Achieving Reliability Excellence

Building Reliability Engineers Competencies

Bandar Abualnassr
CMRP, CRE, CRL, CAMA, CPAM
Reliability Engineering Superintendent
Sadara Chemical Company
12-Feb-2020
Agenda
• Bio
• About Sadara Chemical Company
• Reliability Excellence
• The role & Performance of Reliability Engineers (RE)
• What is Competency?
• Reliability Engineer Competency Framework
• What’s Next?
• Q&A
 Bandar Abualnassr
CMRP, CRE, CRL, CAMA, CPAM

• Over 14 years of experience in Maintenance, Reliability

and Asset Management
• Working at Sadara Chemical Company since 2013 and
currently leading the Reliability Engineering team
• Member of Gulf Society for Maintenance and Reliability
(GSMR) Asset Management Committee, World Partners
in Asset Management (WPiAM) Technical Committee and
he is the Vice Chairman of the Reliability Networking
Committee (RNC)
• Holds a B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering and a
Masters degree in Maintenance and Reliability
Engineering from Monash University
• Winner of the first Gulf Society for Maintenance and
Reliability (GSMR) Achiever Award in 2018
About Sadara Chemical Company

• Established in October 2011 Product Portfolio:

• Joint venture developed by Saudi Aramco and Ethanolamines
Dow Chemical Ethyleneamines
Propylene Glycol
• The largest chemical complex ever built in the Glycol Ether
world in a single phase LDPE
LLDPE
• 26 integrated world-scale manufacturing plants HDPE
Polyols
• Over 3 million metric tons of capacity per year TDI
• Total investment of about US$20 billion PMDI
 Reliability Excellence*
WHY
To generate value to our shareholders
Value

HOW
By balancing risk, cost & performance
Risk Cost Performance

WHAT
Investing in people, processes & technologies
People Processes Technologies

Foundation
Support by leadership
Leadership
* Adopted from Reliability Networking Committee (RNC)
Value of Reliability Excellence
Reliability

Availability

Maintanability Production

Operation Net Profit

Product Cost
& Revenue
Risk vs Performance vs Cost

“Effective control and governance of

assets by organizations is essential to
realize value through managing risk
and opportunity, in order to achieve the
desired balance of cost, risk and
performance” (ISO 55000)
The Core of Reliability Excellence
 Reliability asset
management system
 Reliability policy, vision,

Processes mission, strategies,

objectives and action
plans
 Reliability procedures
and work processes
 Reliability standards &
best practices

 Reliability organization People Technologies  CMMS/ERP software

 Building the reliability  APM software
culture  Process automation
 Hiring the right reliability  Process data historian
staff with high potential  IR4.0 enablers
 Developing knowledge, (simulation, cloud comp,
skills & abilities of big data analytics, IIoT,
reliability staff etc.)
 Having career path for
reliability staff to grow
 Reliability leadership
 Leadership and the HRO Principles*
Containment – focuses on controlling and bouncing
Anticipation – focuses on preventing unplanned events
back from disruptive events

1. Preoccupation 2. Reluctance to 3. Sensitivity to 4. Commitment to 5. Deference to

with Failure Simplify Operations Resiliency Expertise
•Leaders drive continuous •Leaders resist oversimplification •Leaders encourage people to •Leaders are adaptable and drive a •Leaders when confronted by a
attention to anomalies that could and generalization. They raise speak up even if sometimes work learning organization. They new risk, they have mechanisms in
be symptoms of larger problems doubts to get information; know activities may be disrupted; to recognize emerging anomalies place to identify the individuals
•Leaders ensure failures are how to handle the situation encourage skeptical views in despite prior beliefs, experiences, with the greatest expertise
properly managed •Leaders seek to understand the workers, and give meaningful or plans relevant to managing the
real root causes. They dig deep briefings •Leaders perform quick situational situation.
enough to know what •Leaders continuously evaluate assessments and are prepared to •Leaders foster a reliability culture
management system failed outcomes to determine if they are react appropriately even under that enable staff at every level to
in fact serving the objectives of unanticipated conditions or be comfortable sharing
the organization. They do not failures information and concerns with
assume that the continuous others, and to be commended
outcomes will be the same as when they do without any kind of
planned, assumed, or hoped for fear. Leaders listen and respond to
the insights of staff who know
how processes/operations work.

