WET News

10 WET NEWS february 2015 The training provided a mix of classroom sessions and site-based demonstrations, ensuring operators are now a more confident about their knowledge of the equipment across the asset base. That means every water company needs to fully consider its investment in staff, training and external suppliers to create the optimum team. Planned, preventative main- tenance contracts require an upfront fee to fund regular ser- vice visits, but as Severn Trent Water (STW) has found out, the benefits extend far beyond peace of mind, to significant cost savings. Severn Trent has a total of 140 Hydro supplied DynaSand Filters installed across 41 sites in central England. DynaSand Filters are continuously operat- ing sand filters and are a key element of the tertiary treat- ment process, providing a final polish before discharge to the river system. They are integral to ensuring that Severn Trent maintains water quality within consent limits and some of Sev- ern Trent's DynaSand filters have been in operation for more than 25 years. "Severn Trent Water very much favours a preventative maintenance approach to plant operation," explains Andrew Seed, assistant contracts man- ager with STW. "Over time, the effectiveness of the approach can be seen to pay dividends and Hydro has demonstrated a significant reduction in overall maintenance costs." Lack of knowledge Following a request from Sev- ern Trent, Hydro designed a half-day training session to introduce operators to best- practice techniques for optimis- ing the DynaSand's perfor- mance and reporting problems. "We have undertaken a major project to upskill all our operators and to ensure staff being redeployed to new sites are fully trained in the sand fil- tration equipment," Seed continues. "At the same time we identi- fied that sometimes a lack of knowledge was resulting in inefficient operation of the equipment. In particular, sav- ing costs by reducing power consumption was another important objective. By increas- ing the operators' skill levels, we were able to identify better ways to run the plant. "Feedback from all those that completed the course was extremely positive. There was a good mix of classroom sessions and site-based demonstrations. Operators are a now a lot more confident about their knowl- edge of the equipment and that gives confidence to us, too, that our sites are operating effec- tively," he concludes. Southern Water has recently upgraded its provision for the service and planned mainte- nance of more than 60 Hydro SludgeScreen units installed at 30-plus sites around the region. The Southern Water Assets Team conducted a review of in- house maintenance procedures and the services provided by Hydro's specialist Service Division. Review The two teams worked together to implement key improvements and streamline maintenance efficiency based on key perfor- mance data and to target com- mon root causes for failure. A thorough review identified further operating efficiencies. In particular, an ongoing review structure was developed to increase the flexibility to respond to any need to change procedures during the service period. The opportunity has been taken to include environmental checks to deliver customer improvement such as reduction of nuisance odours. Southern Water's principal legislation officer - assets, Bob Phillips, says: "We are con- vinced of the benefits of planned maintenance agree- ments. They are critical to our operating efficiency. "We were able to agree a plan which considered the total tasks, the scheduled maintenance visits and how critical procedures should be divided between the in- house team and Hydro's service provision. The maintenance provided under the contract has been fully integrated with the important maintenance completed by Southern Water's own staff." Phillips continues: "This provides a total care package that takes advantage of the available skilled resources to deliver efficiencies. Service and planned maintenance sched- ules build certainty into waste treatment plant operation with the consistency of known oper- ational costs. "It means there are no sur- prise equipment failures lead- ing to costly emergency down- time and the need to tanker to other plants. In line with cur- rent strategy decisions, espe- cially with reference to AMP6, we must protect and make best use of the assets of Southern Water. By assets we mean both the equipment to be operated at the lowest possible lifetime costs and the skills of our oper- atives that should also be used as effectively as possible." Site conditions A combination of robust inspection routines, good com- munication along with clear, transparent reporting and doc- umentation all aid the efficient working relationships between the service provider and utility. Hydro wastewater service & warranty manager Neil Hobbs says: "We have worked together with our utility partners to ensure Hydro builds good rela- tionships with the operators on site. Working with the equip- ment manufacturer provides a reassurance of objective, spe- cialist knowledge. "At the same time, Hydro service engineers are familiar with the specific site condi- tions, and the operators know there is someone they can call on. The Hydro engineers can also be relied on to fully understand and comply with site policies, procedures and any risk assessment requirements." Neil Hobbs concludes: "By reducing unplanned visits, a service contract reduces down- time and increases plant avail- ability – particularly important on mission-critical processes. Furthermore, by optimising operating efficiency preventa- tive maintenance programmes can extend the life of the equip- ment and reduce through-life costs." asset intervention measures designed to prevent and reduce the risk of faults, failures or excessive deterioration of equipment. Well-proven approaches such as Planned Predictive Maintenance (PPM), Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM), Total Planned Maintenance, Total Productive Maintenance, or Condition-Based Mainte- nance are available to be adapted or adopted for water company environments. Developing the right proce- dures for each operation will depend on the critical nature of the equipment to be main- tained as well as the preferred management approach. Each area of asset intervention attracts a direct cost through the labour, plant and materials procured. Planned maintenance can reduce or eliminate these costs and manage maintenance against key priorities. Introduc- ing a planned, preventative maintenance approach could: •Minimisethenumberof resource-intensive reactive responses •Cutplanneddowntimeand outages •Extendequipmentlife •Lowerwhole-lifeoperating costs •Protectagainstconsent breaches •Reduceenergyconsumption •Reducechemicaluse •Reducecustomercomplaints Ultimately, it will also lower costs to the consumer, which is possibly the best desired outcome. Delivering maintenance requires the coordination of the people, processes and resources needed to deliver maintenance regimes in the most effective and efficient way. Whether employed directly by the utility, or contracted to a specialist maintenance pro- vider, onsite and field teams delivering comprehensive rou- tine maintenance can enhance process efficiency, extend the lifespan of plant and equip- ment, and drive cost-savings "It means there are no suprise equipment fail- ures leading to costly emergency downtime and the need to tanker to other plants" each area of asset intervention attracts a direct cost through the labour, plant and materials procured a half-day training session introduced operators to best- practice techniques for optimising the DynaSand's performance and reporting problems ONSITE aSSeT managemenT

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