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Reliability-Centered Maintenance: A Case Study

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DOI: 10.1080/10429247.2000.11415089

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 EVALUATING A RELIABILITY CENTERED MAINTENANCE PROGRAM
FOR SUBSTATION EQUIPMENT AT NEW CENTURY ENERGIES

Randall G. Wilmeth, P.E.1 When deregulation is completed and utilities are

Substation Engineer, Southwestern Public Service competing at the wholesale and retail level, only the most
New Century Energies efficient utilities will prevail. During the SPS/PSCO
merger, merger teams reviewed all business processes for
Michael W. Usrey, Ph.D., P.E., C.P.I.M. potential cost savings. Numerous areas were identified for
Lockheed Martin Engineering Management Program downsizing or outsourcing and the new company was
University of Colorado separated into functional based business units. Since
operation and maintenance (O&M) costs are a major item
Abstract - Energy markets are deregulating rapidly and the in every utility cost structure, the Delivery Business Unit
price of energy is expected to decrease. Energy suppliers was charged with creating new processes to reduce O&M
that traditionally operated as regulated monopolies must costs.
now find ways to improve their productivity. Energy One area that the merger team identified for
utilities are typically asset-intensive, so maintenance additional after-merger savings was substation equipment
activities present a potential area for productivity maintenance. The merger team suggested that a combined
improvement. substation equipment maintenance program for both
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) was operating companies be developed. The Electric Power
developed in the commercial aerospace industry Research Institute (EPRI) Reliability Centered
approximately 3 decades ago. In the 1980's, the Electric Maintenance (RCM) Platform was recommended to be the
Power Research Institute (EPRI) initiated studies for the basis for the NCE program. A team was formed to
application of RCM to generating facilities. Recently, develop a combined maintenance program for both
EPRI has begun supporting the investigation of RCM operating companies based on RCM methodology.
methodology in the transmission and delivery of electric A review of the origins and evolution of RCM is
power. presented. The benefits of using RCM as the basis for a
New Century Energies (NCE) recently completed the maintenance plan are discussed. Successes and failures
first phase of a pilot maintenance program for power experienced by other utilities while attempting to
delivery equipment based on RCM methodology. Results implement RCM and corresponding insights are outlined.
from the first-phase pilot study indicate that previous Results of a pilot implementation at the subject company
maintenance strategies resulted in instances of both under- are presented. Management issues, including those related
maintenance and over-maintenance of the subject to recent merger and acquisition activity, are examined.
equipment. Opportunity cost savings are illustrated,
though it will be necessary to implement RCM on a larger 2. Reliability Centered Maintenance Methodology
scale before these savings can make a significant impact
on the bottom line. 2.1. RCM Evolution
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) was
1. Introduction developed by the commercial aircraft industry about thirty
The anticipated deregulation of the electric utility years ago. In the process of obtaining Type Certification
industry has prompted numerous utility mergers. New for the new Boeing 747 jumbo jet, it was determined that
Century Energies (NCE), was formed in 1997 from the applying the maintenance strategies of that time made the
merger of Southwestern Public Service, Co. (SPS) and jet impossible to operate profitably (Smith, 1993). The
Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCO). Just huge size of the 747, compared to previous commercial
recently, NCE announced plans to merge with Northern aircraft and the numerous technological advances led the
States Power (NSP) based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. If aircraft industry to develop new approaches to aircraft
this merger is successful, the combined utility will stretch maintenance. Maintenance engineers at United Airlines
from the border of Canada to the border of Mexico. led the effort to reevaluate preventive maintenance
strategy and helped develop the basic concepts and
processes that has become known as RCM (Matteson,
1 1995).
C/O Lockheed Martin Engineering Management
The initial RCM development was based on failure
Program, CB 433, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
history databases that the commercial aviation industry
80309-0433. Phone: 303-492-2570, Fax: 303-492-1443,
had accumulated. By studying documented failure
E-mail: randallw@swps.com
histories, United Airlines proved that the classic "bathtub" EPRI and its member utilities researched failure histories
shaped failure curve of time vs. # of failures was not of utility equipment and proved that utility equipment, like
accurate for the aviation industry’s nonstructural airline equipment, often does not have defined age-related
equipment. They determined that 89% of all nonstructural failure rates.
components failed in a random nature and that only 11% As maintenance budgets are cut, maintenance
experienced an aging characteristic (Smith, 1993). From managers are realizing that they do not have a basis to
this observation, the percentage of components that are justify their current time-directed preventive maintenance
replaced on “hard-time” units has been reduced from 58% programs. Since the RCM process requires each piece of
in 1964 to 9% in 1987 while “condition-monitored” equipment or system to be analyzed and every
component replacements went from 2% in 1964 to 51% in maintenance task to be justified, a maintenance program
1987 (ibid.). The effects of these changes allowed the based on RCM has documented technical justification for
commercial airline industry to reduce maintenance costs each maintenance task.
and hold them at a flat rate through the early 1980’s
(ibid.). 2.3. Main Steps of an RCM Analysis
The FAA accepted the new approach to aircraft The original RCM model is now called classical
maintenance and it has been used on virtually every new RCM and is still commonly used by the aerospace and
or retrofitted aircraft to obtain licensing (ibid.). The new nuclear power industries. As RCM methodology has been
methods were labeled “Reliability-Centered Maintenance” applied to different industries, the process has evolved to
by the Department of Defense (DOD) in 1977 and the fit the needs of each application (August, 1999). Most
DOD directed that RCM be adopted for all major military RCM applications outside of heavily regulated industries
systems (Matteson, 1995). In the mid-1980’s, the Electric utilize a streamlined version of RCM.