* Highly Reliable Organization (HRO) adopted from Managing the Unexpected by Karl E. Weick & Kathleen M. Sutcliffe
 The Core of Reliability Excellence

 The focus in today’s presentation will

Processes
be on the most important factor of the
Reliability Excellence model (People)
 In particular, the development of
people driving reliability excellence
efforts, the Reliability Engineers

People Technologies
Role of Reliability Engineers
• Drive the achievement of
reliability goals to realize value
from the organization’s physical
assets by balancing:
• Performance
• Risk
• Cost
• Using reliability processes and
technologies
• Practicing & influencing the
HRO principles
Performance of Reliability Engineers

Knowledge

Beliefs Actions

Competency Behavior

Abilities Skills

Attitude
What is Competency?
Knowledge
• Combination of related knowledge,
skills and abilities that enable a
person or organization to act
effectively in a job or situation.
• Competencies are described in ways
that are observable, measurable and Competency

based on performance.

Abilities Skills
 K.S.A
Knowledge

 Level of education, experience or training that an individual must have at a minimum

to be considered qualified for a role
 Theoretical or practical understanding of a subject or concept
 Knowledge increases as we gain more experience

 Something learned through experience

 Used to carry out complex activities or job functions to achieve pre -determined results
Skills

 Must be developed and improved with practice

 Can be developed through getting specific training or learning as you go, but always
starts off as unfamiliar

 The innate traits or talents that a person brings to a task or situation

Abilities

 Qualities needed to perform certain behaviors and whether someone is able or not is
dependent on their pre-existing qualities
 You can think of this much like potential
Competencies Levels of Proficiency

5.
4. Expert
Advanced
3.
Intermediate
2.
Novice
1.
Awareness
1. Awareness

 Having common knowledge or an understanding of basic techniques and concepts

 Focus on learning
2. Novice

 Having level of experience gained in a classroom and/or experimental scenarios or as a

trainee on-the-job
 Expected to need help when performing this competency
 Focus on developing through on-the-job experience
 Able to understand and can discuss terminology, concepts, principles and issues related to
this competency
 Able to utilize the full range of reference and resource materials in this competency
3. Intermediate

 Able to successfully complete tasks in this competency as requested

 Help from an expert may be required from time to time, but can usually perform
independently
 Focus is on applying and enhancing knowledge or skill
 Have applied this competency to situations occasionally while needing minimal guidance to
perform successfully
 Understands and can discuss the application and implications of changes to processes,
policies, and procedures in this area
4. Advanced
 Can perform the actions associated with this skill without assistance
 Recognized within the organization as "a person to ask" when difficult questions arise
regarding this competency
 Focus is on broad organizational/professional issues
 Consistently provided practical/relevant ideas and perspectives on process or practice
improvements which may easily be implemented
 Capable of coaching others in the application of this competency by translating complex
nuances relating to this competency into easy to understand terms
 Able to participate in senior level discussions regarding this competency
 Can assist in the development of reference and resource materials in this competency
5. Expert
 Known as an expert in this area
 Can provide guidance, troubleshoot and answer questions related to this area of expertise
and the field where the competency is used
 Focus is strategic
 Have demonstrated consistent excellence in applying this competency across multiple
projects and/or organizations
 Considered the go to person in this area inside or outside of the organization
 Able to create new applications for and/or lead the development of reference and resource
materials for this competency
 Able to diagram or explain the relevant process elements and issues in relation to
organizational issues and trends in sufficient detail during discussions and presentations, to
foster a greater understanding among internal and external colleagues and constituents
RE Competency Framework
 Competencies needed for Reliability Engineering
Leaders
Leadership  Contribute to superior performance
Competencies

 Reliability Engineering specific competencies

Functional
 The core of the Reliability Engineer s
Competencies
competencies

 Technical competencies related to physical assets

Technical Competencies
 Acquired before becoming a Reliability Engineer

 Personal & inter-personal competencies for

Reliability Engineers needed in order to practice
Personal Competencies
the role successfully
 Acquired before becoming a Reliability Engineer
 Leadership
Competencies

Functional
Competencies

Technical Competencies

Personal Competencies
List of Personal Competencies
• Influence • Business Acumen
• Initiative • Engaging Others
• Problem Solving • Reliability and Commitment
• Collaboration • Customer Focus
• Continuous Development • Presentation
• Accountability • Analytical Thinking
• Communication
Influence
• The ability to influence,
persuade, or convince others to
adopt a specific course of action
• It involves the use of persuasive
techniques, presentations or
negotiation skills to achieve
desired results
 Influence Behaviors (example)
Level Behavior
1
 Intends to have a specific effect or impact; expresses concern but does not take any specific actions
Awareness

 Uses direct persuasion in a discussion or presentation (e.g., appeals to reason, data, and other’s self-interests; uses concrete examples,
2
visual aids, demonstrations, etc.)
Novice  Makes no apparent attempt to adapt presentation to the interest and level of the audience

