Patent Publication Number: US-2015073862-A1

Title: System and method for risk optimized, spatially sensitive preventive maintenance scheduling for asset management

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present patent document is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/954,051, filed Nov. 24, 2010, entitled “A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RISK OPTIMIZED, SPATIALLY SENSITIVE PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULING FOR ASSET MANAGEMENT”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     One aspect of the present invention provides for a method and a system for estimating the risk of failure of an asset based on intrinsic parameters, such as failure history or causative factors like weather and independent external risk factors like vandalism and risk of flooding. The failure risk is combined with location information to generate maintenance schedules which are optimal with reference to failure risk and inspection cost. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     There is a problem in preventive maintenance. Preventive Maintenance is a critical and costly operation in large scale asset based business. Today, preventive maintenance is carried out at regular time intervals on all assets (meaning that, as an example, all 10,000 fire hydrants in Washington, D.C., need to be checked twice a year), irrespective of the risk of failure. Given the magnitude of the task, it is very expensive and, by not factoring failure risk into the inspection process, it is sub-optimal from the perspective of minimizing outages. 
     Therefore, there exists a need for a solution that solves at least one of the deficiencies of the related art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One aspect of the invention includes a method for preventative maintenance comprising: inputting, into an intrinsic failure risk estimator, identifying information about a plurality of assets, maintenance records for each of the plurality of assets, and one or more environmental factors for each of the plurality of assets to determine an estimated intrinsic risk of failure of each asset of the plurality of assets; inputting, to an integrated failure risk database, the estimated intrinsic risk of failure of each asset of the plurality of assets determined by the intrinsic failure risk estimator; combining, in an external risk estimates database, an elevation-based risk of flooding determined for each of the plurality of assets, and a risk of deliberate damage determined for each of the plurality of assets; inputting, to the integrated failure risk database, the elevation-based risk of flooding determined for each of the plurality of assets and the risk of deliberate damage determined for each of the plurality of assets combined in the external risk estimates database; retrieving, from a scheduling constraints database, each of the following information about the plurality of assets: a capability of maintenance personnel to perform maintenance on each asset of the plurality of assets, and vendor contractual information about a set of contracts with the maintenance personnel; combining the estimated intrinsic risk of failure of each asset of the plurality of assets output from the intrinsic failure risk estimator, the combined elevation-based risk of flooding determined for each of the plurality of assets and the risk of deliberate damage determined for each of the plurality of assets, the capability of maintenance personnel to perform maintenance on each asset of the plurality of assets, and the vendor contractual information; inputting, to a scheduler, the combined estimated intrinsic risk of failure of each asset of the plurality of assets output from the intrinsic failure risk estimator, the elevation-based risk of flooding determined for each of the plurality of assets and the risk of deliberate damage determined for each of the plurality of assets, the capability of maintenance personnel to perform maintenance on each asset of the plurality of assets, and the vendor contractual information; and determining, by the scheduler, a preventative maintenance schedule for the plurality of assets. 
     Another aspect of the invention includes a system for estimating the risk of failure of an asset, the system comprising: a risk of failure of an asset processing unit and a computer readable storage device; program instructions, stored on the computer readable storage device, which when executed by the risk of failure of an asset processing unit, causes the computer system to: input, into an intrinsic failure risk estimator, identifying information about a plurality of assets, maintenance records for each of the plurality of assets, and one or more environmental factors for each of the plurality of assets to determine an estimated intrinsic risk of failure of each asset of the plurality of assets; input, to an integrated failure risk database, the estimated intrinsic risk of failure of each asset of the plurality of assets determined by the intrinsic failure risk estimator; combine, in an external risk estimates database, an elevation-based risk of flooding determined for each of the plurality of assets, and a risk of deliberate damage determined for each of the plurality of assets; input, to the integrated failure risk database, the elevation-based risk of flooding determined for each of the plurality of assets and the risk of deliberate damage determined for each of the plurality of assets combined in the external risk estimates database; retrieve, from a scheduling constraints database, each of the following information about the plurality of assets: a capability of maintenance personnel to perform maintenance on each asset of the plurality of assets, and vendor contractual information about a set of contracts with the maintenance personnel; combine the estimated intrinsic risk of failure of each asset of the plurality of assets output from the intrinsic failure risk estimator, the combined elevation-based risk of flooding determined for each of the plurality of assets and the risk of deliberate damage determined for each of the plurality of assets, the capability of maintenance personnel to perform maintenance on each asset of the plurality of assets, and the vendor contractual information; input, to a scheduler, the combined estimated intrinsic risk of failure of each asset of the plurality of assets output from the intrinsic failure risk estimator, the elevation-based risk of flooding determined for each of the plurality of assets and the risk of deliberate damage determined for each of the plurality of assets, the capability of maintenance personnel to perform maintenance on each asset of the plurality of assets, and the vendor contractual information; and determine, by the scheduler, a preventative maintenance schedule for the plurality of assets. 
     Another aspect of the invention includes a computer-readable storage device storing computer instructions, which, when executed, enables a computer system to estimate the risk of failure of an asset, the computer instructions comprising: inputting, into an intrinsic failure risk estimator, identifying information about a plurality of assets, maintenance records for each of the plurality of assets, and one or more environmental factors for each of the plurality of assets to determine an estimated intrinsic risk of failure of each asset of the plurality of assets; inputting, to an integrated failure risk database, the estimated intrinsic risk of failure of each asset of the plurality of assets determined by the intrinsic failure risk estimator; combining, in an external risk estimates database, an elevation-based risk of flooding determined for each of the plurality of assets, and a risk of deliberate damage determined for each of the plurality of assets; inputting, to the integrated failure risk database, the elevation-based risk of flooding determined for each of the plurality of assets and the risk of deliberate damage determined for each of the plurality of assets combined in the external risk estimates database; retrieving, from a scheduling constraints database, each of the following information about the plurality of assets: a capability of maintenance personnel to perform maintenance on each asset of the plurality of assets, and vendor contractual information about a set of contracts with the maintenance personnel; combining the estimated intrinsic risk of failure of each asset of the plurality of assets output from the intrinsic failure risk estimator, the combined elevation-based risk of flooding determined for each of the plurality of assets and the risk of deliberate damage determined for each of the plurality of assets, the capability of maintenance personnel to perform maintenance on each asset of the plurality of assets, and the vendor contractual information; inputting, to a scheduler, the combined estimated intrinsic risk of failure of each asset of the plurality of assets output from the intrinsic failure risk estimator, the elevation-based risk of flooding determined for each of the plurality of assets and the risk of deliberate damage determined for each of the plurality of assets, the capability of maintenance personnel to perform maintenance on each asset of the plurality of assets, and the vendor contractual information; and determining, by the scheduler, a preventative maintenance schedule for the plurality of assets. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features of this invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description of the various aspects of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows a data processing system suitable for estimating the risk of failure of an asset based on intrinsic parameters such as failure history combined with causative factors like weather and/or independent external risk factors like vandalism and risk of flooding of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  shows a network that may incorporate an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a system of the present invention for estimating the risk of failure of an asset based on intrinsic parameters, such as failure history combined with causative factors like weather and/or independent external risk factors like vandalism and risk of flooding. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a method of the present invention for estimating the risk of failure of an asset based on intrinsic parameters, such as failure history combined with causative factors like weather and/or independent external risk factors like vandalism and risk of flooding. 
     
