Evolutionary Phases of Project O & M

Lawrence P. Straight, Principal 

The operations and maintenance aspects of a project pass through several distinct, if partially overlapping stages during the effective life of the facility. In each of these stages there is a characteristic set of management imperatives for an O&M organization. Plant management teams that move sequentially through each stage, with a clear understanding of where they are in the process, and that make a conscious effort to focus on the priorities of each phase, in turn, experience the least difficulty in achieving optimum results. The time duration of each of the phases varies substantially between projects and some move more smoothly through them than others, but they are clearly distinguishable nonetheless.

The first stage is the "Startup" phase. During this period the focus of the project is directed toward getting the plant to operate at design levels of production or, in some cases, to operate at all. In general, success during this phase is measured in MW, not MWh and little consideration is given to incremental operating cost. Priorities of the operations organization during this phase are generally dominated by the administrative mobilization, technical training and by defending the future, as perceived by the O&M faction, from the transgressions visited upon it by the EPC faction. Successful completion of this phase by an O&M organization is characterized by:

• An O&M management team that survives the dis-empowering indignities of plant startup with a clear sense of mission, a cohesive vision for leadership and functional, supportive, working relationships between themselves and the plant owners.
• A plant that works well enough not to overwhelm the capabilities of the O&M team and whatever other resources are immediately available at the time.
• An operating team that knows and understands the plant well enough to operate it safely, if not reliably or efficiently.

A computerized maintenance and materials management system (MMMS) installed and functioning to: keep track of spare parts inventory; provide maintenance cost and repair history for each piece of plant equipment; provide an effective method of keeping track of backlog of corrective maintenance, and; provide the framework, even if only partially implemented, for a Preventive Maintenance work order generating and tracking system.

• An orderly warehouse, stocked with the capitalized, long lead time "insurance spares", and most of the ultimate inventory of working spare parts and consumables.
• A procurement system in place that functions smoothly enough, and with short enough approval chains, to assure that additional spare parts and consumables can be purchased quickly and efficiently when their need is identified. At this point procurement activity level is likely still to be high enough that considerable management attention is required to prevent parts deliveries from impacting plant operations.

The second stage we characterize as the "Top Line" phase, as in the revenue line of an income statement. In this period, the operating goal is plant reliability, with results measured as Megawatt-Hours. At this point in the life of a project it is much more important to focus on making a dollar in revenue than to save a dime in expenses. Many projects never complete this phase. O&M Contracts are typically structured with incentives and fees focused exclusively on project revenues. Often, especially if the startup and early commercial operations are marked with plant reliability problems, the O&M team institutionalizes their procedures, practices and resource levels required then and never finds the management impetus to change them. Successful completion of the Top Line phase is marked by:

• Random responses from the plant systems are essentially eliminated. Problems that prevent reliably attaining the optimum revenue for the project are solved. All of the system problems may not be solved, but they should be predictable in their timing and have little effect on overall plant reliability. Forced outage rates should be in the 1-3% range permitting management attention to shift away from immediate problems toward long range business and strategic issues.
• Stable Plant controls. Operator intervention required during steady-state operation should become a noteworthy event. Tuning for fuel economy may not be at absolute optimum, but it should be close.
• Procurement activity diminished considerably. Stocking levels for frequently used parts and consumables should have been established and reordering, if not automatically generated by the computer, should at least be reduced to a manageable routine.
• Regulatory compliance issues essentially settled. Reporting should be routine. If the plant has a CEMS system, its considerable workload should have become part of the regular routine of the plant.
• Management systems fully implemented. There should be a comprehensive annual operating plan, accurate budget forecasts, incident reporting and root cause correction programs in place, along with effective monthly production and budget performance reports.
• Little unplanned maintenance work occurring. Preventive work should represent the overwhelming majority of the maintenance activity and it should be almost completely managed by the MMMS system.
• MMMS system data load that is complete and consistent. The system implementation should provide reliable compilation of maintenance incremental cost, parts usage, failure frequency and repair activity for every piece of plant equipment.
• The plant procedures complete and effectively institutionalizing the best manner to perform all plant routine activities. A regular updating program should be in place, with emphasis on making procedure changes that correct the root causes of any incident affecting plant reliability.

Moving successfully into the third, or "Bottom Line" stage, where the focus can be effectively directed toward reducing operating costs and success can be measured by small improvement in $/MWH for large benefit in return to the owners, depends on successfully attaining all of the conditions listed in the first two stages. Attempting to focus sharply on reducing operating costs, before optimum revenue can be taken as given, is frustrating and generally counterproductive.

It should be the goal of every owner and O&M team to reach this third stage as quickly as possible. An investment made to push the project over the "hump" represented by the demands of the Top Line period will bring the greatest return if made as early as possible. Once this is done, the project participants can focus their attention on:

• Managing major maintenance, such as prime mover overhauls for minimum cost, optimum thermal performance and best reliability.
• Steady incremental improvement in thermal efficiency.
• Reducing overtime to the practical minimum and staffing levels to optimum.
• Optimizing process costs such as for makeup water, chemical consumption and parasitic electrical load.
• Making cost effective modifications to minimize plant maintenance costs and improve plant reliability or thermal efficiency.
• Strategic planning for changing business or regulatory conditions.

The fourth stage, "Maturity" occurs as the plant equipment aging and long term wear requires planning and preparation for major maintenance, and operator attention turns to avoidance of major equipment failures or performance degradation. By this point, improvement in operating costs, while still an objective, recedes in importance owing to the fact that the easy gains should have been made and continued improvement increments are typically smaller for a given level of effort and investment. Plant management attention turns to:

• Strategic planning of prime mover and other major equipment overhauls.
• Age-related failures. Fretting, corrosion, erosion and cyclic fatigue of plant components of heretofore reliable equipment must be inspected for, managed and repaired.
• Countering obsolescence, with attendant loss of support from the manufacturer. Inventory levels of parts may require increases to compensate for limited availability. This is a particular concern with control systems.
• Restoring general degradation of plant exterior surfaces. Painting, re-insulation, paving, cooling tower structures and similar items require attention.
• Combating complacency of the O&M team. After a plant has operated for several years, paradigms become pretty rigid. Any change to routines is likely to be met with great resistance, making improvements difficult. Changes from aging take place over time and warning signs are easily overlooked unless data is compared over time periods longer than the interest spans of most crew members.