3  Takes two or more steps to persuade without trying to adapt specifically to level or interest of an audience
Intermediate  Includes careful preparation of data for presentation or making two or more different arguments or points in a presentation or a discussion

 Adapts a presentation or discussion to appeal to the interest and level of others

4  Anticipates the effect of an action or other detail on people’s image of the speaker or takes a well thought-out dramatic or unusual action in
Advanced order to have a specific impact
 Anticipates and prepares for others’ reactions
 Uses chains of indirect influence: “get A to show B so B will tell C such-and-such” or takes two steps to influence, with each step adapted to
the specific audience
5
 Uses experts or other third parties to influence
Expert  Assembles coalitions, builds “informal” support for ideas; selects information to have specific effects, and uses “group process skills” to lead
or direct a group
Collaboration
• Develops cooperation and teamwork while participating
in a group, working toward solutions which generally
benefit all parties
• Ability to work co-operatively with other individuals and
make valued contributions to the outputs of others in
order to assist own team or project to achieve the
required outputs
• Places team needs and priorities above individual needs
• Involves others in making decisions that affect them
• Draws on the strengths of colleagues and gives credit to
others’ contributions and achievements
 Leadership
Competencies

Functional
Competencies

Technical Competencies

Personal Competencies
List of Technical Competencies
• Installation, Maintenance & • Understanding of EH&S Policies and
Operations of Rotating Equipment Standards
• Installation, Maintenance & • Understanding of Engineering
Operations of Static Equipment Drawings and Schematics
• Installation, Maintenance & • Understanding Failure Mechanisms
Operations of Electrical Equipment of Rotating Equipment
• Installation, Maintenance & • Understanding Failure Mechanisms
Operations of Instruments of Static Equipment
• Basic understanding of Chemical • Understanding Failure Mechanisms
Engineering of Electrical Equipment
• Basic understanding of Process • Understanding Failure Mechanisms
Industry of Instruments
Equipment related Competencies
Understanding Equipment
• Understanding of equipment working principles,
operations, maintenance, repair, failure
mechanisms & troubleshooting
• This includes:
 Rotating equipment (pumps, compressors, etc.)

 Static equipment (heat exchangers, columns,

boilers, valves, etc.)

 Electrical equipment (motors, transformers,

switchgears, etc.)
 Instrument equipment (flowmeters, pressure

indicators, control valves, etc.)

 Leadership
Competencies

Functional
Competencies

Technical Competencies

Personal Competencies
List of Functional Competencies
• Root Cause Analysis (RCA) • Data Mining and Analysis
• Risk Management • Benchmarking
• Risk Based Strategy Management • Defect Elimination
• Reliability, Availability & • Asset Management
Maintainability (RAM) Modeling • Lean and Six Sigma
and Simulation
• Project Management
• Systems & Assets Performance
Monitoring and Assessment • Facilitation
• Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA)
Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
• Root cause analysis (RCA) is a process designed for
use in investigating and categorizing the root
causes of events with safety, health,
environmental, quality, reliability and production
impacts
• The term “event” is used to generically identify
occurrences that produce or have the potential to
produce these types of consequences
• Used to understand why an even has occurred in
order to prevent it from happening again and to
learn and leverage across the organization
Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
• Root Causes are:
 Specific underlying causes

 Those that can reasonably be identified

 Those management has control to fix

 Those for which effective recommendations for

preventing recurrences can be generated

• Common Methodologies:
 5 Whys

 Fishbone

 PROACT

 TapRoot

 Apollo RealityCharting
Risk Based Strategy Management
• Development, review, assessment &
optimization of risk based strategies such as:
• Asset/systems criticality assessment
• Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)
• Risk Based Inspection (RBI)
• Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS)
• Spare parts management
Systems & Assets Performance Monitoring
• Monitoring and assessment of assets and systems condition to
ensure that strategies requirements are being met
• It includes:
• Asset Utilization
• Process parameters
• Vibration analysis
• Lubrication analysis
• Motor circuit analysis
• Infrared Thermography
• Acoustic analysis
• Electrical monitoring
• Radiation analysis
• Electromagnetic analysis
Data Mining & Analysis
• Extracting, cleaning, transforming, modeling and
visualization of systems/assets performance data
with an intention to uncover meaningful and useful
information that can help in deriving conclusion
and take decisions
• Examples:
• Life Data Analysis (Weibull distribution, Mean
Cumulative Function, Reliability Growth, etc.)
• Maintainability Analysis
• Process Predictive Analytics
Defect Elimination
• Process of proactively eliminating defects that
have negative consequences on
systems/assets performance
• It includes defect’s identification, analyzing,
prioritization, solution & solution effectiveness
• Similar to Bad Actor but also look for potential
defects
Defect Elimination
• Defects can come from:
 Raw material
 Operation/maintenance discipline
 Equipment design, manufacturing,
installation or commissioning
 Spare parts
 Process configuration/design
 Etc.
Facilitation
• Facilitate = Make Easy
• What a facilitator does is plan, guide and
manage a group event to ensure that the
group's objectives are met effectively, with
clear thinking, good participation and full buy-
in from everyone who is involved
• Although, reliability efforts are driven by
Reliability Engineer, yet he/she needs others to
develop, review or execute these efforts
 Facilitation Process*
1. Have a plan and be ready to change it
2. Know your people
3. Keep momentum up and energy high
4. Keep it light
5. Don’t take sides
6. Ask questions and interact
7. Summarize and link