Power Research Institute (EPRI) initiated RCM pilot Streamlined RCM skips the time consuming process
studies on nuclear power plants. of building a failure history database for each piece of
Since that time, RCM has been adapted for equipment and allows the user to rely on the experience
application at all types of facilities. Over the past five and knowledge of subject matter experts for failure modes
years, EPRI has funded RCM pilot projects in the power and causes. The streamlined RCM process allows a utility
delivery sector and has developed supporting technical to start the RCM process quickly and then add changes
references and Computerized Maintenance Management later through a formalized feedback process called a living
Systems (CMMS). Approximately 40 EPRI member maintenance program.
utilities are in various stages of implementing RCM in the The seven steps below are the main steps of
power delivery sector. performing a streamlined RCM study using the EPRI
model for Power Delivery applications as defined by
2.2. Reliability Centered Maintenance Definition Schwan (1999).
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is a 1) Establish the scope of the study. Boundaries are
resource optimization method that is used to develop and established to define the limits of the work.
refine maintenance programs. The RCM process is a tool 2) Identify interfaces. Interfaces are identified to further
that allows a maintenance manager to focus scarce define the limits of the study by specifically listing the
maintenance dollars on supporting only the critical required inputs or connections that will not be studied.
functions of a piece of equipment required to ensure 3) Specify important functions. RCM seeks to preserve
reliable operation. Maintenance tasks generated from only the most important functions of a system or
RCM analysis are justified by actual equipment equipment.
performance data, rather than relying solely on 4) Identify dominant failure modes. Dominant modes of
manufacturers’ specifications or past company practices. failure, that fail an important function, are identified for
According to Schwan (1999), “the goal of RCM is to evaluation.
create routine maintenance strategies that preserve 5) Identify critical failure modes. The consequences of
important system/equipment functions in the most cost- failure are evaluated for each dominant failure mode to
effective manner”. determine their severity. If severe, then the failure mode
Traditionally, substation equipment preventive is deemed critical. Non-critical failure modes are not
maintenance has been time directed and scheduled on considered further in the study.
specific hard-time intervals. When it is time to do 6) Identify dominant failure causes. Dominant causes of
maintenance, the equipment is tested, inspected, cleaned, failure are identified for only the modes of failure
lubricated and re-calibrated. Maintenance tasks scheduled deemed critical. Only maintenance preventable causes
on hard-time intervals are based on the premise that of failure are considered.
equipment wore out at a specific rate and required periodic 7) Select maintenance tasks. Using decision logic,
overhauls to return the equipment to like-new condition. routine maintenance tasks are selected to directly and
 cost-effectively address each dominant cause of failure. of individual maintenance tasks, but also the effectiveness
Changes in design and operation are also considered. of the whole maintenance program. New maintenance
Allowing equipment to operate until failure is also technologies are evaluated and feedback from the
considered. This process is discussed in more detail in maintenance personnel is reviewed. Recommendations for
Section 5.7. design and operation changes are made through the living
PM program.
2.4. CMMS and Living Maintenance Program
The maintenance tasks developed during a RCM 3. RCM Examples
study are driven by multiple mechanisms that have unique The utilities discussed below are examples of both
frequencies. To create and manage the various tasks, a successful and unsuccessful attempts at basing a
Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) maintenance program on RCM.
is required. A CMMS database should be three
dimensional, with information on the equipment asset, the 3.1. Puget Sound Energy
equipment type and location of the asset (Picknell, 1997). Puget Sound Power & Light Company was
The equipment asset database should contain motivated to develop new ways to maintain equipment
nameplate data and other physical attributes required. By after large budget cuts were made by management. Puget
including equipment failure symptoms, cause codes, Sound Power started the RCM process in 1991 and has
failure modes, and corrective action codes, an equipment applied the RCM process to substation equipment, circuit
failure history can be built. When the incurred costs are breakers, transformers, voltage regulators, transmission
included, a cost history of the equipment item can be and distribution line maintenance (Skog, 1994).
produced (ibid.). In 1994, Puget joined five other utilities and
The equipment type database contains information participated in an EPRI sponsored Substation Reliability
such as parts lists, specifications, and standard Centered Maintenance Project. After completion of the
maintenance procedures to be stored only once for a EPRI project, Puget Sound Power adopted the EPRI
particular type of equipment. An integrated CMMS will workstation software tool to validate previous RCM
allow the user to check if parts on the parts list are in stock findings and to document them (Skog, 1995).
