Happy New Year!!

The start of a new year is always a time for personal reflection. A time to take a moment and look back on what has been accomplished and what is planned for the year ahead.

For plant and facilities professionals, it should also be a time for operational reflection. What have you accomplished and what is the plan for the year ahead? Often, this early in the fiscal year, CapEx budgets aren’t approved yet so it’s a good time to begin addressing M&R items. Production may have slowed over the holidays, so an opportunity exists for testing critical components in your electrical distribution system. Some plants schedule shutdowns over the holidays and the new year is the time the plant is brought back on line. With that shutdown freshly in mind now is a good time to consider what went well. What could have gone smoother? What issues were uncovered? How should they be addressed?

Have you had a chance to review the plant single line? What changes were made last year? What changes or demands will the new year bring? Is the arc flash analysis and labelling up to date? Are their growth plans for the future? NFPA-70E recommends that arc flash studies be updated when a major modification or renovation takes place and at intervals not to exceed 5 years. Often the focus during renovations and plant upgrade is on resource limitations, budgeting, and tight schedule constraints and the impact of the changes on the incident energy levels and future maintenance safety is set aside. The start of a new year is a good time to revisit these changes and plan appropriately to ensure the safety of plant workers moving forward.

How’s the facility’s power quality been? With the trend shifting towards Distributed and Dispersed Generation and new energy efficient electronics the issue of Power Quality is taking on newer dimensions and creating a host of new challenges. Power quality is another often overlooked aspect of plant operations. During the busy, high production cycles of the year problems are often addressed with temporary “band aides” and the root cause ignored to keep production flowing. Once again, the start of a new year often provides an opportunity to revisit those issues and begin planning for longer term solutions.

If the plant is already up and running, an infrared study can help identify loose connections, overloaded equipment, and many oil filled transformers have provisions that allow for sampling while energized. Power quality studies and arc flash studies can often be updated with little or no impact on operations and help employee safety decisions. Having extra trained eyes on the equipment and systems can help identify weaknesses and points of failure.

Over the past several years most organizations have experienced labor and material issues. Add to that the number of experienced workers who have retired. How quickly can those position be filled? Will the replacements be qualified? Is there a plan to refill them? How quickly can you get someone up to speed? Being short staffed typically leads to a reactive maintenance mode. Partnering with an experienced engineering and testing contractor can help fill those gaps. Building a relationship with an organization you can trust and with the technical and engineering skillsets you need can help alleviate some of the stress and provide “boots on the ground” to make your job easier. Start by finding a qualified testing company, an engineering or electrical firm that specializes in testing and maintenance. They can help evaluate your distribution system, advise you on what testing is available and help customize a testing program to meet your needs and resources. A great first step is to find an InterNational Electrical Testing Association (NETA) accredited company. These firms are independent third-party testing companies with trained and certified technicians who test to established standards. They can help you evaluate your system, develop a proactive M&R program focused on improving uptime with fewer unplanned interruptions and a healthier bottom line.

Have you found a moment to take a breath, review your accomplishments from last year and thought about your resolutions for the new year?