RCM Principles Provide Predictive Asset Maintenance Benefits, Cost Savings

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Abstract Since its inception, the drilling industry has grown accustomed to a "fire fighting" culture, facing and solving problems as they occur. A study on reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) proposes to move the industry toward a "fire prevention" culture by transferring technologies from industries like aerospace, automotive and downstream petroleum, to develop smarter equipment monitoring and management systems that enable the improved design, construction, and maintenance of rig equipment. RCM principles have yet to be applied in the drilling industry because of the harsh conditions and repeated movement equipment is subjected to over a typical lifecycle. This study involves identifying equipment on drilling rigs using field-proven radio frequency identifier (RFID) tags, and acoustic and vibration sensors, to measure operational deviations from the baseline. The RFID tags ensure accurate historical data is obtained regarding equipment location and movement. To establish trends, real-time rig equipment data is collected and charted. A web-based application is used to monitor and manage equipment maintenance. Failures that result in maintenance-related downtime are added to the database and the trend is updated. A data analysis model developed using statistical analysis software narrows down potential causes and identifies problem sources. This study clearly demonstrates that significant economic benefits can be realized by applying RCM practices using smart equipment monitoring and management systems for better preventive rig equipment maintenance. Moreover, RCM application using rig equipment data helps achieve asset maintenance goals, including greater safety, longer life, and higher equipment availability and reliability, while simultaneously enabling better quality product development with greater cost effectiveness. Applying RCM concepts to predictive asset management and maintenance adds the following to the drilling industry technical knowledge base: – Industry-proven RCM practices are applied in the drilling industry using rig equipment data to achieve substantial cost savings and other important asset maintenance goals. – Technology transfer concepts are used to identify milestones, measure deliverables and assess the economic benefit from RCM application in the drilling industry. Correlations between operating conditions and equipment wear are developed by considering formation characteristics and revealing operational differences (e.g. top drive mean-time to failure when drilling in hard vs. soft formations).