(ibid.). In 1995, they reported that the planned preventative
A location database allows the user to track maintenance for substation equipment at Puget Sound
environmental and operating condition effects on Power had been reduced significantly. The drivers of their
equipment performance. Cost and performance can then LTC maintenance program had changed from time to
be shown by location, district, division, and operating operational, loading, and condition monitoring. For circuit
company (ibid.). breakers, they reported that maintenance intervals had
In order to manage the mechanisms that set the been extended considerably with more emphasis being
frequency of tasks selected in the RCM process, EPRI has placed on the operating mechanisms (ibid.).
developed a Maintenance Management Workstation Puget Sound Power felt their liability due to
(MMW). The MMW is designed to work with any existing equipment failures decreased by using the RCM process to
CMMS and consists of the four major elements listed document their maintenance program. Their insurance
below (Vujovic, 1999): Historical Information Warehouse, companies viewed the process as a risk management
Performance Assessment Module (PAM), Maintenance approach and were comfortable with the new maintenance
Ranking Assessor (MRA) Module, and Universal Data approach plan (ibid.).
Integration In 1997, Puget Sound Power & Light Co. merged
The MMW integrates operating and condition with Washington Natural Gas Co. to form Puget Sound
monitoring data from numerous sources including Energy, Inc. The new organizational structure of Puget
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems Sound Energy did not include RCM. Most preventive
(SCADA) and test equipment. As maintenance triggers maintenance has been eliminated and a run to failure
are hit, the MMW ranks the resulting maintenance tasks approach is being used. The company has discussed
and can automatically issue work orders. revisiting the RCM approach; however, no formal action
EPRI has also developed a living preventive has been taken (Tam, 1999).
maintenance (PM) program for continual optimization of a
maintenance program. They define a living PM program 3.2. Bonneville Power Administration
for substations as “a programmatic approach to Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) also
maintaining and improving the PM program such that the participated in the 1994 EPRI Substation Reliability
functionality of equipment and systems is preserved in a Centered Maintenance project to develop RCM methods
cost-effective manner” (Schwan, et al, 1996). The living for transmission and distribution facilities. The existing
PM program is used not only to measure the effectiveness maintenance program at BPA had been primarily time-
based (Sarkinen, et al, 1996). For the EPRI project, BPA Fernihough suggests that the cheapest way to start a
chose to use the RCM system approach for a pilot project RCM program is to buy maintenance procedures from a
at Santiam Substation. company that has already implemented RCM, but he does
The results of the BPA pilot project convinced BPA not recommend that approach because employee buy in
to recommend implementation of a RCM based substation might not occur. The continued success of the RCM
maintenance program for the rest of their system. They program is dependent on buy in from the maintenance
estimated that cost savings of up to 40% would be realized personnel. To achieve buy in, he recommends that
and that the benefits will provide a payback within one knowledgeable field personnel be included in the RCM
year (ibid.). analysis (ibid.).
In order to implement the project, BPA felt they A company must develop a formal process of
would require a management steering committee to organizing the RCM tasks into maintenance documents,
oversee the RCM project, a four to six member RCM distributing them, and incorporating them into the work
analysis team and basic scheduling tools (ibid.). management system. If the computerized work
Today, BPA feels that their RCM implementation management system is not capable of integrating the RCM
has been a success. A key finding was that their previous results, implementation will fail (ibid.).
preventive maintenance program included many
maintenance tasks that were of no value (ibid.). As it 3.4. TXU
turned out, BPA found that their maintenance personnel TXU started evaluating a RCM based program in
had already realized that some tasks were not productive 1994. At that time, TXU did not have a computerized
and had stopped performing them. Even with their maintenance management system and most substation
maintenance personnel not performing all the written maintenance tasks were scheduled by time only. Over the
maintenance tasks, a large maintenance backlog was on past five years, TXU has implemented a computerized
the books. The large backlog kept BPA from realizing the maintenance management system and now bases most
estimated 40% in a cost savings originally predicted maintenance tasks on equipment operations. The
(Sarkinen, 1999). transformation from time based to operations based
Buy-in from maintenance personnel was enhanced maintenance has yielded large cost savings. TXU is now
when they understood that the RCM-based maintenance evaluating how to incorporate the RCM process into their
tasks were efficient tasks with a technical purpose. BPA is existing program to develop a “Smart Maintenance
not currently using a living maintenance program, but has Program”. An additional 10 to 15% in savings is expected
implemented a trouble reporting database. The database after RCM implementation (Ryman, 1999).
