Kevin Ockwell, who leads aftersales at water technology specialists HUBER Technology, discusses how maximising operational life and enhancing asset performance in AMP7 is a key issue for UK water companies – and explores some of the options on offer.

Kevin Ockwell: “So how are you servicing your AMP7 equipment?” - how the UK water companies are planning to service their AMP7 equipment as part of meeting exacting performance commitments will be a key question for the upcoming 2020-25 investment programme.

In response to a tough PR19 Price Review, the water companies are now expecting to have to deliver on both existing and new performance commitments.

The regulator has set out a number of demanding common performance commitments for the water and sewerage companies, including:

• water supply interruptions
• leakage
• internal sewer flooding
• water mains bursts
• unplanned outage
• temporary loss of production capacity

In addition, the companies have also set their own bespoke performance commitments specific to their own business.

Asset resilience and maintaining asset health are now high on the agenda for the water companies to ensure their operational activities are running at maximum efficiency – so what are the key services they could look to the supply chain to provide to help them meet their requirements?

Kevin Ockwell from wastewater technology specialist HUBER Technology believes that looking at what is needed in five key areas will help them to identify what they need to have in place in order to achieve their goals.

“In the run-up to AMP7 we took a strategic decision to set out our service offering in five specific areas – repair, spares, refurbishment, service contracts, hire equipment and ongoing development in our existing regional depots. We took the view that if a water company looked at its needs for both proactive and reactive maintenance under those headings it would pretty much cover all bases it might expect to see during the course of the next five years.”

The decision was based on the expertise, experience and capabilities built up by HUBER over decades of working with its water company customers.

Over the course of AMP7, HUBER would typically expect to help with a wide range of requirements, in each specific area, including:

REPAIR AND BREAKDOWN

Breakdowns are frequently seen when a machine has failed because it has not been part of a planned maintenance programme. The water companies will be looking for a solution, which avoids loss of service via an immediate emergency response from their supplier. For HUBER, an onsite, rather than offsite, repair would normally address this where the aim is to get the equipment back up and running as fast as possible with minimal downtime. This also has the key benefit of providing the ability to spot related problems which may have contributed to failure and speak to the staff who are operating the equipment. When HUBER carry out reactive repairs, they are always looking at root cause analysis.

SERVICE CONTRACTS

More customers are considering putting tailored maintenance agreements in place in line with their  installed asset base – in the end they will stand to benefit from the reduced whole life costs associated with using parts and services from an OEM manufacturer. There is also increased interest in the benefits of using a supplier who can provide smart servicing and tailor service maintenance packages which is based on data derived on actual equipment performance. Planned maintenance programmes can also incorporate process optimisation via effectively recommissioning equipment on an annual basis to take new operational factors into account e.g., population growth,flow rate changes etc.

SPARES

Working with an OEM manufacturer offers significant benefits for the water companies in terms of obtaining the spares they need. HUBER Technology is used to maintaining a strategic spares holding to guarantee availabilityand fast access to spares to ensure critical assets remain operational. Stock is also held on a regional level,which allows fast and effective delivery to customers. With OEM trained technicians to advise on the best solutions,together with the relevant OEM technical data and underpinned by warranties, this offers customers full confidence that the supplier can meet their requirements.

REFURBISHMENT

Planned refurbishment of existing assets is also seen as a key benefit by HUBER customers. The key question here for customers is whether they can afford the costs of not doing this on a systematic and methodical basis. Wherever possible HUBER will always look at the option of whether it is better value to refurbish a piece of existing equipment in terms of whole life costs rather than automatically recommending simply replacing the asset.

Refurbishment is an in-depth procedure - essentially complete restoration that can extend beyond the piece of equipment itself. For example, this can include replacing and retesting related cabling, looking at geared motors that might have embedded issues, UV degradation on pipe insulation, to mention just a few.

For companies looking to extend asset life and strengthen operational resilience, a refurbishment solution tailored to meet their own specific requirements and supported by a 12/24 month warranty and guarantees can be built in as part of their capital-based maintenance activity.

The quality of materials and engineering in an existing built-to-last asset by an OEM can help customers to maximise their asset base by bringing an existing piece of equipment up to the same specification as a newer alternative. 

HIRE EQUIPMENT

Hire and exchange is another key element in the water companies’ toolkit to help stretch asset performance life and operational effectiveness in AMP7. Again, as an OEM manufacturer with its own in-house hire fleet, HUBER is ideally placed to provide access to temporary replacement solutions on a like-for like basis.

OEM equipment exchange is also a distinct advantage;an OEM supplier like HUBER can provide support service contracts by holding critical spares specific to an individual water company. In the event of equipment failure, HUBER has the ability to either exchange a broken unit with a temporary one or if there is a longer lead-time for a replacement, or offer it for purchase by the customer and remove the old one.

HUBER’s highly targeted hire fleet of available equipment has been tailored to meet customer requirements based on the technology specialist’s in- depth OEM knowledge of reference sites where its plant is in place.

HUBER will also work proactively with clients to establish whether they have any temporary hire requirements and how these can best be met. As part of its focus to put a dedicated hire service in place for AMP7, the company has developed relationships with pump hire providers to provide a collaborative one-stop solution.

REGIONAL DEPOTS

Suppliers with regionalised aftersales depots staffed by experienced technicians and customer service engineers will also be able to offer water companies with operational sites spread across a wide area with the capability to ensure asset health is maintained fast, effectively and efficiently during AMP7. For an OEM manufacturer like HUBER, this includes backend support from a large team of engineering specialists across the HUBER group – so a high level of mechanical expertise coupled with a thorough understanding of process and control is always only a phone call away whenever the customer needs it.

Dedicated outsourced service will deliver real cost and operational savings for clients in AMP7

Kevin Ockwell concluded:

“We know that proactive maintenance will be critical for water companies looking to manage their costs and meet their AMP7 performance commitments – and we’re focussed on developing strong relationships with our customers where they see us as a dedicated external resource they can rely on.”

“A proactive, forward-looking pre-emptive approach to prevent problems either occurring in the first place or escalating from minor issues to major emergency, offers them a real peace of mind factor.”

“So if the answer to the question of whether you’re having a lot of repeated equipment failures which are also costing you downtime and money, is ‘yes’, then talk to us to find out how HUBER can make a real difference.”

Contact Kevin Ockwell Tel:01249 765034 or 07739 952241 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

www.huber.co.uk or follow us on Twitter @HuberTech or LinkedIn HUBER Technology UK & Ireland