The Asset Integrity Intelligence Blog

By optimizing the scarce SME resource time and focusing their efforts, SMEs can spend time on the things that are most important, such as why a problem occurs, as well as identifying possible solutions to problems.

Of the nearly 70 damage mechanisms listed in the latest edition of API RP 571, the highest FEMI risk may be the ones that are highly localized in nature and, therefore, the hardest to find.

Inspectioneering and API have teamed up to create the Mechanical Integrity Professional Initiative. The goal of this project is to raise the benchmark on industry knowledge and develop the next generation of SMEs. We believe that equipping MI...

Engaged people are so much more enjoyable to work with. However, it can have some problems, especially with junior engineers/inspection types.

Every year, Inspectioneering hosts a private meeting to glean insights, feedback, and guidance from our Editorial Board members. This time around we posed several questions, with responses to each summarized in this note from our chief editor.

An approach such as LVC can help enhance API 581 POF calculations for thinning. This method has proven to increase accuracy, precision, and has the flexibility to handle one-off cases that are handled manually today.

The addition of data science into traditional reliability methods allows models to evolve continually and learn, preventing results from becoming stagnant.

This blog will dive into the “next steps” of maximizing RBI programs, specifically how to better quantify the value of inspections and improve inspection handling.

This improved data can help us better predict failure, plan inspections in terms of time and coverage, and identify when inspections aren’t necessarily the right solution for mitigation.

What happens when there are programs no one wants to own and people avoid taking responsibility for them? It is important that people have an understanding of their responsibilities and the accountabilities of the program.

We regularly poll the Inspectioneering audience to help us determine how to best allocate our editorial efforts. In this survey, we asked readers to provide their greatest professional challenges, preferred ways to receive information, and the like.

There is a major difference between fixed equipment mechanical integrity (FEMI) and fixed equipment reliability (FER). It’s important to differentiate between the purpose and reasons for the two programs even when they are often mixed together.

There are still lessons to be learned 48 years after the failure of the cyclohexane plant that led to the explosion that occurred on Saturday, June 1, 1974.

At the end of the day, it is still about people and qualities like trust, integrity, empathy, care for our fellow man, treating others with respect and dignity, passion, strong work ethic and attention to detail, which are immutable.

Complex problems require collaboration between process, operations, maintenance, inspection, and engineering. It is important to establish a sense of trust in your organization and work to avoid situations where "dynamic tension" is a way of life.

Since the pandemic, we have seen stories about the “changing face” of work – work cultures are evolving, flexible working conditions are the new expectation, and the balance of bargaining power has shifted from employers to the employees.