will be used to trend failures and modify the current RCM TXU is splitting the power grid into sections and a
based maintenance tasks as needed (ibid.). reliability goal will be set for each section. A minimum
The success of the RCM program at BPA has been level of maintenance for continued operation of equipment
based on reducing maintenance tasks and maintenance will be set and additional maintenance tasks will be
backlog. Due to the difficulty of measurement, additional performed in areas where higher reliability is cost
benefits from reliability and equipment availability justified. A Maintenance Guide Task Force is leading the
improvements have not been identified. overall effort and sub teams are being used for evaluations
of each section. The EPRI RCM workstation is being
3.3. BC Hydro and Power Authority evaluated (Rose, 1999).
BC Hydro started following the use of RCM in the
electrical industry in 1987. In 1994, BC Hydro joined the 4. Equipment Selected for Study
1994 EPRI Substation Reliability Centered Maintenance For NCE, DC power supplies were chosen for RCM.
project. For the EPRI project, BC Hydro chose to study DC power supplies were chosen because of their relative
substation battery maintenance. At the time of their simplicity and correspondingly low cost of RCM analysis.
report, they had not finished their study, but were In spite of their simplicity, DC power supplies are
evaluating new technologies to see if battery maintenance considered to be the most important piece of equipment in
could be reduced significantly (Fernihough, 1995). any substation, because they provide the power needed to
Since 1995, BC Hydro has been implementing a operate protective equipment.
RCM program. They reported savings of 20% to 50% in
job site hours on circuit breakers and about 15% on 5. Application of RCM to Substation DC Power
transformers. BC Hydro is evaluating impedance testing Supplies
of batteries in an effort to prove that discharge tests are not The RCM process described in Section 2.3 is applied
required and to reduce battery maintenance costs to DC power supplies in this section.
(Fernihough, 1999).
5.1. Scope of Substation DC Power Supply
 The DC power supply in a substation includes a A dominant failure mode describes how a piece of
battery charger and a storage battery. During normal equipment is likely to fail. During the equipment walk-
operating conditions, the battery charger powers DC downs, known failure modes were discussed. The failure
operated equipment in a substation and keeps the battery modes identified were then compared to the dominant
fully charged. If the battery charger fails or AC input failure modes listed in EPRI’s RCM Technical Reference
power is lost, the storage battery provides emergency DC for Substations (Schwan, et al, 1996). The dominant
power to the equipment. failure modes are shown in column one of Exhibit 2
A DC power supply is actually defined as a system
because it consists of two separate and distinct pieces of Dominant
equipment. Instead of performing separate equipment Failure
Modes Failure Effects Criticality
studies on the battery and battery charger, the equipment
Loss of Circuit breakers will not trip for faults. Critical
will be grouped together and a system study will be Battery Possible public/employee safety
performed. Two substations are considered; the only Conduction hazard. Possible damage to protective
major difference is that Indiana Substation is equipped Path equipment.
with remote alarms while Hendricks Substation is not. Loss of Shortens duration that storage battery Critical
A system walk-down was completed for both DC Battery can carry load. Circuit breakers will
power supplies to learn about their design, operation, and Capacity not trip for faults.
the actual maintenance tasks being performed. The first Incorrect/No When charger fails, storage battery is Critical
author and the person responsible for battery maintenance Output from only source of DC power. After
performed the walk-down. Battery battery is exhausted, circuit breakers
Charger will not trip for faults.
5.2. System Boundary and Interfaces Monitor Fails Unaware of battery condition. Critical
A boundary is defined so that the limits of the RCM to Provide
Alarm
study are known. The battery, battery charger, and (Indiana only)
interconnecting cable encompass the physical boundary of Exhibit 2 Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality
the system.
The interfaces are items that originate outside of the
5.5. Failure Mode Criticality
equipment boundary and are assumed to always be A criticality determination for each dominant failure
available to support equipment or system operation. The mode is made so that maintenance resources are applied
following interfaces were identified for the battery system. only where the consequences of failure warrant. The
1) AC input to battery charger. criticality levels for this study are shown in the Exhibit 3
2) Ground connection to battery charger. When a dominant failure mode is deemed non-
3) Cable to DC bus. critical, it is less costly to apply corrective maintenance.
4) Remote SCADA alarms (Indiana study only) For every critical dominant failure mode, a predictive or
Exhibit 1 illustrates the system boundaries and interfaces. preventive maintenance regime is sought that will avoid
the failure.

Criticality Level Criteria

Minor operational inconvenience.
Non-critical Effects of failure costs less than $250
Public/employee safety risk; customer
Critical outages; damage to adjacent
Exhibit 1. DC Power Supply System Block Diagram equipment; adverse publicity.
Exhibit 3 DC Power Supply Failure Criticality Levels
5.3. Important System Functions
Only the important functions of a system are The failure effects and criticality determinations for
included in a RCM study. One determines the important the DC power supply are shown in columns two and three
functions by evaluating why the equipment was installed. of Exhibit 2
A DC power supply has only one important function
and that is to provide DC power to substation equipment 5.6. Dominant Failure Causes
(Schwan, et al., 1996). A dominant failure cause describes why the
equipment failure mode occurs. The failure cause must be
5.4. Dominant Failure Modes understood so that the type of maintenance resources
applied can effectively avoid the failure mode. The
dominant failure causes listed in EPRI’s RCM Technical recommended task type, task description, and task
Reference for Substations (Schwan, et al, 1996) for frequency for the DC power supply are shown in columns
batteries and battery chargers were reviewed and assigned 2 through 4, respectively, of Exhibit 4
to all failure modes. For example, the dominant failure
causes for "Loss of Battery Conduction Path" are shown in 5.8. Task Comparison
column one of Exhibit 4 After the RCM analysis and recommendations are
finished, a comparison is made between the RCM
Dominant RCM RCM recommended tasks, the existing maintenance tasks, the
Failure Recommended RCM Task Task vendors' recommendations and regulatory requirements.
