2003:16 DOCTORAL THESIS Managing the Introduction of Reliability-Centred Maintenance, RCM RCM as a Method of Working within Hydropower Organisations FREDRIK BACKLUND Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences Division of Quality and Environmental Management 2003:16 • ISSN: 1402 - 1544 • ISRN: LTU - DT - - 03/16 - - SE Doctoral Thesis no. 7 Division of Quality & Environmental Management Managing the Introduction of Reliability-Centred Maintenance, RCM RCM as a Method of Working within Hydropower Organisations Fredrik Backlund Luleå University of Technology Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences Division of Quality & Environmental Management ”…there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path…” Morpheus ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work presented in this thesis has been carried out at the Division of Quality & Environmental Management. During this time I have received generous support from a large number of people, who in different ways have contributed to the completion of this thesis. First I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Bengt Klefsjö and my co- supervisor Adjunct Professor Per Anders Akersten. Their support and encouragement during the research project have been valuable and greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank my colleagues at the Division of Quality & Environmental Management, who have helped me to improve the contents of the thesis during a number of seminars. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Jonas Hansson and Dr. Rickard Garvare for many fruitful discussions and for their support during the work on this thesis. I would like to thank Anita Hanno for her administrative support throughout the research project. Among people from other departments of the university I would like to express my gratitude to are Dr Håkan Ylinenpää for his support during previous parts in the research project and Hans Bylesjö for his important contribution during the final preparatory seminar held prior to the dissertation. I would also like to thank Gunnar Persson, Emeritus Professor of English, for helping me to improve my English. I would like to thank the organisations that have shared their experiences with me and made this research project possible. Vattenfall AB Vattenkraft has set a good example of a company that supports and promotes research studies. My stationing at the company was inspiring and pleasant and I would like to thank all the people that made this possible. In particular, I would like to thank Tord Eriksson, Thomas Sjödin and Ulf Wollström for many interesting discussions and for their constant support. The management and co-workers at Vattenfall Service have also showed great interest and openness during the research. I would like to thank the RCM project group for letting me participate in their work. In particular, I would like to thank the two project managers, Rolf Pettersson and Patrik Holmgren, for many fruitful discussions. The research studies have also included studies of other hydropower companies introducing RCM. I would like to thank the informants for taking time with me during visits and telephone interviews. In particular, I would like to thank Jørn E. Johnsen at Statkraft, Larry Pope and Nick VanderKwaak at BC Hydro, and Peter Church at Snowy Hydro. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Polhem Laboratory and VINNOVA, The Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems. I Finally, I would like to thank my wife Linda for her patience, love and encouragement during the research studies. I know that it has not been easy to share your life with a doctoral student. Without your support this thesis would never has existed. I am grateful that our children, Vilhelm and Maria, have accepted a father that has unfortunately been working too much. It will be wonderful to have time to devote to my family again. Luleå, April 2003 Fredrik Backlund II ABSTRACT Due to a competitive environment, many companies are required to reduce their overall costs while maintaining the value and reliability of their assets. The use of Reliability-Centred Maintenance, RCM, can help organisations to develop a systematic maintenance programme, meeting these requirements in a cost- effective manner. RCM basically combines different techniques and tools in a systematic approach to manage risks as a basis for maintenance decisions. When introducing RCM with the aim of changing the overall way of working with maintenance in the organisation, i.e. on a full-scale basis, a long-term introduction approach should preferably be used. In addition to improving the performance of the assets, this approach uses RCM to improve knowledge, motivation and teamwork among the personnel. In this way the approach could increase the commitment of managers and employees, making an RCM based maintenance programme