Abstract for: System Dynamic Modeling of Plant Maintenance Strategy in Thailand

This research studied about plant maintenance strategy and condition monitoring technology used in Thailand compared to typical and benchmarking plants in United States. The research first reviewed literature on plant maintenance strategy used in typical and benchmarking plants in United States and related information of condition monitoring technology as well as previous research in this field. A set of questions was used for structured interviews with respondents working in power generation, petrochemical, refinery and gas separation plants in Thailand. Next, System Dynamics was used to model a generic plant maintenance system and then the collected data from interviews was used as input for the model. The system’s behavior was studied focusing on plant uptime and maintenance cost. The results imply that industrial plants in Thailand should reduce preventive maintenance levels and increase predictive maintenance levels to better meet the benchmark as well as to increase plant uptime and reduce maintenance cost. The simulation model can be used as a starting point for particular plants to study plant maintenance behavior for finding a suitable maintenance policy. Actual plant data can be used for model modification and simulation studies. Keywords: Condition monitoring technology, Plant maintenance strategy, Maintenance management, System dynamics