Oil & gas
Obsolescence management in safety-critical sectors
previously available. It can occur at different stages of the equipment’s life cycle and affects particularly those components that need to be maintained for several decades. Obsolescence causes downtime and loss of productivity as well as increasing the cost for through-life support. In safety-critical industries, such as off-
A
shore oil, obsolescence has to be carefully managed to avoid its negative impact on productivity. Safety-critical industries are highly regulated, meaning that a lot of paperwork and red tape are required for any possible component upgrade. As a result, if an obsolete component fails and a spare cannot be found on the market, redesigning and requalifying processes can cost companies a huge amount of time and money. Let us take the commercial aviation
industry as an example. Many airlines are now using their ageing aircrafts and equipment for longer to control costs and capital investments, which may cause early component obsolescence. Even if obsolete components can be more expensive than the original parts, they will still be much cheaper than replacing an entire aircraft. Another safety-critical industry, the pharmaceutical industry, is growing fast and is deploying cutting-edge technologies, from nanotechnology to 3D printing pills. However, in many pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, legacy equipment is still being used, which causes slow, inflexible and high-risk processes being relied on for mass manufacturing. Despite this, replacing equipment with
newer models is very complex because the sector is highly regulated. If the
Instrumentation Monthly October 2022 ccording to the
International Institute of Obsolescence
Management (IIOM), obsolescence is the unavailability of parts, or services that were
manufacturers keep using legacy equipment, they can avoid replacing an entire production system. Manufacturers may find it difficult to afford both financial and regulatory approval timescale cost to replace equipment. Instead, replacing only the failed components by sourcing obsolete spares might be a simpler and cheaper alternative.
A SOLUTION AT HAND Component obsolescence is inevitable in almost all industries, but that does not mean it cannot be contained. Since many manufacturers in safety-critical industries cannot afford to keep a stockpile of obsolete replacement parts on site for unexpected component failure, it is suggested that organisations rely on a trustworthy supplier. Consider, for example, if a critical component breaks in a food processing plant. Due to the external temperature, the manufacturer has between 12 and 24 hours to find a replacement before the whole production batch has to be thrown away. If manufacturers have a reliable parts supplier which can provide those hard-to-find obsolete parts and deliver them as fast as possible, the problem can be quickly solved.
EU Automation
www.euautomation.com/uk
41
Neil Ballinger, EU Automation, explains why obsolecence management is important and how to plan and manage component obsolescence in safety-critical industries such as off- shore oil platforms and chemical plants.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86