    
    
     The drawings are merely schematic representations, not intended to portray specific parameters of the invention. The drawings are intended to depict only typical embodiments of the invention, and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope of the invention. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention, which meets the needs identified above, provides for a method and a system for estimating the risk of failure of an asset based on: 1) intrinsic parameters, such as failure history combined with causative factors such weather; and 2) independent external risk factors like vandalism and risk of flooding. 
     The asset management software of the present invention provides insight for enterprise assets, their conditions and work processes, for better planning and control.
         Manages asset deployment, specifications, monitoring, calibration, costing and tracking from a single system;   Provides enterprise asset management software for long and short-term planning, preventive, reactive and condition-based maintenance, schedule management, resource optimization and key performance indicators;   Plans inventory to meet maintenance demand, making the right parts available at the right location when needed;   Manages vendor contracts with comprehensive support for purchase, lease, rental, warranty, rate, master, blanket and user-defined contracts; and   Aligns service levels with business objectives by defining service offerings and establishing service level agreements (SLAs).       

     The present invention may be used in airports, rail and transit, marine, ports and terminals, hospitality such as hotels, casinos and amusement parks, water and waste water management, mining/metals/minerals, oil and gas, aerospace and defense, food and beverage, electronics and industrial, automotive, retail, life sciences, federal (civil and defense) and state, NASA, healthcare, education, banking and securities, media and cable, telecommunications, insurance, and service providers. 
     System  100 , such as Data Processing System  102  shown in  FIG. 1 , suitable for storing and/or executing program code of the present invention may include System  104  having at least one processor (Processing Unit  106 ) and Risk of Failure of an Asset Processing Unit  111  coupled directly or indirectly to Memory  110  through System Bus  112 . Memory  110  may include local memory (RAM  130 ) employed during actual execution of the program code and cache memories (Cache  132 ) that provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from Bulk Storage  118 , connected to Scheduling Constraints Database  140 , during execution. Memory  110  may further include External Risk Estimates Database  142  for collecting and storing the external risks estimates of an asset based on: 1) intrinsic parameters, such as failure history combined with causative factors such weather; and 2) independent external risk factors like vandalism and risk of flooding. 
     Input/output or I/O devices (External Peripherals  116 ) (including but not limited to keyboards, displays (Display  120 ), pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to System  104  (see  FIG. 1 ), either directly or indirectly through a network (see  FIG. 2 ) through intervening I/O controllers (I/O interface(s)  114 ). 
     Network adapters (Network Adapter  138  in  FIG. 1 ) may also be utilized in System  200  to enable data processing units (as shown in  FIG. 2 , Data Processing Unit  202 ) to become coupled through network connections (Network Connections  206 ,  208 ) to other data processing units (Data Processing Unit  204 ), remote printers (Printer  212 ) and/or storage devices (Storage  214 ) or other devices through intervening private and/or public networks (Network  210 ). 
       FIG. 3  illustrates System  300  for estimating the risk of failure of an asset based on: 1) intrinsic parameters, such as failure history combined with causative factors such as weather; and 2) independent external risk factors like vandalism and risk of flooding. System  300  has a Location Based Asset/Service Failure Risk Estimator—Elevation Based Flooding Risk element  302 . It further has Location Based Asset/Service Failure Risk Estimator—Vandalism Risk element  304 . Both are connected to an External Risk Estimates database  314  that feeds an Integrated Failure Risk Database  316 . System  300  further has Asset Database  306 , Maintenance Database  308  and Environment Factors Database  310  all connected to Intrinsic Failures Risk Estimator  312 . Intrinsic Failures Risk Estimator  312  is also connected to Integrated Failure Risk Database  316 . Location Based Asset/Service Failure Risk Estimator—Tree damage Risk Element  328  feeds External Risk Estimates Database  314 . 
     Integrated Failure Risk Database  316  is connected to Scheduler  318 . Also connected to Scheduler  318  is Scheduling Constraints Database  324  which maintains data such as skills, labor cost, availability; equipment; and contractual limits/regulations. Also feeding Scheduler  318  is Spatial Constraint Generator  320 . Work Order Database  322  feeds Spatial Constraint Generator  320 . Scheduler  318  loads Risk Optimized, Spatially Sensitive Preventive Maintenance Schedule database  326 . 
