How can you reduce marine operations maintenance downtime?

Regular Maintenance and Inspection: Implement a proactive maintenance schedule to identify and address issues before they lead to downtime. Conduct routine inspections of vessels, equipment, and infrastructure to identify potential problems. Predictive Maintenance: Utilize predictive maintenance technologies, such as condition monitoring sensors and data analytics, to predict when maintenance is needed based on equipment performance data. Spare Parts Management: Maintain an inventory of critical spare parts to minimize delays in case of equipment failures. Ensure that spare parts are readily available and properly labeled for quick access.

Ensure your maintenance schedule covers all equipment that is on the vessel not just a generic maintenance schedule. It must be vessel specific. Adhere to the schedule that includes maintaining, inspection and working hours. All equipment has required maintenance at specific hours. Don’t forget to include the interior into to the maintenance schedule. Showers, sinks, toilets, blinds, electric curtains, galley equipment, air handlers, and so much more. All of these failures will stop effective operation of the vessel.

Marine operations are always on tight schedule with continuous & efficient service requirements without any time margins. Still considered reliable safe operation due to adherence to standard operating procedures and planned maintenance schedules. Both SOPs & PMS need continual improvement based on own operational feedback as well as overall industry experience and latest technological intervention.

Planning ahead can help prevent breakdown is correct but what we face on board is shortage of spares and long lead time to get a few spares. For a few pieces of equipment on board, OEM spares are not supplied which actually helps in deterioration of equipment. Good upkeep of equipment between the surveys is extremely important as life of equipment will prolong due to these efforts. In order to minimize the impact of unforeseen events filling the log book in the most truthful way as possible, without any falsification can help understand a few problems in the machinery. Engineers on board are like doctors, machinery on board are like patients who need constant care and their problems need to be interpreted in the best possible way.

No.1 Good quality maintenance program. Unfortunately today majority of programs are too complicated, too many unecessery functions with too many filters. Screen full of unnecessary data. And at the end between so many unnecessary data few vital are always missing. This softwares are developed by software engineers which doesn't have any idea what vessel needs. Nobody is advicing them properly or their companies are not even trying to get proper guidance but sell on market what they think vessel needs. No. 2 trained personnel. Unfortunately many courses are of little help. Wrongly selected courses.

Preventive maintenance - never ending discussion Check and confirm that the maintenance task specified in your PMS corresponds to the manufacturer's manual including the service letters. In many cases the description of the tasks are very generic doesn't corresponds exactly to your equipment type and model. Perform FMEA (failure mode effect analysis) study on each critical/vital equipment of your vessel or offshore unit. Update your PMS job description and intervals with outcomes from FMEA study. Keep always the vital stock of spares based on the results of the FMEA study and manufacturer's reccommendation. Use condition based maintenance where is found feasible. Keep the equipment redundancy on a level high.

Preventive maintanence as per maker's recommendation. Carry out maintanence in right schedule time. Use of proper spare parts from maker. Well educated and knowledgeable personnel to carry out the work in line with maker's guidence.

To clarify my statement before. The best and most important thing in order to reduce maintenance down time is to have good quality maintenance program. That is saving money, reduces down time. Additionally, strong office with technically educated personnel and employes that served on board in senior officers position. No. 3 good purchasing department which can provide spares from original makers and high quality consumables. If nothing from above exist, the battle is list in advance.

Preventive maintenance is one of the very effective ways to save cost, effort and time. This involves a regular checkup rounds to get to know the machinery that you handle in a very ‘personal’ way. This also involves planning and ordering for critical spares ahead of the time it is needed.

- Regular Inspections : Conduct routine inspections of all equipment and systems. Look for signs of wear, corrosion, or any other potential issues. Addressing small problems early can prevent them from escalating into major breakdowns. - Predictive Analytics : Utilize data-driven technologies to predict when maintenance is needed. Sensors and monitoring systems can provide real-time data on the condition of critical components, allowing for timely intervention before a failure occurs. - Fluid Analysis : Regularly test and analyse fluids like oil, coolant, and fuel. This can reveal early signs of potential problems in engines and hydraulic systems, allowing for proactive maintenance.

I am already underway developing such a system. Soon in a couple of months it shall be ready for installation. Muhammad Jawad

Implement digital tools such as predictive maintenance software to monitor equipment and forecast potential breakdowns. Use sensors and IoT devices to collect real-time data on the condition of machinery and systems aboard vessels. Analyse the data with AI algorithms to identify patterns that precede equipment failures. Schedule maintenance activities proactively based on insights gained from the data, rather than relying on reactive or routine schedules. Employ remote diagnostics to troubleshoot issues without the need for immediate on-site presence, reducing downtime. Utilize mobile maintenance applications to allow crew members to report issues and receive guidance on-the-go.

Introduction of predictive maintenance.Using of software and other automatic functionaries to record the performance parameters and decide the status from these feed back.

Maybe part of above us thruth. Are you aware that many big companies which call themself industry leaders has locked on board computers to access internet. Practically beyond all technology we have today, our some companies has strict internet policy in way that we can not approach to internet. Only few sites on white list.

