Asset Performance Management

Introduction

The business of producing petrochemicals in processing units becomes more competitive every day.  These products are sold as commodities on the open market and the production costs are the key drivers to a company’s profitability. Lucrative profits draw competitors into the market, which drives competition amongst producers both old and new.  Certainly new technologies are one aspect of competitive advantage, but in many cases technologies are not the key driver; it’s operating costs. In the process industries, a critical component of operating cost is asset management.

Controlling Risk

How companies manage their physical assets is indicative of how they perform financially in the marketplace.  The best industry performers place a high value on the upkeep of their physical assets. This means that they have high expectations for the performance of these assets in regards to employee safety, environmental responsibility, and production efficiency and effectiveness.  Let’s face it, many of the facilities that we are discussing have been at it for a long time and new entries to the market have the benefit of equipment developed using recent technology. Yet the older facilities are still competitive. This is due to how they manage aging assets.  The basis for many of these asset management strategies is the control of risk. Risk is controlled by a combination of risk planning, risk assessment, and risk management. It is ongoing and it is perpetual. One methodology that demonstrates the control of risk is risk-based mechanical integrity.