The achievement of operational excellence in the process industry depends on two factors, namely: production or manufacturing excellence, and maintenance excellence. Achieving production or manufacturing excellence requires reliable process plant; maintenance excellence requires a mix of maintenance concepts that assures the reliability of the assets at the process plant, and does not entail excessive cost.

Recent incidents in the process industry have placed increasing emphasis on the design, and management of secondary & tertiary containment systems. The mantra “let’s keep it in the pipe” still means that the integrity of primary containment system should be the centre-piece of any asset integrity programme.

The dynamic requirements of national and international regulations and increasingly challenging economic conditions are placing a growing demand on the chemical and process industries to extend the life span of theirassets and operate them harder than originally intended.