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A Project is Postponed; How to Maintain Equipment/Warranty?

As many projects across the globe are being put on hold, the challenge is to ensure that assets and equipment are being adequately preserved as per the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) specifications, to ensure the integrity of the equipment and to maintain the warranty.

This equipment can often sit at the site for months while the arduous process of construction completion creeps along. Equipment can also arrive on site months before installation and normal operation and needs to be preserved on a regular basis to follow equipment OEM, regional and seasonal requirements, and modified as conditions change.

Failure to do so will render OEM warranty invalid.

Unutilized and idle equipment laying around the site without routine maintenance is a depreciating asset due to corrosion, moisture, dust and many other factors that compromise the integrity of the assets functionality and yields to additional cost or replacement during pre-commissioning testing.

Preservation Challenges

Equipment and materials arriving on site are constantly being moved, and keeping track of where everything is can be a challenge. Maintaining the preservation schedule can also be very challenging, especially on multiple sites and across multiple phases of the project lifecycle. Poor preservation management and improper preservation routines will lead to equipment failure, repair costs and delays.

This is further exasperated by a lack of planning, organization and software.

Intergraph Smart Completions is a powerful solution enabling companies to define their preservation strategies, apply a recurring schedule and track completion and compliance on a day-to-day basis. All preservation functions are tracked from shipment, storage and installation through startup and operation.

The Smart Completions Asset Preservation Plan Manager is designed to assign, schedule and track “preservation plans.” A preservation plan is a collection of preservation tasks to be performed on a piece of equipment either during its shipment and/or storage onsite prior to its installation. The intent is to ensure equipment warranties are being met and are not voided. The preservation module provides traceability and provides reporting on who and when each preservation task was performed.

Easily end tasks when the preservation process is complete directly on a mobile device for real-time preservation management.

Such functionality adds not only productivity but project governance accountability to asset preservation efforts, including traffic lights for any past due activity. Reports are generated on-demand to show the progress of preservation activities and can be included in final Turnover documentation.

The benefits of implementing proper preservation procedures are clear: By strengthening operational and safety performance, operators and contractors can minimize downtime and maximize productivity.

Protecting Your Start-up Schedule

By adopting the robust digital management preservation module within Smart Completions for the lifecycle of the project, from fabrication through to commissioning, it is possible to reduce downtime and, in turn, loss of normal production. This can help contractors and operators be more confident that they have fully protected their assets and equipment.

Read the complete white paper here.

About the Author

Paul is a Senior Application Consultant for Hexagon’s Asset Lifecycle Intelligence division with 30 years of industry experience. He supports the entire North American organization, providing pre- and post-sales support including implementations, configuration and technical expertise to Intergraph Smart Completions customers. His experience ranges from hands-on practical technical experience through to formal leadership roles and strategy development, working with clients across the entire project lifecycle to ensure successful planning, execution and operations. His varied background covers consultancy, project management, technical and operational support in oil & gas, mining and renewables. He lives in Calgary, Canada.

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