Hi, Good day to all,

i would like to know if you have a draft for vibration analysis services, with KPI as the bench mark /gauge for us to provide the services. I believe there should be penalties and bonus if KPI was the concerned. i.e service purchase agreement. What are the key point we should remember / slot in the agreement. I did propose money back guarantee if any unplanned shutdown for the equipments monitored under vibration analysis service. The kpi i propose was = Total actual running hrs / total planned running hrs = uptime (availability)

if i would appreciate if you can direct me to the right person, to draft a good service agreement for vibration analysis services/Pdm services. Of course, it should defined by the customer, but it would be better if we make a move by having a common /general draft before it finalized by the customer.

Thanks in advance,

Usaha Tegas Reliability Services Sdn Bhd
Joe Ilankovan
Operation Manager
31,Lorong Teluk Batu 2, Batu 4 1/2,
Off Jalan Kebun, Kampung Jawa,
Section 36, 40470 Shah Alam,
Selangor DE
tel: +603- 51610822
fax: +603-51610787
mobile: 6012-3099336

Dear Joe,
In my view, Vibration Monitoring (or any CBM/PdM) does NOT influence availability, it only identifies the likely 'time of failure'. I would argue that if you guaranteed availability, you will lose money for no technical fault of yours. The quality/timing of lubrication, alignment, rigidity of foundation, operating philosophy etc. are the determinants of availability, not CBM.
The success of vibration monitoring depends on our ability to 'catch' a degradation process that has already started. The starting point of the degradation is a random event, and that is where the expertise of the CBM vendor comes in.
So a much more representative KPI would be the ratio of the number of failures 'caught in time' by Vibration Monitoring to the total number of failures in a given time period. You can play tunes on this theme by biasing it with weights for criticality of items 'caught'.
I will be happy to develop this theme by vetting your draft contract (on a commercial basis) off line. Regards.
V.Narayan.

I would be very careful to tie myself to uptime or availability.

Why? in general these formulas depend on data of at least two parties, maintenance and operations.
Another player in the game would be Procurement. Imagine low equipment availability because a certain part did not arive on time.

And everybody wants to cover himself.

You will spent time playing detective and have lots of discussion about mere numbers, that everybody manupilates his way.

Once we caught operations filling in fake mechanical delay hours. An on-site portable generator was not working. The cause, no fuel....

By Vee ...
[In my view, Vibration Monitoring (or any CBM/PdM) does NOT influence availability, it only identifies the likely 'time of failure'.]

Vee, this is all dependent on your definition of availability. In many companies availability is defined as something like ...

"The probability that a system is operational when called upon to perform its function."

This means that when a CBM process finds a developing fault it can often be programmed to be repaired when the equipment is not being called upon, e.g. at weekends or other periods when the equipment is not required.

Bryan,

If you use BS4778 or BS5760, Reliability is the probability that a system will perform its prescribed function ....... In the case of non-repairable items the availability i.e., the item is operational when required has the same value as the reliability or survival probability at that point in time. In this case, the definition you offer has the same sense, but this applies in the special case of non-repairable items.

But when you talk about CBM, we are talking about repairable systems, even if the component being monitored, e.g., a ball bearing is itself non-repairable. All that CBM can do is to predict when the bearing is likely to fail. With this knowledge, one can take actions to e.g., replace the bearing at an opportune moment so that the adverse effect on system avilability is minimised. But CBM is only one step along the way; the decision to replace the bearing and its timing, or the strategy, is what determines availability.

All knowledge is power and I have no doubt that CBM provides valuable knowledge. Hence it can be a useful aid (within the limits I had stated in my earlier note) to reduce downtime, improve quality and hence raise availability. But it is just a means to an end, and one that must be used correctly.

V.Narayan.

I would argue that the primary goal of a vibration monitoring program should be to identify unhappy machinery and correct its problems before the problem ever progresses to a failure. For example, with vibration analysis, one can identify unbalance and then add a balance weight to make the fan run smoother or one could identify a pump running too far out on its curve and cavitating and then correct the problem (maybe a plugged suction strainer) before the impeller is trashed, identify a flimsy structure and fixe it before it causes bearings to fail, etc.

The secondary goal of the program should then be to identify failures early in the game and allow for them to be fixed during a planned downtime.

I would also argue that the end result of both goals should be a better running plant with fewer unplanned outages and fewer surprise failures. However, I would be hesitant to guarantee uptime improvement or to otherwise tie a proposal to an availability improvement due to the other factors that are out of my control (mentioned by other posters) but could affect my income.

I guess that KPI's could apply in vibration analysis for a services business. You should find guides lines in the ISO 9000 application guide. Working in a plant, we do not have KPI's related directly to vibration analysis but vibration analysis is a tool to achieve production and environment KPI's. If an equipment would fail, than vibration analysis will have to answer why and work to find any corrective action.
J-Marc