Optimal are here to help businesses simplify physical asset maintenance. Our engineers specialise in developing enterprise asset performance and management solutions focused on optimising operations whilst increasing asset reliability
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At Optimal, we empower our clients, by providing tools, strategies, and services that improve physical asset performance; through structured, consistent and auditable processes.
Our value-adding solutions apply to a wide range of industries and a variety of physical assets
We are passionate about bringing innovative new technologies and methods to our clients. Fostering creativity is central to us as a business and we strive to find new and unique ways to approach each situation in order to achieve the best possible results.
You need a business which provides you with excellent results, clear methods, and total satisfaction. We engage with our clients to ensure solutions provided by us, deliver excellent results that are absolutely customised to current and future needs.
People are our greatest asset. We form partnerships and develop relationships based on trust and commitment to ensure integrity on all sides. Our people are empowered by providing clear goals and incentives, enabled with authority, resources, tools, and processes.
Client – Confidential
Industry – Mining
Location – South Africa | Zimbabwe | Botswana
Year Completed – 2018-Ongoing
Project Summary
A major Mining Operator in South Africa was seeking to enable and sustain significant increase of equipment performance at the operating sites across Diamond, Platinum, Coal and Iron Ore commodities. The sites are experiencing excessive equipment downtime and poor asset reliability and availability due to ineffective maintenance strategies.
Optimal were engaged in 2018 to develop plant/equipment hierarchies, conduct criticality analysis, Failure Mode Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) followed by Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) procedures, and spares analysis across their sites. The project is still ongoing and being rolled to multiple sites and assets.
Our team of Reliability Engineers are deployed to the various sites and work directly with the key client stakeholders to facilitate maintenance strategy development utilising Reliability Centred Maintenance techniques.
Key Benefits | Outcomes
The project is delivering the following:
Overall, as part of this project, Optimal has become a trusted partner for the client with the new maintenance regimes leading to equipment availability and reliability increase of 15% on average across the sites and subsequent maintenance cost savings.
Client – Confidential
Industry – Oil & Gas
Location – United Kingdom
Year Completed – 2021
Project Summary
Optimal were engaged by a North Sea Operator to carry out a review of the maintenance for a Glycol Dehydration system (including the KO Drum and the Contactor Tower) installed on an FPSO due to reliability and availability issues. The client had limited preventive multidiscipline maintenance being carried, resulting in a largely “fix on fail” approach. Additionally, a number of remedial issues had built up which subsequently came to light when trying to fault find recurrent operational issues.
The Optimal project team carried out a maintenance review using Failure Modes Effects Criticality Analysis (FMECA) and Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) principles to derive appropriate maintenance tasks for the system.
Key Benefits | Outcomes
The project delivered the following:
The project has demonstrated how a FMECA / RCM analysis can be conducted to produce a revised maintenance regime to facilitate improvements/reduction in downtime and has increased the awareness of the RCM methodology. Overall, Optimal were able to help the client reduce their risk, improve availability and optimise productivity.
Client – Confidential
Industry – Oil & Gas
Location – United Kingdom
Year Completed – 2020-2021
Project Summary
Optimal undertook a Failure Mode driven maintenance and spares strategy review for the main power generation gas turbines on two offshore platforms with the aim to increase availability of the turbines from 92% to 98%. Although there was redundant generative capacity there was still a high potential for power interruption during load shedding and run ups on switch over which caused production problems.
In total, there were 5 turbines (3 x PGT25 and 2 x LM2500 Dual Fuel Aeroderivative turbines) with differing age and manufacturing origins, and as a result maintenance and spares had to be developed for each turbine system. For this scope, Optimal carried out a holistic Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) derivation study (including vendor support tasks) for the whole of the power generation systems including:
Key Benefits | Outcomes
The project delivered the following:
Overall, Optimal were able to help the client reduce their risk, improve availability and optimise productivity.
Client – Confidential
Industry – Mining
Location – Zimbabwe
Year Completed – 2021
Project Summary
Optimal were appointed to assess client’s current asset management system for two Gold mines in order for them to develop a robust Asset Management System aligned to ISO 55001. This required a development of an Asset Management Policy and framework to align with the principles of ISO 55001 following an initial maturity assessment.
The key elements of the scope of work were defined as follows:
The scope was completed via a site audit, during which interviews and workshops were conducted with senior management and operational staff at the Head Office and both of the mine sites.
Key Benefits | Outcomes
Optimal delivered the following:
The next steps are for Optimal to support the client in the delivery of the Asset Management improvement roadmap.
Client – Confidential
Industry – Nuclear
Location – United Kingdom
Year Completed – 2020
Project Summary
A large scale Nuclear facility were looking to address ongoing poor visibility and planning for materials, which was leading to high material management costs and significant amount of obsolete stock being held across various warehousing sites. A core priority for the organisation was to ensure high asset availability to meet stringent safety and environmental requirements.
