IMS RCM Reliability-Centered Maintenance

Maintenance plans for plant and pipeline equipment are only as good as the risk thinking behind them, and the IMS RCM module is built to put that thinking on a firm footing. It is part of the IMS Suite from Cenosco, a Dutch software company, and it was developed in close collaboration with Shell as a web-based integrity management system.

Ranking equipment by risk

The module helps optimise the preventive maintenance plan of an asset. It lets users prioritise equipment according to risk, and from each item's risk profile the best maintenance plan can be worked out. That can be done by hand or with library functions. Cenosco says the result is safer assets, cost-effective maintenance plans and higher plant availability.

The wider IMS Suite

RCM sits among sister products that cover other integrity tasks:

• Equipment integrity using Shell's risk-based inspection method or advanced corrosion calculations.
• End-to-end safety life cycle analysis.
• Pipeline and subsea integrity, including in-line inspections and fitness-for-service calculations.
• Critical flanges, managed through a strictly guided maintenance protocol.
• RCM and RBI methods tuned to how civil structures degrade, for equipment integrity.

Dashboards, integrations and industries

Dashboards are meant to give integrity and reliability teams the risk visibility to prioritise the right assets and defend decisions to a regulator. IMS connects with SAP, Maximo and other EAM systems, document management and process historians, so data from engineering and operations sits in one place. Cenosco lists onshore and offshore production, subsea wells, FPSO and FLNG units, pipelines, terminals, tank farms, LNG, fertiliser and methanol plants, carbon capture, mining and mineral processing, and pulp and paper pressure systems.

Services around the software

Cenosco adds implementation, data migration, training programmes and lifetime support, and names Shell among the leading companies using IMS.