Thesis
Formulation of a conceptual framework for maintenance strategies : a case study on UK North Sea oil and gas industries
- Creator
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2017
- Thesis identifier
- T14640
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 201356500
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- Maintenance has been linked with costs and plant downtime, which makes it thought of as being a necessary evil. In recent times, reliability, availability, and safety in plant production have been more emphasized, particularly in hazardous working environments. Companies are now increasingly replacing fire-fighting maintenance approaches with more proactive maintenance strategies, such as predictive and preventive maintenance, in order to attain world-class performance with huge plant efficiency and high safety performance.This master thesis aims to investigate what the issues are that are hindering North Sea Oil and Gas Companies from achieving a more proactive maintenance approach. The common maintenance strategy in today's North Sea Oil and Gas is a reactive approach, where events and failures dictate pace, although there have been on-going changes that have been put in place to adopt a more preventive and proactive maintenance approach. This master's thesis would serve as a foundation for developing North Sea Oil and Gas' maintenance strategy, which will guide oil and gas companies toward a preventive and proactive maintenance environment.Different research methods have been used in this thesis. These include an extensive literature study, a systematic review of literature, interviews with maintenance personnel, and a review of a case study examining companies' documentation and benchmarking practices. In order to perform an accurate comparison between companies, a benchmarking tool was developed. The tool is called Maintenance Section Review (MSR). The MSR consists of questions within the areas of: maintenance structure, maintenance training programs, work orders, planning and scheduling, preventive maintenance (PM), spares inventory & purchasing, computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), operation, maintenance reporting, predictive maintenance, reliability & breakdown, maintenance - key performance indicators (KPIs), and financial planning. All questions generated are justified according to the published literature.This thesis provides results showing that highly reactive approaches are common in the maintenance department. This is evidenced by the average score from the MSR on predictive maintenance, with a value of 1.2. Some other key aspects identified as lacking or behind include planning and scheduling, maintenance reporting, inventory and purchasing, reliability and breakdown, and maintenance structure. There is also room for improvements in cooperation and communication between the maintenance department and production department, which would contribute to a more proactive working environment. The maintenance department is often left out of projects and is seen as a separate supporting function. The benchmarking has shown that successful companies need to change their approach in communication between departments and should focus on an integrated approach. These findings later formed the basis of the Shareholder Focused Model which has been developed to guide North Sea Oil and Gas in developing a maintenance strategy.The Shareholder Focused Model has been developed as part of this thesis. This is mainly based on the research findings relating to the factors that are impeding the maintenance department from maximizing their productivity. This model was developed as a form of guidance to maximize productivity.
- Resource Type
- DOI
- Date Created
- 2017
- Former identifier
- 9912557680302996
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