Programs
Coatings & Corrosion Control Maintenance Program – The Competitive Edge
Competitors come from anywhere in this worlds’ global economy, in any industry,
and “knowing” your competition is not enough. You must be able to produce
product or provide services at a competitive level or face loss of market share.
This competition is rough, and for companies with numerous facilities to
maintain; those that can control and reduce O&M (operating & maintenance)
expenditures will gain advantage. Capital assets require maintenance or
equipment break down reduces revenues. Breakdowns are routinely avoided by RCM
(Reliability Centered Maintenance) programs for operating equipment, but these
programs neglect infrastructure decay and the importance of aesthetics on
perception. These concerns are best addressed in a comprehensive
Corrosion-Coatings preventative maintenance (CCPM) program, which tells you what
is owned and its condition relative to other assets.
A CCPM program is not a set of procedures with inspection guidelines. A program
is a means of conducting business and a repository for your knowledge base and
experience. By definition, a program should include lists and schedules, should
train and regulate, and should be a process for solving problems by established
procedure. A program is a means of looking to the future and adapting to change.
Without flexibility, resetting standards, altering plans, and adopting changing
goals, a program will lack the necessary support to survive.
Coatings & corrosion concerns can not compete with plant reliability and
availability issues for funding; yet when conditions deteriorate beyond “optimum
to recoat” higher O&M expenditures are encountered. Corrosion and coatings need
to be viewed from both their financial and technical aspects, as you must spend
funds wisely; painting at the lowest possible costs over equipment life to reach
lowest annualized corporate O&M costs. The CCPM program is necessary to make
lowest cost construction materials perform well, as initially applied coatings
rarely last for plant lifetimes. It presents a case for coatings and corrosion
control funds that can be well managed.
How does an owner decide the correct level of O&M (operating & maintenance)
expenditures, and determine the priorities, schedules, and where to start?
Historic budgeting just does not work. There are means of measuring and
quantifying aesthetics, coating conditions, corrosion, and risk that naturally
select priorities. These are combined with owner system goals and priorities
that are numerically program assigned with changes easily accommodated. A data
tracking system is established with budgets and priorities on a comparative
system wide basis. The program can reduce costs by coating only what and when
necessary. It will also allow you to catch up in better times.
The Corr-Coat CCPM program is based on MS Excel (used by most engineers) and not
a proprietary computer program. It categorizes by means of an engineered survey
- condition assessment, which determines the amount (what & how much is owned,
area-square footage), corrosion-condition of the coatings (what shape is it
in?), the service environment-corrosion rate (how fast does it deteriorate?),
the visibility-aesthetics needs of the area, and the risk-consequence of
failures. The program provides initial budgetary information (what it will cost
to make it right?), tailored budgetary plans for addressing all conditions, and
can provide good estimates for future projections. The program provides priority
and schedule to projects, categorizing what needs to be done, while providing
savings and cost controls to fix and maintain systems on a comparative project,
plant and system-wide basis. The program tracks and maintains this data and any
change or update to one worksheet, updates all summary sheets. Together with
Excel's capability to color code, make charts, and provide graphs; quick
pictorials and summaries are available for management.
With the program fully implemented, you wind up addressing your needs and you
have a program in operation that you can live with in both good times and bad,
spending the least amount possible at whatever funding level is available.
We have published papers and given presentations for years on the benefits of a
good CCPM program. We have provided surveys and programs to industry and the
military. Now, before we retire next year, we are offering our program as a
package as we have found that few have the time, energy, and experience to start
from a program from nothing on their own. Training a program coatings or
corrosion engineer owner normally takes about one week.
It is in your best interest to review this offering with your staff and decide
if a CCPM program is something that will be useful and yield your company a
needed competitive edge. It costs less than you think for all that it does and
works for one plant site or a whole system.
Buckets (System Conditions) & Projections
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