Prioritising Maintenance Work Orders in a Thermal Power Plant: A Multicriteria Model Application

Abstract

Maintenance is one of the most rapidly expanding activities in the industrial environment, since its application is no longer limited to simple, regular fixes. In the case of thermal power plants maintenance is essential, since they only operate when the National Electric System Operator wants them to complement the production from renewable sources such as hydro, wind, and solar. To limit the frequency of failures that result in generation unavailability, the operation team performs daily inspections to evaluate the equipment’s condition and the risks to the generating process. If an anomaly is found, the maintenance team will create service notes to address it. This research aims to demonstrate how the method Measuring Attractiveness by a Category-Based Evaluation Technique (Macbeth) can be applied to the development of a multiple-criterion model to support decision making in ordering the criticality of systems in thermal plant operational inspection routes to propose new methodologies for routine execution to increase the operation team’s productivity. According to the results of the judgement matrix, the recommended ordering enabled a strategy for the performance of the current operational routes by redefining the criticality, periodicity, routing, and resources utilised, hence preserving the plant’s reliability. According to the results, the proposed ranking will enable a new strategy for integrated maintenance planning, redefining the criticality of service orders according to the judgement based on criteria and subcriteria, thereby allowing the application of resources appropriately and focusing on what is more important to maintain the thermal power plant’s continuity and operational safety.