By Jim Fitch
Practicing Oil Analysis Magazine
In a past article,1 I mentioned that in the world of reliability, risk can be defined as the probability of failure multiplied by the consequence(s) of failure. This simple definition should be a reliability team’s most important daily metric. In this editorial, a two-dimensional matrix is proposed that serves as a real-time moving picture of the health of plant assets (Figure 1).
I don’t manage an in-plant machinery reliability team at Noria (we have no machines), but if I did, I would want to see this matrix at the beginning and end of each day. I would want it to serve as my reliability command post in planning and scheduling maintenance work orders and related activities.
Let’s call it the Risk Management Grid (RMG) for production assets. Its singular purpose is to characterize composite asset risk factors associated with failure probability and consequence. It provides a revealing cross-sectional view of current reliability conditions and leaves a visible trail of the past to analyze and prescribe future proactive improvement initiatives.