far more likely to endure. However, in several cases organisations have experienced severe difficulties when introducing RCM on a full-scale basis. Some of the reasons are technical in nature, but the majority are managerial obstacles. In the research project presented in this thesis, an overall aim has been to facilitate for organisations introducing RCM. The focus has been on identifying managerial factors that affect an RCM introduction. In the research project, a longitudinal single-case study has been performed during 1997 - 2003, studying the introduction of RCM in a Swedish hydropower company. Many of the findings in the single-case study have been validated by a multiple-case study, including three other hydropower organisations introducing RCM. The findings are basically different kinds of managerial factors, which affect the introduction in form of obstacles and driving forces. These factors could be managed in four management perspectives, which indicates the need for a holistic approach when managing RCM introduction. An RCM introduction process has also been identified during the research, where the managerial factors can be structured according to different phases. Based on these findings, an RCM introduction strategy framework has been developed, with the aim of facilitating the work of organisations going to introduce RCM. The strategy framework is structured in accordance with the different phases in the RCM introduction process, with requirements and recommendations to be considered in each phase. III IV SAMMANFATTNING I en konkurrensutsatt omgivning tvingas många företag att på en övergripande nivå sänka sina kostnader, medan anläggningstillgångars värde och driftsäkerhet måste bibehållas. Med hjälp av ”Reliability-Centred Maintenance”, RCM, kan ett systematiskt och kostnadseffektivt underhållsprogram uppnås. RCM består av olika tekniker och verktyg som på ett systematiskt sätt kombineras i syfte att fatta riskbaserade beslut om underhållsinsatser. När RCM införs med syftet att förändra underhållsutförandet i hela organisationen bör ett långsiktigt angreppssätt användas. Ett sådant angreppssätt fokuserar på att förbättra anläggningstillgångars prestanda, men också på ökad kunskap, motivation och samarbete bland medarbetarna i organisationen. På detta sätt ökar sannolikheten för att ett RCM-baserat underhållsprogram kommer att användas och förbättras även efter införandet. Många organisationer har dock upplevt införandet av RCM som problematiskt och svårt. Detta beror till viss del på problem av teknisk karaktär, men tycks till övervägande del röra sig om problem med att styra och leda införandet. Ett övergripande syfte med forskningsprojektet har varit att underlätta för organisationer att införa RCM. Projektet har fokuserat på att identifiera faktorer som är hindrande eller drivande vid införandet av RCM. I en longitudinell fallstudie, genomförd mellan 1997-2003, har införandet av RCM i en svensk vattenkraftsorganisation studerats. Observationerna från fallstudien har validerats med observationer från en multipel fallstudie. Studien omfattar tre andra vattenkraftsorganisationer som befinner sig i införandet av RCM. Resultaten utgörs av olika faktorer som kan delas in i fyra ledningsperspektiv. Resultaten visar på att en helhetssyn måste ligga till grund för att leda och styra ett införande av RCM. En införandeprocess för RCM har också identifierats där faktorerna kan struktureras i olika faser. Baserat på fallstudieobservationerna har en övergripande införandestrategi utvecklats. Strategin har till syfte att underlätta för organisationer att införa RCM, speciellt inom vattenkraftsindustrin. Strategin innefattar krav och rekommendationer att ta hänsyn till i införandeprocessen. V VI TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 BACKGROUND 1 1.2 PROBLEM DISCUSSION 2 1.3 AIM OF THE RESEARCH 5 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 6 1.5 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS 6 2 RESEARCH DESIGN AND PROCESS 9 2.1 BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH PROJECT 9 2.2 RESEARCH APPROACH 9 2.3 CASE STUDY DESIGNS 12 2.4 INFORMATION COLLECTING METHODS 15 2.5 ANALYSIS DESIGN - STRATEGIES AND METHODS 18 2.6 REFLECTION ON THE DESIGN AND GENERALISATION OF RESULTS 19 2.7 THE RESEARCH PROCESS 21 2.8 REFLECTIONS ON THE RESEARCH PROCESS 23 2.9 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY 25 3 THEORETICAL FRAME OF REFERENCE 31 3.1 RELIABILITY-CENTRED MAINTENANCE 31 3.2 SUCCESSFUL AND FAILED INTRODUCTIONS 42 3.3 SOME MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES WHEN INTRODUCING RCM 44 3.4 AN RCM INTRODUCTION PROCESS 61 3.5 THEORETICAL PROPOSITIONS 63 4 MANAGING RCM INTRODUCTION – A SINGLE-CASE STUDY 65 4.1 THE REALISATION OF THE CASE STUDY 65 4.2 ABOUT HYDROPOWER 67 4.3 THE SWEDISH POWER MARKET 69 4.4 VATTENFALL AB VATTENKRAFT 70 4.5 THE STRUCTURE OF THE