Causes Task Type Description Frequency
During the comparison, the tasks from each source are
Loose Condition Resistance test
connection Monitoring (Micro-ohm) Annually evaluated to see if they address critical failure modes. If a
task does not support a critical failure mode, is not
Clean corroded mandated by a regulatory authority, and does not
Corrosion Time Directed connections & coat Quarterly invalidate a warranty, then the task is deleted.
w/oxidation inhibitor The remaining set of tasks and their frequencies are
Measure voltage from consolidated so that maintenance personnel can efficiently
Grounding Time Directed + & - terminals to Annually
ground
complete the tasks. The resulting set of tasks will usually
Exhibit 4 Failure Causes and Maintenance Tasks identify some areas where former practices were deficient
and show other areas where the previous maintenance
approach was excessive (Fernihough, 1995).
5.7. Maintenance Task Selection
The task selection logic mentioned in Section 2.3 was
used to determine if a cost effective maintenance task 5.9. Comprehensive Maintenance Strategy
exists for each dominant failure cause. A brief description Comprehensive maintenance strategies for the DC
of the decision logic follows: If cost effective condition power supplies at Hendricks and Indiana Substations were
monitoring is available, then a predictive maintenance recommended.
program is indicated. If condition monitoring is At Hendricks, the discontinuation of one task and the
unavailable, then a time-based, preventive maintenance addition of one new task were recommended.
task is recommended. If a preventive maintenance task is Recommendations were made that would modify six of the
not applicable, then one decides if the failure can be remaining thirteen tasks. In each case, the modification
tolerated. When a failure can not be tolerated, a system was to reduce task frequency.
design change is requested from engineering. If a failure At Indiana Substation, the discontinuation of one
can be tolerated and is not evident, a periodic failure task and the addition of two new tasks were
finding task is specified. When a failure can be tolerated recommended. Recommendations were made that would
and is evident, the item is run to failure then and a modify five of the remaining twelve tasks. Again, each
corrective maintenance task is performed. This decision modification was to reduce task frequency.
process is followed for each dominant failure cause. The
resulting list should be reviewed to verify that each task is 6. Analysis of DC Power Supply Study Results
the most cost effective and technically correct to prevent The station inspection personnel consulted for this
the associated failure cause. project estimated that savings of 3 man-hours per year
While the RCM process does an excellent job of would be gained by adopting the recommended
creating an optimum task list, it can not set task maintenance strategy. Although these savings sound
frequencies. Selection of the optimum maintenance insignificant, they are in fact quite substantial when
interval for a system or device is dependant upon a repeated across all of the DC power supplies utilized by
thorough understanding of how periodic maintenance SPS.
tasks prevent a failure mode and the ability to accurately Exhibit 5 shows the estimated savings and
model a device's aging process (Skog, 1995). Failure expenditures to implement the RCM study to the 437 SPS
costs including customer impact costs and the probability DC power supplies. The estimated first year net savings
of failure should also included (ibid.). The goal is to find will be $38,727. The return on the initial investment will
the maintenance interval where total costs are minimized. be an estimated 640% in the first year.
When a utility does not have all the information that
Skog (1999) recommends, employee knowledge, Estimated Hourl Year 1 Annual
documented failure histories, and vendor Cost Category Hours y Rate Savings Savings
recommendations appear to be the best sources of Maintenance
1311 $33 $43,263 $43,263
information for setting task frequencies. The RCM Personnel
 basis. A blanket approach of performing maintenance at
Supervision 24 $42 $1,008 $1,008
specified time intervals does not take in to account the
different operating conditions visited upon the equipment
Clerical 24 $21 $504 $504 or the differences in design between equipment types or
RCM Analyst - manufacturers. When every piece of equipment is treated
32 $42 ($1,344) - the same, the maintenance interval has to be shortened to
Initial Study
RCM Analyst - attempt to prevent failures for the poorest designed
112 $42 ($4,704) - equipment located in the worst operating environments.
Migration
TOTAL $38,727 $44,775 The time driven maintenance schedule has kept SPS
Exhibit 5 Maintenance Strategy Financial Analysis maintenance managers from taking advantage of the
reduced amount of maintenance that some designs permit.
The DC power supplies utilized at Indiana and Hendricks
7. RCM Study Conclusions
The RCM studies for Hendricks and Indiana substations offer a good example of the value of RCM;
Substations indicate that some components of the DC batteries at both substations are designed to require less
power supplies are being over maintained, while others are maintenance than conventional units, but they were being
not being maintained at all. These results concur with maintained in the same manner required of less
typical RCM study results (Fernihough, 1995). technologically advanced batteries.
