understanding
of the system/equipment and demonstrate the fundamentals of reliability-centered decision-
making and Condition Based Maintenance.

• Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) – A standard CMMS is

implemented at each generating facility (that currently uses an electronic work order system).
The usage of CMMS will be standardized to ensure that maintenance data and cost
information are consistent. This standardization will enable sharing of cost information, best
practices and personnel from plant-to-plant.

• Root Cause Analysis – Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a normal part of each plant’s
reliability optimization program. If appropriate, there may be an RCA Owner at each plant
who oversees and directs the RCA program and tracks and publishes RCA results.

• Maintenance Training Requirements – A skilled maintenance work force is essential and

the need for individuals to upgrade and learn new skills will continue. Plant maintenance
skills and knowledge are evaluated annually as part of the annual performance management
process. Needs are identified and employees include those needs as action items in their
individual developmental plans.

This strategy is applied in a balanced sense to all the resources at a fossil power plant. In
addition to the plant equipment, those resources include: technologies, people, and process (see
the illustration below). Technologies are for example computer systems and analysis tools that
are used to monitor or analyze plant equipment. Processes are the procedures or work practices
used to manage and maintain the plant. People are the plant staff that use those technologies and
execute the processes. The optimization strategy is applied to all three of these resources to
provide the most benefit.

MAINTENANCE PROGRAM METRICS

The following “metrics”, that is quantitative measures of maintenance performance are measured
at each facility to ensure continued progress and improvement:
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• Annual EFOR and Peak Season EFOR (Commercial Availability may be established later)
• Annual and peak season EFOR targets are established for each plant and for the entire
system. EFOR targets may transition to commercial available targets later.
• Maintenance Cost by Key System or Component.
• Actual-to-Planned Outage Hours for each outage
• Ratio of Proactive versus Reactive Work Order Man- hours. The proactive-to-reactive ratio
should be improved to 4:1
• Number of CMs per Component or Equipment.
• Overtime and Contract Hours.
• Difference between Projected Man-hours and Actual Man-hours for work orders.
• Maintenance (Work Order) Backlog.
• Heat Rate.

SUMMARY

EPRI and Southern Company built a high accountability maintenance organization with a
balanced approach including technologies, processes, and people skills. Key processes were put
in place, including: maintenance basis analysis, and improvements to the maintenance work
process itself. Maintenance basis was established using Streamlined RCM analysis, and the work
process was improved by adding planning and scheduling. Then high accountability was built
into the organization with a combination of metrics and organizational responsibilities.