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CMBG2009

Planning for Obsolescence

June 27, 2009

John Parler

South Carolina Electric & Gas

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For the Uninformed here is the answer to all your obsolescence issues.

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CMBG2009 Obsolesence – What?

• Our Plant defines obsolescence as material that is still required to operate the plant but is no longer available or is hard to obtain (soon to be unavailable).

• Materials obsolescence directly impacts the ability to have needed spares to support plant operations.

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Is it a real concern?

• The Nuclear Utilities Obsolescence Group (NUOG) developed the Proactive Obsolescence Management System (POMS) through PKMJ Technical Services to identify items.

• A download of all plant equipment with model numbers was done,

• PKMJ contacted the manufacturer of each specific model number and asked if they were still supported.

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CMBG2009 The Results (as of 2005)

• Total Equipment numbers 631,000

• Equipment with no model 199,000

• Waiting on manufacturer 273,000

• Response from manufacturer 159,000

• Bad model information 54,000

• Obsolete 34,500

• Still available 70,500» Numbers are approx.

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CMBG2009

What that means

As an industry for the identified equipment:

• We don't know what 31% of our equipment really is.

• We know that only 11% is still supported by the manufacturer

• 22% of the equipment that we have received a response from the manufacturer on, is obsolete

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• Is it better today?

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What is being done?

• Concern was identified by Supply Chain initially and NUOG was formed (2/2000)

• With the help of RAPIDS the “Obsolete Items Replacement Database” (OIRD) was established

• Joint efforts between utilities addressed specific concerns

• Increased industry awareness expanded involvement to include more engineering

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CMBG2009 Available Guidance

• NX-1037 was produced by NUOG and distributed by INPO which outlines a basic program (12/2003)

• In November of 2008 EPRI issued report #1016692 which built on NX-1037 and provided specific recommendations for program development and ownership

• Current EPRI has a task team working on additional enhancements to their guidance

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CMBG2009 VCS Specific Program Overview

• Our program originally implemented in 2002 and we are currently on revision 3 with revision 4 in development

• It is based on the direction in NX-1037

• It is a Station Administrative Procedure since it impacts multiple departments. SAP-1287

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VCS Specific

• The program is "owned" by our Materials Group, who administer the process

It does not matter who owns the program as long as there is a defined lead

• When an item is determined to be obsolete it is entered into our Corrective Action Program

• It is coded as obsolete and assigned to Materials

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VCS Specific

• The potential impact of the obsolescence is determined and scored under our Plant Health Committee process

• The process is documented and tracked under our CAP program

• Actions are assigned to Materials to:– Update the OIRD for industry sharing– Identify replacement options

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VCS Specific

• The options considered for resolution include:– Identification of an available equivalent

replacement– Location of an after market supply– Reverse engineering the item– Modification to the plant

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VCS Specific

• When a recommended solution has been determined by Materials it is sent to Plant Support Engineering for concurrence

• This review is to assure that the solution is in line with the long term plans for the system

• The solution is then incorporated into the schedule and worked based on its priority

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VCS Specific

• If the solution is determined to be:– An equivalency the action is assigned to

Materials (Procurement Engineering) to process

– Reverse engineering Materials has the lead with support from PSE

– A modification PSE has the lead to provide the project recommendation and submit it to Design Engineering

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VCS Specific

• We found that the simple equivalency resolutions were able to be worked fairly quickly

• When setting the PHC score a major input is when the impact is expected and most obsolescence issues don't involve a current failure

• If the resolution involved a modification it normally does not have a high enough PHC score to be worked proactively

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VCS Specific

• Recently we made a change to our PHC process because of the issue of not being able to proactively resolve these issues

• We now target obsolescence issues on our Plant Focus List for resolution, even when they score lower than other risks

• Currently two of the eleven items on our Focus List are proactive obsolescence items

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VCS Specific

• Currently our challenge is the fact that the POMS data that we received indicates that 24% of our equipment is obsolete

• This equals over 7,200 components and our current process is not designed to address that large an input.

• One reason why we are currently developing a process revision

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Summary

• The issue is major and growing bigger everyday

• As we upgrade our equipment most everything that is produced today has some digital component

• The Department of Defense has done detailed studies on the concern and the following graph shows the average timeline for a digital system

• The times are inline with what is expected at a nuclear plant

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Over 70% of the electronic parts are obsolete before the first system is installed!

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Summary

• It is not important who coordinates your program, what is important is that you have a defined program with a defined lead

• Programs that involve numerous organizations without a responsible lead tend to fail.

• Obsolescence is a Plant concern not just Materials or Engineering

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Questions?