Job Level Expectations

Reliability Expectations
These expectations help us achieve high availability and reliability. For the lower levels of the organization, it is important to know what each job function's role is in order to achieve the desired results. This document is written from that perspective and it outlines some thoughts on what that might look like. This meant to generate discussion more than be the comprehensive list of all things that should be done.

Basic Principles

• Know the limits of your equipment and monitor it carefully
• Take immediate action to return within your limits when you go out
• Problems can be identified and corrected before they become catastrophic if the people who spend the most time near the equipment (operators) are properly trained and actively looking for problems
• Do not do work which has little or no impact on safety, the environment, reliability, and/or quality.
• Plan your work – get ready early
• Do not compromise reliability to save money [Contrary to popular belief, improving reliability often does not require additional investment]
  
• Think ahead
  
• Develop long term plans for your equipment
  
• Identify critical (high impact) equipment and put more focus on it
  o Watch it more carefully
  o Put priority on repairs when it breaks
  
• Execute work efficiently according to your plans and schedules
  
• Be aware of risks, don’t try to eliminate them but keep them at some acceptable level (low).
  
• Eliminate the bad actors which drive your costs up or drive your reliability down.
  
• Reinvest some of your expense savings into eliminating additional bad actors.
  
• Drive costs out of your business where you can do so with little risk.

What am I expected to do?

Outside Operator:

• Pass by all equipment at least twice per shift. Observe (look, listen, feel) equipment in a structured way.
  
• Make an assessment of equipment condition (normal, making funny noises, cavitating, vibrating, etc) and report any abnormalities
• When problems occur, perform basic troubleshooting tasks and attempt to correct the problem. (Example – you hear an unusual noise as you pass a pump. You attempt to locate the source of the noise, you attempt to determine why the noise is occurring and you attempt to stop the noise by checking the position of the suction and discharge valves, looking at the pump indications, making sure there is oil in the pump).
  
• Share findings/issues/concerns with the appropriate equipment specialist (maintenance first line supervisor, unit senior machinist, unit senior instrument technician, etc).
  
• Write detailed work orders when equipment problems occur so that the repair team understands what you saw, heard, smelled and what actions you took to try to correct the problem, and the results of your basic troubleshooting.
• Take care of your equipment:
  check/change the oil
  follow the operating procedure
  equalize run time on spared equipment
  
• Give a thorough, complete, structured handover to the next shift at the unit. Make sure you receive a complete, thorough handover when you take over.
  
• Prepare equipment for maintenance 1 – 2 days before the repair is scheduled. Review your preparations with the maintenance first line 1 day before the scheduled maintenance to make sure the equipment is ready to work. Console Operator
• Maintain unit operations within the boundaries defined by safety, reliability, and quality (within the operating envelopes)
  
• Identify deviations from targets/envelopes, understand why the deviation is occuring, take action to correct.
  
• Flag deviations which cannot be corrected by operator action
  
• Write a deviation form & notify the shift supervisor/superintendent
  
• Write a work order to fix equipment if appropriate. Provide a detailed description of the problem and how it was detected.
  
• Involve the appropriate expertise to help solve problems that you cannot solve on your own (equipment specialist, engineer, etc)
  
• Understand when you are in a “non-routine” operating configuration and how you may need to operate the plant differently or respond differently to a crisis
  
• Know the conditions of your unit:
  What deviations exist
  What equipment is operating and what is out of service
  Current operating targets and limits
  
• Give a thorough, complete, structured handover to the next shift in the control room. Make sure you receive a complete, thorough handover when you take over. This should include a review of all operating envelope and target variations from the last shift and actions taken to correct, any items out of target or envelope, and any deviations in place.
  
• Record plant conditions, alarms and activities happening at the time of any reliability event (once the immediate response is complete). This information will be used later in conducting a root cause analysis of the event.

Equipment Specialist (Technician)

• Help operators understand their equipment.
  
• Assist in basic troubleshooting before a work order is written. Help to write a complete description of the problem if a work order is required.
• Make quality repairs of equipment in order to achieve an equal or greater run length on the next run of the equipment.
• Identify problems which need engineering involvement and enlist the engineering staff to help solve the problem.
  
• Keep good records of repairs.
• Preserve evidence for troubleshooting.
  
• Make recommendations for improvements.
• Flag bad actors, common failures to your supervisor, operating staff, and engineering staff.
  
• Participate in root cause failure analysis.
  

Equipment Engineer

• Identify equipment that results in the largest impact to plant availability (bad actors), lead root cause failure analysis and develop solutions to extend the life of this equipment.
  
• Actively participate in project front end activities and NPQC (Non Process Quality Control) to prevent new bad actors from being installed.
  
• Lead troubleshooting and problem solving effort on unexpected failures.
  
• Lead the equipment strategy development process and maintain the equipment strategies for your equipment
• Analyze the equipment population to identify global opportunities, benchmarking areas for improvement, trends
  
• Participate in corporate knowledge sharing activities such as networks and technology plan development. Look for new ways to solve existing problems and prevent potential failures based on new learnings.
  

Process Engineer

Identify process issues which result in the biggest impacts to yields, quality & unit rate. Develop solutions to eliminate or minimize these problems.

• Monitor unit performance. Identify trends, concerns, issues and bring the appropriate resources together to solve problems identified.
  
• Lead process troubleshooting and participate in equipment troubleshooting and bad actor elimination.
  
• Actively participate in project front end activities and NPQC (Non Process Quality Control) to prevent new bad actors from being installed.
  

Shift Supervisor/Superintendent

• Arrive before the operating shift change and conduct a thorough, complete, structured handover to the next shift in the control room.
  
• Observe at least one console handover every shift.
  
• Review and initial every shift deviation report from the previous shift at every console, every shift in the first 2 hours of the shift.
  
• Know what deviations occurred on your shift which could not be corrected by the console operator.
  
• Make sure the appropriate non-operating resources (maintenance, engineering) are notified/involved with troubleshooting and long term corrective action.
  
• Observe that procedures are being followed during operations. (Look for specific activities which should require a procedure to be followed.
  
• Make sure the console operator has the procedure out, is reading and following it and is signing off as appropriate)
  

Day Supervisor/Outside Supervisor

• Walk through each unit with an outside operator each day or shift.
• Review and initial log sheets, structured rounds (for current shift if outside supervisor, for all shifts if day supervisor).
• Follow procedures in the field when activities are occurring (watch operators turn valves). · Speak to operators on shift to identify potential issues before they become incidents or failures.
  
• Give feedback to outside operators on quality of structured rounds, log taking, etc. · Set and enforce behavior standards.
• Screen work with maintenance first line supervisor using a structured work selection process.
  

Maintenance First Line Supervisor

• Assist operating supervisor in structured work selection.
  
• Execute work according to the schedule and work plan (job pack). · Give feedback on the quality and time requirements of each job to the planner.
  
• Make sure technicians record equipment as found conditions and components replaced. Review records on a regular basis to make sure quality data is being captured.
  
• Participate in troubleshooting and root cause failure analysis.
• Provide quality oversight to work in the field. Pass by and observe every job at least once per day.