Key points
Providing technicians with detailed information at the site of the repair can save facilities time and money.
Pretend you are a maintenance crew member who just received a work order to fix an industrial fluid system. The order states that “several” hoses and valves within a specific system need attention.
That sounds easy enough to manage. However, when you arrive at the site to perform the maintenance, it turns out that “several” is actually a few dozen hoses and valves that facilitate the flow of important fluids or gases from one location to another (Figure 1).
Making matters more complex, none of the components is labeled. There is no easy way to determine which hoses and valves are dedicated to what purpose. Predictably, some questions may immediately arise:
- What types of fluids are being transferred?
- Are those fluids at high pressures or temperatures?
- Are the fluids potentially hazardous?
- How long has each hose or valve been in service?
- What materials are the components made of?
- What sort of replacement is necessary? And when?
In many plants, answering these questions could take significant time and effort, especially if you must refer to the system’s schematics for the answers (Figure 2). In the meantime, the affected systems must be shut down while you troubleshoot the repair needs and perform the required maintenance. Any delays will increase downtime and potentially lead to lost profits.
So how can you avoid creating such a situation for your facility? Fortunately, there is an easy solution: you can tag all of the parts of your fluid systems – even the seemingly less critical components. Done properly, such tags can streamline maintenance troubleshooting and repairs, while promoting better outcomes. This article will address why adding tags to hoses, valves, and other components can improve maintenance procedures and improve system uptime. It will also review the type of information your component supplier should include on each tag.
A More Proactive Approach to Maintenance
To tag every hose and valve, it is first critical to perform a full plant audit to discover what components are in the plant and need to be identified. Gathering specific information like the hose type, valve type, part number, process fluid, pressure or temperature ratings, and vendor name and contact information will help you design proper tags and give you the tools you need to set up a proactive maintenance plan.
Log specific details into a spreadsheet, including:
- Hose lengths
- Valve size
- Core materials and construction
- Reinforcement layers
- End connections
- Mountings
- Cover types
- Operating conditions
- Cleaning procedures
- Information about the date the hose or valve was installed and scheduled for replacement
Chronicling this detailed information during an audit makes it much easier to tag components for future maintenance.
Most plants tag major fluid system components – items like pumps or other key components to system operation – but that is not enough. It is beneficial to tag every component to facilitate future maintenance and eliminate identification challenges for the maintenance team.
For example, a maintenance technician performing a routine checkup on a system involving multiple hoses will benefit immensely from a good hose identification tagging system. Imagine if that technician could read a hose tag and immediately know when that hose was last installed, what its core material is, what fluid it is carrying, and other critical information – without referencing a schematic. Talk about streamlined maintenance.
There are often time-specific maintenance requirements for many regulators, hoses, and valves that a simple visual check might not identify. Leaving a hose or valve operating beyond its intended life could lead to a larger issue that maintenance teams would need to respond to reactively. By using tags that include installation dates, those teams can be more proactive about replacing a component before it fails (Figure 3).
Additionally, tagging can help identify specific issues or faults that have developed on-site. By carefully tagging and recording issues, a plant will have both a record and a specific location that the maintenance team can use to quickly identify the item that needs to be repaired or replaced.
Analyse Your Data
It is not enough to just collect the data – you must review historical data against your established hose inspection and replacement frequencies. This process will allow you to determine if any intervals should be shortened or lengthened for safety or budgetary reasons.
In addition to regular data analysis, if a specific hose or valve is replaced frequently, it may be time to consider using an alternative design that will offer a longer life. In doing so, the data you have collected will help you verify that the cost-benefit analysis works in your plant’s best interest.
Greater Efficiency with the Right Information
Tags are a cost-effective way to improve efficiency by allowing easy identification of products and are effective in establishing preventive maintenance programs – but only when labeled with the right information (Figure 4).
At a minimum, tags should be used to identify the part number, date of manufacture, and the trace identification number, which ties the product to the original order. System media, operating pressure, and temperature are also valuable information that can be included.
Some hose manufacturers will include this information as standard on every hose and will offer several different tag styles to suit the individual plant’s needs, or those of the industry. Tags can be of the simple metal variety, or they can be color-coded to allow workers to immediately identify what types of fluids or gases are flowing through them, reducing the chances that an error will be made.
The tag type and size will dictate the amount of data that each tag can contain. Typically, tags contain around five lines of text, with each line consisting of 25 characters (including spaces). If desired, hose tags can be encapsulated in silicone to minimise entrapment. With this information readily available, maintenance technicians can more easily and efficiently service their systems. Additionally, there may be industrial guidelines for certain types of components, like the CGA pamphlet E-15 for pressure regulators. These standards can provide valuable guidance for what information should be readily available on a component tag given the function of that equipment.
Tags Tell the Story
Remember our original scenario, where the work order turned out to be more complicated than anticipated? With the addition of tags to the system, answers to all of those questions you had – about system media, operating pressure, original date of installation – are now readily available. As a result, maintenance crews can perform the necessary repairs or replacements in less time, which means the system returns to service much more quickly (Figure 5).
To develop an effective tagging system at your plant, remember that you do not have to do it alone. Your component supplier should be able to help you establish a system that will improve your maintenance procedures, enhance system safety, and keep downtime from reducing your profitability.
