Yards Moving Forward - GL Group

Systematic Maintenance
Pays Off
With a certified Planned Maintenance System, shipping companies can reduce the
surveying effort for their ships to a minimum.
Port State Control, class surveys, inspections by underwriters
and charterers – small wonder that ship managers
often get the feeling that life consists mainly of checks and
controls. For the class surveys at least, there has for several
years now been the possibility of limiting the number of
physical surveys to a minimum. The key to this is ensuring the
systematic planning and monitoring of the maintenance jobs
in accordance with the requirements of the manufacturers
and classification society. With a certified “Planned Maintenance
System” (PMS), the servicing tasks carried out by the
ship’s own staff on machinery and electrical installations are
recognized as being equivalent to the periodical surveys of
Germanischer Lloyd. The result: the routine surveys for retention
of class can be shortened considerably, leading to a
reduction in lay times and hence also to a lower loss of earnings
over the entire lifetime of a vessel. “Damage and defects
that may cause an impairment of the class, as well as equipment
under pressure, gearbox, steering gear, propeller and
shaft must still be examined by a surveyor of the classification
society,” explains Dr. Ralf-Udo Gressmann, the responsible
PMS expert at Germanischer Lloyd. Through a rationalization
of the maintenance and surveys, the required effort in terms
of time can be reduced by up to 20 percent. Within the scope
of a conventional survey arrangement, numerous checks are
needed for the class renewal; with the PMS procedure, these
are distributed over the entire period of class and can be performed
by the crew on board to a large extent, i.e. in the
absence of a surveyor. As a result, the tests and inspections
can be carried out after the running hours recommended
by the corresponding manufacturer have elapsed, and no
longer at fixed intervals. The benefits will be noticed by
the shipping companies in hard cash, since the surveys with
PMS are cost-neutral in comparison with the periodical
surveys. According to Gressmann, shipping companies
should allow a period of one to one-and-half years for the
development, introduction and certification of the system.
“After that, you will have an optimized, user-friendly system,”
the expert says.
For the planning and documentation of the maintenance,
there are a number of software solutions in common use.
Within the scope of its information system “fleet online”, Germanischer
Lloyd offers the GL ShipManager, a module that
can be used not only for the maintenance planning but also
for the entire information processing on board. It is straightforward
and easy to use: by mouse-click, the user can navigate
through diverse component folders to access all the
details, just like with the file management system of a PC.
Thanks to an effective transfer module, all servicing activities
can be tracked continuously in the office ashore.
44 nonstop 3/2006
For various reasons, the demand for PMS certifications
has increased appreciably of late. “In the first half of this year,
we have already certified as many shipping companies as in
the whole of last year. The number of ships with a recognized
PMS is now 250 for Germanischer Lloyd,” says Ralf-Udo
Gressmann. Firstly, many companies have already developed
their maintenance programmes to such an extent since introduction
of the ISM Code that the change-over to PMS involves
no extra effort at all for some of these firms. Secondly, the
technical installations on board the ships have become so
complex that a rational, computer-supported procedure has
become practically indispensable for maintenance planning,
as Gressmann points out. ■ MPH
For further information: Dr. Ralf-Udo Gressmann, PMS Officer,
Phone.: +49-40-36149-5554, ralf-udo.gressmann@gl-group.com
THREE EASY STEPS TO PMS
The certification of a Planned Maintenance System (PMS) can be
obtained in three phases. First of all, the shipowner submits the following
documents to Germanischer Lloyd: a list of all the components of
the machinery installation; time intervals for the individual maintenance
tasks; instructions for using the machinery components; organizational
instructions for the PMS (e.g. duration of document storage, data
backup intervals etc.).
The approval of the PMS then progresses through two subsequent
steps: After successful examination of the documentation, a PMS certificate
is issued to the owner or operator. In addition, after the PMS
has been operating for at least six months, Germanischer Lloyd conducts
an implementation survey on board the ship. To verify the
maintenance status, a renewal survey of the PMS must be carried out
once a year. “However, this is combined and coordinated with the periodical
survey of the class, so that the effort required on the part of the
shipping company is not increased,” explains Dr. Ralf-Udo Gressmann,
the specialist for PMS at Germanischer Lloyd.