In order to capture the maximum savings, the The simplicity of a time based program allowed for
completed RCM studies will have to be migrated across easy implementation, tracking and supervision, but ends
the entire population of DC power supplies at SPS. Also, up over-maintaining some equipment while leaving others
if management’s goal of having a combined maintenance susceptible to failure. With the development of
plan for both SPS and PSCO is to be met, the results of the computerized maintenance management systems, the
SPS studies will need to be reviewed to determine if the difficulty in implementing RCM can be reduced.
final maintenance strategy is feasible for the PSCO DC
power supplies. 8.2. Implementing a RCM Based Maintenance
Substation inspections at SPS are being performed on Program
a monthly basis and many items besides DC power In the authors' opinion, there are several important
supplies are being checked and recorded. In the future, as items that need to be addressed to successfully implement
more functions are automated, the number of monthly a RCM based maintenance program. First is the
substation inspections will be reduced. The current company’s culture and willingness to accept and support
research indicates that when battery alarms are available, change. Without acceptance and support from
DC power supply inspections can be reduced from 12 per management and maintenance crews, any new program
year to 4 per year. Even though the number of trips to will be difficult to implement. Second is developing and
substations for inspection purposes will not be reduced at maintaining a Computerized Maintenance Management
this time, the amount of time required to inspect each System, and a Living Maintenance Program for continual
location will be reduced. optimization. Third is a way to measure success. Fourth
is establishing realistic goals and expectations.
8. Management Issues
8.2.1. Corporate Culture
The corporate culture of NCE has not had time to
8.1. Limitations of Existing Preventive Maintenance
fully develop since the merger of SPS and PSCO was
Program
The streamlined RCM process for power delivery completed. Before the merger, PSCO went through a
equipment developed by EPRI has been proven to be an competitive reorganization in 1994 and reduced their
effective analysis tool upon which to base a substation workforce by 17% using layoffs and early retirement
equipment maintenance program. Puget Sound Power, incentives (Public Service Company of Colorado, 1994).
Bonneville Power Administration, and TXU are examples In 1997, the merger process reduced the PSCO employee
of utilities that were using time based maintenance base an additional 19% (Southwest Public Service, 1997).
programs for their substation equipment. RCM analysis On the other hand, SPS had been reducing its work
showed these utilities that a combination of condition force through attrition since having an early retirement in
monitoring, time directed, failure finding, and corrective 1986 (Southwestern Public Service Company, 1986). The
maintenance tasks would not only provide a more reliable merger resulted in an additional 19% reduction (Southwest
equipment base, but would also save money. Public Service, 1997). Before the merger, SPS had a
Currently the SPS operating company schedules typical regulated monopoly mind set. The goal of SPS
substation equipment maintenance primarily on a time was to provide reliable electric service and a stable return
to the stockholders (Southwestern Public Service
Company, 1996). New technologies were implemented must be made quickly and maintenance task changes
only after the utility industry had proven their redistributed to remote areas easily.
effectiveness.
After the merger was completed, a business unit 8.2.3. Measurement
structure was adopted and the company was reorganized to If the success of a RCM program is to be measured,
be more competitive in a deregulated environment (New there has to be a process available to measure the
Century Energies, 1998). The pending merger with effectiveness of the existing preventive maintenance
Northern States Power is a source of uncertainty. With program. A baseline measurement is needed to accurately
NCE being in a constant state of flux, PSCO and SPS compare the results of the RCM based program to the
continue to have two distinct cultures. existing program. According to Richardson and Giesecke
The emphasis of NCE’s management has been on (1999b), an ideal system would include:
earnings and profitability and a continuous improvement  Preventive and Corrective maintenance costs accounted
policy has been implemented. Under this policy, for on an individual equipment basis
management is open to accepting new ideas and actively  Outages caused by equipment failures (including total
promotes employee ideas that result in savings to the outage costs and failed equipment ID)
bottom line (New Century Energies, 1999).  Failure rates and reliability of equipment
Maintenance personnel may not be so accepting.  Equipment availability
Optimizing maintenance activities will possibly result in  Avoided costs prevented by maintenance program.
lower employment levels and the job duties of many  Estimated cost of worst case, possible case and probable
maintenance personnel will change. With RCM, they will case multiplied by the probability of each.
be responsible for keeping better records and updating At most utilities, information is not available for
CMMS system. In order for RCM to be successful, these many of the items listed above (Skog, 1995). Usually, one
individuals will need to understand how the change will system has some of the data while another has a few other
benefit them. For instance, the RCM tasks will utilize new items and neither system is capable of integrating the
technologies that require skilled employees. As information. In the absence of detailed information, about
employees gain skills, they become more valuable and are the only way to measure the cost of a preventive
less likely to be replaced with contract labor. Another maintenance program is the yearly maintenance budget.