* https://donaldhtaylor.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/7-steps-to-good-facilitation/
 Leadership
Competencies

Functional
Competencies

Technical Competencies

Personal Competencies
List of Leadership Competencies
• Conflict Management • Team Leadership
• Strategic Vision • Auditing
• Coaching and Developing Others • Change Management
• Empowerment • Integrity
• Holding People Accountable • Self-Awareness
• Organizational Awareness • Learning Agility
Conflict Management
• The ability to handle conflicting interests
diplomatically and to help solve them
• The ability to intervene in a conflict situation,
successfully alleviating or eliminating discord
through conciliation
• Ability to anticipate, diffuse and resolve
disagreements, confrontations, tensions and
complaints in a practical and constructive manner
in order to achieve results, solve service delivery
difficulties, gain acceptance to plans, policy
implementation and proposals
Coaching & Developing Others
• Encouraging and guiding employees in order to
make their performance more effective and to
enhance their self-perception and problem solving
skills
• Planning and supporting the development of
individual's skills and abilities so that they can fulfill
current or future job/role responsibilities more
effectively
• Ability to develop others and constructively review
the work of others in order to improve and advance
the skills, knowledge and performance levels
 RE Competency Development Process

NO

Identify gaps Prioritize Individual YES

RE Competency IDP Review & Recognize &
based on competency gaps Development Plan Gaps Closed?
Assessment Feedback Reward
proficiency level based on score (IDP)

Training

Coaching

Real World
Exercise

KPIs
Competency Based Assessment
• The process of assessing the competency of individual based evidence and
according to the required competency level of proficiency needed for the
individual’s role and position. Assessment typically starts with a self-
assessment then assessment done by an expert or a leader
• Assessment should cover:
 Training done in a class room (instructor or computer based) or getting a
professional certification (i.e. CMRP, CMRT, CAMA, CRE, etc.)
 Coaching sessions or participating in a project with an expert
 Real life exercise or a project
• Competency assessment KPIs should be in place and reviewed periodically
Competency Based Questions
• Interview questions that require new hire candidates to provide real-life
examples as the basis of their answers
• Candidates should explain why they made certain decisions, how they
implemented these decisions and why certain outcomes took place
• Questions are based on the competency framework and the required level of
proficiency needed for the role and position
 Value of Competency Based Development*
• Ensures professional development activities are cost-effective, goal-oriented and productive
• Establishes a framework for constructive performance assessments
• Reduces cost overruns caused by poor performance or miscommunication of job expectations
• Targets specific training needs
• Increases the potential for job satisfaction
• Provides a mechanism for the recognition of employees
• Provides clear direction for learning new job requirement
• Sets clear expectations for employees, enabling them to make better decisions and work
more effectively

* https://www.thecompetencygroup.com/training-workshops/advantages-competency-based-training/
References
• https://www.wikijob.co.uk/content/interview-advice/competencies/key-competencies
• http://www.buffalo.edu/administrative-services/managing-people/supervising/planning-evaluating-performance/competency-library.html
• https://calipercorp.com/competency-table/
• https://my.hr.gov.nt.ca/learning-development/performance-development/competency-library
• https://performance.syr.edu/competency-library/#influence
• https://www.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel/careerpathway/CPWSelectCompetencies.aspx
• http://blog.psychpress.com.au/2016/10/skills-abilities-knowledge-and.html
• https://www.performancemagazine.org/what-is-the-difference-between-competencies-and-behaviors-when-establishing-performance-criteria/
• https://hr.nih.gov/working-nih/competencies/competencies-proficiency-scale
• http://asq.org/quality-progress/2004/07/quality-tools/root-cause-analysis-for-beginners.html
• https://www.educba.com/predictive-analytics-vs-data-mining/
• https://www.flaticon.com