Preventive Maintenance for Electrical Reliability: A Proposed Metric Using Mean Time Between Failures Plus Finds

Electrical reliability can be measured by taking a systematic approach to documenting preventive maintenance (PM) records with a metric derived from its discovery finds. These finds, however minor, are leading indicators of equipment failures. Therefore, documenting and reviewing them can justify electrical PM programs, measure PM effectiveness, and optimize PM intervals. The investigation of a refinery process upset brought on by electrical equipment failure due to inadequate maintenance is often required for the benefits of electrical PM to be realized as a good business practice. When electrical repairs and PM results are consistently collected and effectively reviewed, the measure of a refinery's electrical reliability is realized. The result is a data set that is presentable and understandable to refinery leadership. When this metric is introduced to other refineries enterprisewide as a comparative key performance indicator (KPI), electrical PM becomes a supported and institutionalized program that leadership identifies as paramount to business reliability.