Digital tools go along way in helping us understand the machinery quite better. They act as our extra pairs of eyes, ears and hands in the man-machine interaction. They can detect changes in the physical world and alert the operator when deviations occur. The trust we have in them has even helped us to scale down the required personal. Some of the problems associated, 1. Digital tools/sensors are also instruments that require constant care and maintenance. If not taken care, they can paint the wrong picture. 2. Appropriately skilled personal to take care of these instruments. 3. The choice, placement and usage of these digital tools in the overall system design, philosophy should be made understood to really make good use of them.

I consider myself fortunate to be part of a company that places a high emphasis on staff training, particularly in the complex and demanding field of marine operations for LNG tankers. Our company regularly updates us on the latest marine engineering standards, practices, and technologies. This targeted training ensures that we are well-equipped to perform our maintenance roles efficiently, thereby minimizing downtime. We are provided with opportunities to earn relevant certifications and qualifications. This not only boosts our professional development but also ensures that we meet and exceed industry standards, which is crucial for compliance and risk mitigation.

Any successful organisation has well thought plans for drill/exercises along with regular training of manpower, own or outsourced. Supervisors are not only trained in their own functional requirements but also to evaluate & assess training needs of all his reportees. Functional and behavioral trainings are planned for each worker based on need assessment.

Extremely important to have trained and well qualified staff to evaluate and identify operating conditions of machinery to be able to operate the equipment closest to the normal operating conditions to avoid unnecessary surprises. Constraints faced by companies in recruiting the right people and lack of training plays a major role leading to unnecessary breakdowns and downtime in addition to other factors like improper PMS, not using OEM spares, overloading the equipment etc.

Well educated, knowledgeable and well conversant staff can avoid unwanted downtime by following proper procedure. Upgradation and updating of knowledge is an essential factor.

Correct, but som companies have 80 % of training that can not be used on our work. Many different human relection courses, psychology etc. Where are technical courses which we need for our development. Almost not exist.

Outsourcing maintenance for vessels with busy schedules and short port stays can assist reduce downtime, enhance dependability, and cut costs, particularly for essential machinery, auxiliary engines, and main engines. Choose a qualified provider, define the scope of work, establish clear communication routes, and track the provider's performance. Maintain an effective scheduled maintenance system (PMS) to keep track of all maintenance details. Even with limited port time, outsourcing maintenance can assist guarantee that vessels are adequately maintained.

In busy schedule it helps. Hovewer after period of time some companies are reducing on board personnel to very minimum as consequence of outsourcing. That decreases safety and downtime is at the end increased. Remaining crew is overloaded.

Outsourcing certain preventative maintenance task - Vibration Analysis for CM, Infrared Thermography etc. NDT inspections etc. The Class Society has a list of approved companies that can perform specific technical task and expertise

Outsourcing is a contentious issue. It leads on the one hand to reducing crew manning. It does however help to reduce the downtime, by increasing manpower. If used constructively it can improve vessel reliability, efficiency and safety. However, if used destructively it will lead to a reduction in company equipment knowledge and experience. This in turn will lead to a reduction in reliability, efficiency and safety. It is of critical importance that the onboard crew become specialist (not 'egg spurts') in the operation and maintenance of their equipment. When deep sea, they have to rely on their own knowledge and expertise to prevent, and if necessary, overcome possible breakdown difficulties.

Outsourcing is a great way to save cost on the long run. They can be hired when the need arises and this reduces the staff required for daily operations. The available staff can focus on regular operations that is more critical.

Insure you have enough Spare Parts in stock, you can troubleshoot all you want but if you don't have the Parts to make repairs Downtime, NPT, Non Productive Time cannot be avoided and will cost you $. Lot's of Companies see it as Dead Capital but it is investment that in the end pays off

I believe good reporting during the inspection and regular inspection as per the maker's manual should be carried out. As the saying goes prevention is better than cure, so if something small gets caught during inspection we can attack that when it is small and don't have to worry about it getting big.

Know your machineries well. Go for trainings and always have the operating manual ready in control room for referencing. Never under estimate a broken extra screw, bolt and nuts found lying near the machineries. Refer to the manual and find where it come from.

- Environmental Impact : Ensure that maintenance activities comply with environmental regulations and best practices. Avoiding environmental incidents can prevent costly fines and damage to your company's reputation. - Feedback Loop : Establish a feedback loop with your maintenance team. Encourage them to report on maintenance activities, provide suggestions for improvement, and communicate any challenges they face in the field. - Performance Metrics : Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of your maintenance strategies. This could include metrics like mean time between failures (MTBF) and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

For low life-cycle cost (LCC), high LC reliability, availability and performance (RAM), company-wide integrated system logistic engineering approach must be employed. This needs a fully fledged failure recording, analysis and corrective action system. A business oriented IT database, competent engineering staff, electronic and input logging of events and failures, electronic condition and performance monitoring/logging systems. Management of spares inventory, with acquisition prompting. Every aspect/system/equipment must be encompassed, to fully record the vessel's RAM. Repairs and maintenance conducted to at least the same standard as the OEM. This caters for all levels of short-, medium-, long-term and overhaul/replacement upkeep.