Abstract
This paper analyses the use and possible application of the concept of the maintenance free operating period (MFOP), derived from the aviation sector, in the mining industry. The traditionally used reliability requirement, mean time between failure (MTBF), has been found to have several inherent problems with its application and definition. These problems are explained in this paper. It also provides a brief overview of the field of physical asset management (PAM), the overall domain of the research, and thereafter provides a characterisation of MTBF and its current use in the mining industry. MFOP is then introduced and contrasted with MTBF. A methodology for the analysis of MFOP performance is introduced and then applied to a case study conducted at an Anglo American platinum mine.
Highlights
In the current extremely competitive industrial environment, optimised maintenance decisions and programmes are becoming increasingly important to asset-centric organisations
Another development stemming from the aviation sector is a new reliability metric called the maintenance free operating period (MFOP), defined to address some of the inherent problems associated with the application of mean time between failure (MTBF)
The Laplace trend test is commonly used for this; it tests whether a trend is present in a data set, and thereby determines whether the data follows a homogenous Poisson process (HPP) or a non-homogenous Poisson process (NHPP)
Summary
In the current extremely competitive industrial environment, optimised maintenance decisions and programmes are becoming increasingly important to asset-centric organisations. Heng et al [1] state that, in 1981, plants in the United States had already spent more than US $600 billion to maintain their critical plant systems It is a massive industry, in terms of expenditure, and in terms of maintenance activities; it needs optimised maintenance activities to gain maximum benefit for the operator at the lowest cost. This vital industry recently saw the creation and implementation of the British Standard Publicly Available Specification 55 (PAS 55), which deals with PAM.
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