benefit is that RCM will reduce some of the mundane
tasks that have no meaning. The tasks that will be 8.2.4. Realistic Goals and Expectations
performed will be done with a specific purpose. This will In order to establish realistic goals, an organization
increase job satisfaction because an employee will be able structure must be in place to manage the RCM process. A
to see that their contributions make a difference to the formal program should be established with an entity or
performance of a piece of equipment. individual designated to lead the effort (Richardson and
Giesecke, 1999a). The Maintenance Steering Group
8.2.2. CMMS and Living Maintenance Program (MSG) at NCE is a likely candidate. RCM
Before a RCM based maintenance program can be implementation will require financial support not only to
fully implemented, a Computerized Maintenance perform the RCM analysis, but also to promote employee
Management System (CMMS) needs to be in place. The buy in, purchase condition monitoring equipment and fund
utility must verify that the CMMS that is being used will design changes in equipment that result in reduced
be able to handle the output of the RCM studies and maintenance expenditures. Management approval of a
accommodate the different tasks between equipment types. multiple year RCM budget should be a top priority.
The CMMS should also be able to store and interpret test After funding is obtained, the MSG should develop
data from condition monitoring tasks. short-term goals for completing RCM equipment studies.
Once a RCM based program has been implemented, Then long-term implementation goals should be set with
the maintenance program can not be carved in stone. periodic evaluations to justify program continuation.
Additional failure modes and failure causes will be found A maintenance manager must avoid the pitfall of
and maintenance tasks and frequencies should be adjusted. assuming estimated cost savings will be realized
A process to modify the existing preventive maintenance automatically. Reducing the number of maintenance tasks
program needs to be available. on any piece of equipment will not immediately reduce
The living PM program provides a formal two-way maintenance costs. Even though the RCM study for the
communication path between field personnel and the SPS DC power supplies indicated significant savings
maintenance steering group or task force. Information potential when migrated across the entire SPS equipment
flows must easily allow maintenance related equipment population, the actual reduction in time per substation
failures to be analyzed. When problems arise, decisions inspection is very small. SPS is split into 3 divisions and
thirteen districts due to the long distances between the
small communities that are served. Since payroll is the Ideally, NCE would implement identical maintenance
biggest expenditure of operation and maintenance budgets, tasks for each operating company and the organizational
the only way to immediately achieve cost savings is to structure of maintenance personnel would be identical for
eliminate positions. The RCM analysis of nearly all the both utilities. With these differences, the cookie cutter
substation equipment should be completed before the approach utilized in other industries may not be cost
maintenance staff requirements are reviewed. For the effective for substation maintenance at NCE.
estimated cost savings to be realized, a manager will have
to reorganize the substation inspection personnel. 9. Conclusions
Additional equipment will have to come under RCM The results from the RCM analysis performed on the
before integer headcount reductions can be realized. SPS DC power supplies illustrates that the existing battery
Management needs to realize that implementing a maintenance program at SPS can be improved by applying
RCM program is a multi-year project and that results will RCM. Some critical failure modes were not guarded while
not be seen overnight. other maintenance tasks did not provide benefits. The
authors are confident that similar results will be found
8.3. Improvement Technology when other substation equipment is studied.
Building a world class organization is the goal of the A successful transformation from two maintenance
improvement process that NCE has implemented. Rooted programs to one combined NCE program based on RCM
in Deming’s work on quality management, the will be a tremendous change effort. Although several key
improvement process incorporates the plan-do-check-act factors have been identified as critical success factors,
cycle for continuous process improvement. The RCM there will be unique problems encountered at NCE. A
process also maps to the plan-do-check-act cycle. Maintenance Steering Group embracing diverse
During the plan phase, the failure modes are maintenance and technical backgrounds will have the best
analyzed to determine what maintenance needs to be done. chance of leading a successful Reliability Centered
The do phase occurs when the RCM based maintenance Maintenance implementation project. As noted by
tasks are implemented. The living maintenance program is Pottenger (1998), “The difference between great ideas that
used to check the results, to determine actual versus work and great ideas that don’t work out is in the
planned. Based on the check, the maintenance steering implementation. The only way to make great ideas come
group will act, either to refine, change, or implement fully. into the real world is with teams of professionals who do
more than the bare minimum.”
8.4. Replicating RCM Processes between Operating
Companies References
There are two factors to consider when replicating [1] August, Jim, 1999. "RCM Implementation"
RCM processes between the operating companies at NCE. Proceedings of Reliability Centered Maintenance for
First, the workforce at SPS and PSCO are unionized and Substations, Transmission and Distribution
each operating company has a separate contract with its Conference, Denver, CO, pp. 55-71.
local union. Although both unions represent utility [2] Fernihough, William J., 1995 "BC Hydro’s
workers, the labor contracts are very different for each Experience with Substation RCM," Proceedings of
company. Since the union contract excludes some groups Substation Reliability Centered Maintenance
of employees from performing certain tasks, the Conference, Newport Beach, CA, 5pp.
consolidated task list for an equipment item could be [3] Fernihough, William J., 1999. "Substation RCM –
different for each operating company. When work rules Making Common Sense Work," Proceedings of
reduce the cost effectiveness of the maintenance program, Reliability Centered Maintenance for Substations,
management will have to decide when it is feasible to Transmission and Distribution Conference, Denver,
renegotiate items with each union. CO, pp. 93-100.
