Who Turned Out the Lights

Who Turned Out the Lights?

4.29.13

Alan Ross, VP-Sales & Marketing, SD Myers

In the middle of the biggest game of the year with millions of fans watching and billions of dollars on the line, the power suddenly goes out in the stadium. Your system failure may not be as public or costly as this one but you still want to avoid it at all costs!

On February 3, 2013, millions of people around the world watched as a Production Manager's nightmare scenario played out right before their eyes during the Super Bowl - a 30-minute power failure that cut half the lights in the New Orleans Superdome. The "production line" was halted.

Aren't you relieved that a similar situation in your organization wouldn't be destined for broadcast globally? And for NFL fans, this wasn't the first blackout. In fact, on Monday Night Football last year, the lights went out twice at Candlestick Park during the 49ers game with the Steelers.

Most reliability professionals agree that the reliability of a system is only as good as the weakest link in that system. In both instances above, the weakest link caused the unplanned outage. In recent years, the transformer, considered the heart of the electrical system, has increasingly become that weak link.

Many production systems rely on transformers that have far exceeded their planned useful life. So what are reliability experts supposed to do when a part of their systems are for all intents and purposes beyond practical life expectancy? It has been working for 20 years, 30 years and sometimes as much as a half-century. And to replace these critical assets is more complex and expensive than first thought.

The problem of power reliability in industrial applications is compounded by the reality that most facilities are running at maximum capacity, with little room for error. In a recent conference call with a metals processing company, we were told that an outage of one of their critical transformer units would cost lost production of $1M/day. If that unit happened to be in a section of the production process that involved heated metal, it could add even much, much more to the downtime of $1M/day.

What is the best way to ensure your transformer does not become the weakest link in your electrical system?

A carefully managed testing and maintenance program that proactively addresses the age and condition of your transformers is the top priority. Rest-assured there would be many questions from the NFL to the powers that be about just what went wrong and how it would be avoided. Isn't that usually the way it works? Rather than placing the proper testing and maintenance budgets in place prior to a shutdown, we react and close the barn doors once the horses are running wild in the field.

The good news is that reliability and systems professionals are becoming prominent players in corporate planning circles. It doesn't matter how much reliability you put into the production system if it is the weak link. You will then stand to have your own "blackout."

Even if your failure isn't as public or costly as the power outage at the big game, it's something you want to avoid at all costs.

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