Effective Maintenance and Reliability Strategies

It is well understood that the true cost of deploying an asset goes way beyond the cost of the initial acquisition. Operating costs (i.e. installation, operating and maintenance) as well as costs of non-conformance/unplanned outages (production disruptions, regulatory conformance) have the potential to significantly skew the total cost of ownership.  According to ARC Advisory Group, unscheduled downtime costs downstream refining and chemical manufacturing facilities $20 billion a year or approximately 5% of yearly production.

To get a better handle on the asset’s total life cycle cost, companies are working towards an asset performance management (APM) regimen where maintenance is based on performance monitoring rather than on fixed operational schedules that may or may not reflect the actual state of the equipment.  This approach is supported by findings from NASA and the US Navy that indicates that only 18% of equipment failures are associated with runtime (or its age).  The balance is due to random causes associated with how assets are operated.  The shift from a corrective and preventative approach to a more predictive maintenance strategy, when executed well, reduces the need for reactive maintenance and unexpected repairs leading to a much more manageable overall cost of ownership.

Whether your maintenance and reliability strategy involves planned turnarounds or actual performance monitoring, Protectoseal can play an important role in helping you execute your best in class program.  Because our extensive line of vapor and flame control safety equipment are some of the highest performing and most reliable in the industry, they may already be deployed in your current tank management system.  With that being said, this equipment, as with all equipment, wear over time and usage.  To return them to peak performance, critical wear and tear components need to be inspected and replaced as needed, with only genuine factory replacement parts.  Installing new sealing diaphragms on a pressure vacuum vent has a direct impact on leakage and helps to reduce unnecessary product loss and/or VOC emissions.  Inspecting and replacing (if necessary) the arrester element on a flame or detonation arrester is critical in ensuring that the equipment when called to, will function to properly stop a potentially catastrophic flame propagation event.

Protectoseal makes this replacement process easy by offering quick ship options direct from the factory, as well as through our Authorized Repair/Replace Centers. Contact us below to order genuine replacement parts for all of your Protectoseal vapor and flame control equipment.