The other factor is the geographic differences [4] Matteson, Thomas D., 1995. "The Air Transportation
between the metropolitan area of Denver and the rural Industry: Birthplace of Reliability-Centered
areas that are characteristic of the SPS service territory. Maintenance," Proceedings of Substation Reliability
Maintenance tasks that are cost effective in the high load Centered Maintenance Conference, Newport Beach,
density areas of Denver might not be justifiable in remote CA, 12 pp.
areas. For example, PSCO currently uses a centralized [5] New Century Energies, 1998. Annual Report, New
system test group to perform tests on substation equipment Century Energies, Denver, CO (1998).
before and after maintenance crews perform their work. If [6] New Century Energies, 1999. Annual Report, New
this process were to be implemented in SPS, test crews Century Energies, Denver, CO (1999).
would incur costs for overnight stays. [7] Picknell, Jim, 1997. "Using a CMMS To Support
RCM," Maintenance Technology, October 1997,
 Barrington, IL, [23] Southwestern Public Service Company, 1996. Annual
<http://www.mt-online.com/current/10-97mis.html>. Report, Southwestern Public Service Company,
[8] Pottenger, Richard D., 1998. "RCM – Reliability Amarillo (1996).
Centered Maintenance (RCM) Program For [24] Southwestern Public Service Company, 1997. The
Substation Equipment At The Dayton Power & Light Grapevine, February 3, 1997, Southwestern Public
Company," Minutes of Fall 1998 Doble Client Service Company, Amarillo (1997).
Committee Meeting, Orlando, pp. 6.1-6.3. [25] Tam, R., 1999. Personal communication, 8/9/1999.
[9] Public Service of Company of Colorado, 1994. [26] Vujovic, Predrag, 1999. "Integrated Data Utilization –
Annual Report, Public Service of Company of EPRI’s Computerized Living Maintenance Program,"
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[10] Richardson, Frank J. and Jon L. Giesecke, 1999(a). Substations, Transmission and Distribution
"Lessons Learned – Substation Predictive Conference, Denver, CO, pp. 85-92.
Maintenance Program," Proceedings of Reliability
Centered Maintenance for Substations, Transmission Authors
and Distribution Conference, Denver CO, pp. 125- Randall G. Wilmeth has a BS in Electrical
134. Engineering from Texas A&M and a ME in Engineering
[11] Richardson, Frank J. and Jon L. Giesecke, 1999(b). Management from the University of Colorado. He is
"Utilizing 'Avoided Costs' for ROI Calculations," currently a Substation Engineer with Southwestern Public
Proceedings of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Service Company, an operating unit of New Century
Substations, Transmission and Distribution Energies. Mr. Wilmeth is a registered professional
Conference, Denver, CO, pp. 47-54. Electrical Engineer.
[12] Rose, D., 1999. Personal communication, 8/13/1999.
[13] Ryman, R., 1999. Personal communication, Michael W. Usrey has a BS in Mathematics and a
8/11/1999. MS in Industrial Engineering from New Mexico State
[14] Sarkinen, Roger A., Mark A. Currie and Robert G. University and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from
Nichols, 1996. "RCM Method Validation," University of Minnesota. He is currently an assistant
Proceedings of 1996 Doble Client Conference, professor in the Lockheed-Martin Engineering
Boston, MA, pp. 1-3.1 - 1-3.7. Management Program at the University of Colorado. He
[15] Sarkinen, Roger A., 1999. Personal communication, is also on the Board of Directors for EnergyWindow, Inc.
8/9/1999. Dr. Usrey is a registered professional Industrial Engineer.
[16] Schwan, Clair A., 1999. "Introduction to Reliability His related publications include "A Process for Analyzing
Centered Maintenance," Proceedings of Reliability Energy Cogeneration Projects".
Centered Maintenance for Substations, Transmission
and Distribution Conference, Denver, CO, pp. 3-12.
[17] Schwan, Clair A., Earl S. Hill and William D.
Midgett, 1996. Reliability Centered Maintenance
(RCM) Technical Reference for Substations, Electric
Power Research Institute, California (1996).
[18] Skog, John E., 1994. "RCM – Reliability Centered
Maintenance," Minutes of Fall 1994 Doble Client
Committee Meeting, Indianapolis, pp. 3.1-3.4.
[19] Skog, John E., 1995. "EPRI Project: Reliability
Centered Maintenance for Substation Equipment,"
Proceedings of Substation Reliability Centered
Maintenance Conference, Newport Beach, CA, 9 pp.
[20] Skog, John E., 1999. "Maintenance Task Interval
Selection," Proceedings of Reliability Centered
Maintenance for Substations, Transmission and
Distribution Conference, Denver, CO, pp. 37-46.
[21] Smith, Anthony M., 1993. Reliability Centered
Maintenance. McGraw-Hill, New York (1993).
[22] Southwestern Public Service Company, 1986. Annual
Report, Southwestern Public Service Company,
Amarillo (1986).

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