LyondellBasell management has long understood the relationship between equipment failure and its potential negative impact on business. Loss of human life, production, public image and the associated costs involved in repair, environmental fines and insurance premiums, all potential consequences of asset failure, isn't a plan for business success. Upper management has been a staunch supporter of numerous reliability efforts through the years, even through economic downturns. The large integrated company with 60 manufacturing facilities in 19 countries, on five continents reported combined 2007 revenues of $42.8 billion. Their success in part can be credited to the company's understanding of the potential risk surrounding not taking appropriate action to prevent a failure that could cause danger or damage. (Click here to learn other successful approaches progressive businesses are implementing to ensure peak process safety performance.) Stationary equipment accounts for more than 50-percent of capital maintenance costs and reliability events in many chemical facilities. Unlike rotating equipment which may provide immediate feedback, stationary equipment in most cases provides no online feedback of equipment condition making risk based inspection (RBI) critical to ensuring safety, environmental and production security. With so much at risk, stationary equipment is at the heart of the LyondellBasell RBI program. To a large extent, inspections throughout the industry were previously driven by regulatory agencies prescribing the locations, frequency and methods of inspection mainly on the basis of general industrial experience for the type of equipment. These practices, on the whole, have provided adequate safety and reliability. However, such an inflexible inspection method fails to encourage the analysis of the specific threats to integrity, the consequence of the failure and the risks created by each equipment item. As an industry leader, LyondellBasell Industries recognized the benefit that could be gained from a more informed inspection process and in 2000 began using API RBI interfaced with Meridium to set inspection priorities on the basis of the specific risk of failure, thereby improving the targeting and timing of their inspections and offering the potential benefits of improved health and safety; timely identification and repair or replacement of deteriorating equipment; cost savings by eliminating ineffective inspection; extending inspection intervals; and greater plant availability. Click here to see LyondellBasell's Meridium Conference 2008 presentation featuring the lessons learned, success stories and best practices used by LyondellBasell in the development and implementation of a successful RBI program for stationary equipment. Learn more about Meridium's RBI solution here.
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