       FIG. 4  illustrates one method  400  of the present invention. At  402 , the method estimates the risk of failure of an asset. At  404 , the method combines the estimation with causative factors. At  406 , the next step is to determine a preventative maintenance schedule. At  408 , the next step is to store the preventative maintenance schedule. At  410 , the next step of the method is to estimate the risk of failure of an asset based on intrinsic parameters such as failure history. And finally, at  412 , the last step is to combine the intrinsic parameters with causative factors such as weather and independent external risk factors like vandalism and risk of flooding, as an example. 
     It should be understood that the present invention is typically computer-implemented via hardware and/or software. As such, client systems and/or servers will include computerized components as known in the art. Such components typically include (among others) a processing unit, a memory, a bus, input/output (I/O) interfaces, external devices, etc. 
     While shown and described herein as a system and method for estimating the risk of failure of an asset based on: 1) intrinsic parameters—like failure history combined with causative factors like weather; and 2) independent external risk factors like vandalism and risk of flooding. For example, in one embodiment, the invention provides a computer-readable/useable medium that includes computer program code to enable a system for collecting and maintaining historical party reputation data and for using the historical party reputation data to calculate an access decision rating and recalculating the access decision rating when the historical party reputation data has changed has a reputation updater for updating a reputation. To this extent, the computer-readable/useable medium includes program code that implements each of the various process steps of the invention. It is understood that the terms computer-readable medium or computer useable medium comprises one or more of any type of physical embodiment of the program code. In particular, the computer-readable/useable medium can comprise program code embodied on one or more portable storage articles of manufacture (e.g., a compact disc, a magnetic disk, a tape, etc.), on one or more data storage portions of a computing device, such as memory and/or storage system (e.g., a fixed disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a cache memory, etc.), and/or as a data signal (e.g., a propagated signal) traveling over a network (e.g., during a wired/wireless electronic distribution of the program code). 
     In another embodiment, the invention provides a computer-implemented method for estimating the risk of failure of an asset based on: 1) intrinsic parameters—like failure history combined with causative factors like weather; and 2) independent external risk factors like vandalism and risk of flooding. In this case, a computerized infrastructure can be provided and one or more systems for performing the process steps of the invention can be obtained (e.g., created, purchased, used, modified, etc.) and deployed to the computerized infrastructure. To this extent, the deployment of a system can comprise one or more of (1) installing program code on a computing device, such as computer system from a computer-readable medium; (2) adding one or more computing devices to the computer infrastructure; and (3) incorporating and/or modifying one or more existing systems of the computer infrastructure to enable the computerized infrastructure to perform the process steps of the invention. 
     As used herein, it is understood that the terms “program code” and “computer program code” are synonymous and may mean any expression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a computing device having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly before or after either or both of the following: (a) conversion to another language, code or notation; and/or (b) reproduction in a different material form. To this extent, program code can be embodied as one or more of: an application/software program, component software/a library of functions, an operating system, a basic I/O system/driver for a particular computing and/or I/O device, and the like. 
     In another embodiment, the invention provides a business method that performs the process steps of the invention on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis. That is, a service provider, such as a solution integrator, could offer to deploy a computer infrastructure for collecting and maintaining historical party reputation data and for estimating the risk of failure of an asset based on: 1) intrinsic parameters—like failure history combined with causative factors like weather; and 2) independent external risk factors like vandalism and risk of flooding. In this case, the service provider can create, maintain, and support, etc., the computer infrastructure by integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing the process steps of the invention for one or more customers. In return, the service provider can receive payment from the customer(s) under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or the service provider can receive payment from the sale of advertising content to one or more third parties. 
     The foregoing description of various aspects of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and obviously, many modifications and variations are possible. Such modifications and variations that may be apparent to a person skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.