(71c) The Power of RAM Modeling: Optimizing Facility Performance throughout Life

Projects in the energy industry often involve the design and construction of complex facilities, necessitating upfront capital investment and ongoing operational expenditure. Decisions made during design can carry considerable risk, both in terms of future profitability, as well as the impact that incidents may have on health, safety and the environment.

This presentation will introduce the audience to Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) system design attributes, considering the use of RAM Modeling to simulate the varying effects of equipment failures over facility lifetimes to support statistically relevant predictions of facility throughput. Simulations can be used to identify the main bottlenecks to production and help management formulate a targeted improvement plan. Proposed improvements also bring with them the need to determine the impact on risk, so the necessity to have the reliability engineer and the risk assessor working together will be highlighted in this presentation.