Purchasing operating practices

Maintenance practices are being combined more and more with operational practices to ensure that plants have the highest reliability with maximum efficiency. This has led to the importance of performance condition monitoring as a major tool in the operation and maintenance of a plant. Life cycle costs, rightly so, now drive the entire purchasing cycle and thus the... 

All activities range from initial design, inspection, and purchase of process plant, and their operation and maintenance and safe operating practices shall be audited for enforcing proper working. External auditors can be employed for an independent assessment. Regular internal audits for performance, safety, and energy efficiency shall also be carried out. 

First Phase The first phase is reviewing and improving operating practices. It is important to document the existing processes that create hazardous wastes. Documentation activities should compile management policies and procedures, employee training, maintenance practices, purchase of hazardous materials, risk analysis, and process decision-making. 

Thermal printing usually involves passing materials over a full-width array of electronically controlled heaters (a thermal printhead). This marks thousands of spots simultaneously, so pages print relatively quickly. Image data to control the printhead usually come from computer systems. Black-and-white and full-color systems are both practical. Color is slower and more cosdy to purchase and use, primarily because this involves three or four successive printing operations, one for each color used. 

Inventory Manag ement and Improved Operations. (/) Inventory and trace all raw materials. 2) Purchase fewer toxic and more nontoxic production materials. (I) Implement employee training and management feedback. (4) Improve material receiving, storage, and handling practices. 

Standard turboexpander-compressor sets designed and manufactured by competent manufactureres embody many of the reliability improvement and maintenance cost reduction features inherent in API (American Petroleum Institute) standards for other turbomachines. To achieve close compliance, however, the owner/purchasers must know their specific needs or requirements. Nevertheless, it may not be practical, feasible, or economically justified to achieve full compliance with API specifications, which were generally devised without giving thought to the peculiarities of turboexpanders and their sometimes differing operating environments. 

The two candidate compounds are commercially available. These candidate solvents were purchased and tested in the laboratories of paint industries (Constantinou 2005). It was found that the solvent 1-methoxy-2-propanol was very successful in replacing Ethyl Glycol. When it was tested in larger amounts (under actual plant operation), it was also found to be equally successful. Consequently, 1 -methoxy-2-propanol replaced Ethyl Glycol very successfully, while at the same time making a lower environmental impact. This example highlights the breadth of the CAMD-based methodology in terms of its ability to provide realistic solutions which are theoretically consistent and practically applicable. 

There are two aspects to the problem of costs in computing. The first of these is concerned with the lease (or equivalent purchase) cost of the computer itself, together with the costs incurred in its routine operation and maintenance. The second is the cost of the staff required for problem analysis, programming, and related activities. This second cost seems often to be underestimated by persons not familiar with computing practice. 

There will be a small loss in motor efficiency, by using an oversized motor. As process operators and engineers, we can ignore this effect. It is good engineering practice to purchase new motors for the maximum-size impeller that can be installed in a pump. 

Plant operations personnel generally purchase cooling towers rather than construct them themselves. The philosophy behind this policy is that it makes available to operators a wealth of practical knowledge directly applicable in the field. The operator must specify the amount of water and the temperature range required to handle a specific set of process conditions. It is the fabricator s responsibility to propose a system that will meet the operator-furnished conditions for the 5% wet-bulb in the plant locality. This also means that the fan power with which the operation will be accomplished will be guaranteed. 

The manufacturer shall repair or replace without charge, f.o.b. point of shipment, any material which, within one year from date of delivery, is proven defective in materials or workmanship, provided that the purchaser shall have given the manufacturer written notice of such defect and that Such defects are exclusive of corrosion, erosion or normal wear, and provided that the equipment has been operated in accordance with generally approved practice. 

Qualification practices apply to all components of a computer system and its associated controlled process/operation, procedural controls, and documentation. Any of these components can be purchased or developed by the company or by a computer technology supplier/contract developer. 

When purchasing system software, standard instruments, microcontrollers, smart instruments, and standard software packages, it is the practice of organizations to initially rely on the history of the supplier and the industry operating experience as assurance of the supplier capability of program performance suitability. 

When purchasing configurable software, it is often the practice to evaluate the criticality of the application to the regulatory operation, in order to determine if a supplier evaluation is warranted and feasible. If a supplier evaluation is not warranted or feasible, the rationale for this must be documented and retained with the system validation documentation. As in the previous case, the end user is responsible for ensuring that the program is suitable for its intended purpose when used in a regulatory environment. 

Sabine Deppe is a consultant in McKinsey s Cologne office. She is a member of the chemicals and purchasing and supply management practices. Her work focuses on operational and organizational improvements in chemicals, especially in the context of broader performance transformation programs. She holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Gottingen. 

Khosro Ezaz-Nikpay is a principal at McKinsey. He is based in London from where he leads the European purchasing and supply management practice. He has carried out extensive work in this field, primarily with consumer goods, automotive, and process industry clients, and has also worked on strategy, postmerger management, and operational improvement. He holds a BS from UC Berkeley and a PhD in chemistry from Harvard University. 

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