Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability Engineering

Today, plant managers responsible for refineries, petrochemical plants, power plants, and other process facilities are looking for innovative ways to maintain high plant availability, reduce operating costs, and optimize capital expenditures. ARINC, a world leader in reliability and system engineering, helps these managers achieve their goals by performing reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) engineering evaluations and consulting. Our RAM services include:

• Plant Availability Studies—We perform detailed RAM assessments and benchmarking that includes creation of plant/system availability models, identification of potential RAM improvement areas, performance of failure modes and effects analyses, and identification of component failure root causes. We then identify modifications that eliminate the root causes of failure, assess the impact of these modifications on unit availability, and compare results with industry best-practice metrics.
• Assessment of Alternative Processes—We conduct detailed assessments of alternative process technologies submitted by prospective vendors, survey current users of similar prospectives for component problem and failure data, assess the expected availability of the competing technologies, and provide realistic, expected RAM metrics for each alternative.
• Human Reliability Assessments—ARINC assesses human interaction with systems, equipment, and devices to identify potential areas affecting equipment reliability, plant availability, and personnel safety. We conduct task analyses, perform event tree analyses, assess procedures and training, and review root causes of failures to determine the potential for human error. Our assessments provide cost-effective recommendations, which can contribute to improved on-stream factor, reduced maintenance costs, and increased safety in the workplace.
• Probability Risk Assessments—ARINC uses probability risk analysis to determine the frequency of occurrence of process plant flare relief scenarios. Fault tree analysis is used in combination with event tree analysis to determine the frequency of occurrence of event combinations that will lead to relieving scenarios. We focus on the most probable scenarios and then utilize plant safety criteria to reduce design effort and optimize capital expenditure.
• Capital Improvement Projects—ARINC prepares availability models for new or revamped units based on the design package and interviews with plant process, operations, and maintenance personnel. We evaluate the benefits of design alternatives that affect capital investment—such as pump sparing, equipment bypasses, and modifications. We then develop measures, such as procurement requirements and maintainability guidelines for critical components, and make recommendations for the final design that optimizes capital investment.
• Independent Engineering Design Audits—By performing mechanical engineering, process, and safety audits of manufacturer and contractor designs, we verify compliance with owner and industry standards and uncover potential problems while designs are still on paper.
• Training—ARINC provides training in RAM techniques and applications for plant personnel. We tailor customer-specific courses, including reliability-centered maintenance, root cause analysis, fault tree and event tree analysis, and availability assessments techniques. This way our customers learn to build these techniques into their own processes.