The basis of the project was to improve stock and spares holding of over £91 million, of which an estimated £53 million of stock was over 20 years old, taking up to about 40% of warehouse capacity.
The Optimal project team undertook a review of organisation’s materials management practices to establish the ‘As is’ state and determined the desired ‘To be’ outcome using major Systems Architecture Frameworks TOGAF 9.2 (The Open Group Architecture Framework) and SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework).
Following the analysis, Optimal delivered a Materials Management Strategy designed to provide:
Key Benefits | Outcomes
The project delivered a comprehensive Materials Management Strategy providing the following:
Since the handover of the strategy, client has established the recommended Materials Management Steering Committee through activities of which £14m worth of stock has been identified for disposal, £2.1m of which has been achieved through the first year of strategy implementation. This has helped to free up an estimated 20% of current warehousing space. The committee has also secured buy in for closedown of legacy warehouses and established plans for the fit for purpose stock holding.
Client – Confidential
Industry – Water Utility
Location – South Africa
Year Completed – 2020
Project Summary
This project established a fully updated Asset Register and Inventory including GRAP (Generally Recognised Accounting Practice – South Africa). It included a condition grading scale and End of Life (EOL) estimates by individual asset. In addition to the GRAP compliant asset register, a Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP) spanning a 10 years’ time horizon has also been compiled and presented as part of the scope deliverables.
Key Benefits | Outcomes
We delivered a verified and updated Asset Register delivered incorporating GRAP compliance and forecast for major intervention intervals. Further asset maintenance improvement facilitated by the roadmap developed as part of the SAMP.
Client – Confidential
Industry – Mining
Location – South Africa | Polokwane
Year Completed – 2019-2020
Project Summary
Optimal were contracted to develop an asset register for critical and non-critical systems for an SO2 abatement plant, with three smelting complexes relating to the Metallurgical Complex, and then develop asset tactics for these sites based on RCM framework. Utilising our inhouse asset performance management software, we developed the plant hierarchy, performed criticality analysis and implemented RCM methodology for maintenance strategy development. Material and labour resources were identified and built into the hierarchy, with resource requirements for preventive maintenance used to inform the development of maintenance cost as a budgeting parameter, taking into account the current age of technical objects. This was used to produce the complete asset registers and hierarchies for these sites, with equipment subdivisions, defined Functional Locations with Equipment and Bills of Materials (BoM), and fully defined criticality and failure modes with each maintenance task directly linked to a failure mode.
Key Benefits | Outcomes
We delivered a complete asset register with associated system hierarchies defined, Bills of Materials captured, and full maintenance strategy developed along with complete maintenance work packages that were then uploaded to SAP for execution for a greenfield SO2 Abatement Plant.
Client – Confidential
Industry – FMCG
Location – United Kingdom
Year Completed – 2020
Project Summary
For this project, Optimal was requested to review an existing asset register for various SSP sites with the aim to identify gaps specific to the selected sites. Visits were arranged to verify and capture data; critical to updating the register. Based on initial assessment of data provided, a scope was developed which covered:
An inhouse data management software tool was used to create a digital replica of the assets register, which incorporated site and asset specific information. During each site visit, area specific risk assessment was conducted. Assets were located based on unique identifiers. Missing information, such as equipment type, age, model, cost, etc. were captured using the mobile version of the data management software. Asset photos were also taken and attached to the digital register for data validation as well as condition and criticality assessment. The data was post-processed and optimised according to relevant Catering & Facilities Standards; ISO 19650 for asset information digitization, BS 8544 for lifecycle costing and SFG20 for facilities maintenance management.
Key Benefits | Outcomes
We delivered a set of verified asset register data capturing the following undertakings:
Client – Energy Institute
Industry – Oil & Gas
Location – United Kingdom
Year Completed – 2017-2018
Project Summary
With a number of North Sea Oil & Gas assets ageing and coming to end of productive life Operators have a requirement to plan and undertake decommissioning activities. The Energy Institute engaged Optimal to provide technical writing and editing services to address the need to define decommissioning and mothballing industry best practices for upstream Oil & Gas production assets and equipment.
Optimal worked with the UK Energy Institute Aging and Life Extension Committee (ALECOM) to produce a guidance document for the effective management and maintenance of the integrity of equipment and systems taken out of service and their related structures, on either a temporary or permanent basis. The purpose of the document was to facilitate good practice throughout the industry. This was driven by the HSE focus on asset integrity (KP3) and aging and life extensions of asset (KP4).
Key Benefits | Outcomes
The project delivered the following:
Industry best practice guidance document covering:
Overall, Optimal were able to bring together a team of subject matter experts and working collaboratively with the industry representatives deliver the comprehensive document covering all equipment, facilities and structures found in the UK Continental Shelf (UK CS) upstream Oil & Gas industry. This document was published in 2019 under ISBN 978 1 78725 124 3, document title ‘Guidance on the management and maintenance of the integrity of structures, equipment and systems taken out of service on either temporary or permanent basis in the upstream oil and gas industry’.
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