As industrial plants push for higher uptime, tighter efficiency and greater automation, the winners will be the facilities that abandon reactive maintenance, invest in training and build reliability into every operational decision.
Maintenance insights
- CITGO’s Julio Acosta argues that technology alone is not enough; without continuous workforce training, cross-functional alignment and a clear business case for reliability spending, even the best new solutions will fall short.
- Julio Acosta, a CITGO Petroleum product specialist with more than 30 years of experience in industrial lubrication, discusses how automation, maintenance discipline and workforce training are reshaping plant reliability and investment priorities.
Artificial intelligence, interconnected systems and condition-based maintenance are shifting plant strategy from fixing failures after the fact to preventing them before production is disrupted.
Learn from this expert interview with Julio Acosta, MLAII, OMA1, Product Specialist, CITGO Petroleum Corp., Houston.
What are the biggest shifts you see in the needs and priorities of industrial plants and how are those shifts influencing the way suppliers develop new products and services?
The introduction of artificial intelligence in production will increase the automation of processes with minimal or no human intervention at all. All systems will have to be interconnected for maximum efficiency and reliability with the most uptime. Therefore, suppliers will develop products that will address these three separate but concatenated goals.
When manufacturers evaluate new solutions for plant operations, what problems are they most urgently trying to solve right now?
Uptime and productivity are what most industrial complexes try to maximize.
How have customer expectations changed in recent years in terms of safety, efficiency, reliability, ease of use and return on investment?
Recently, all these factors mentioned have been top of mind for both the customers and the industrial facilities. A high degree of efficiency and productivity is expected to increase productivity returns and equipment uptime.
In your view, what separates the most successful industrial facilities from those that struggle to improve performance over time?
In my opinion, those companies that maintain proactive equipment maintenance and invest regularly in maintenance and scheduling are those that successfully improve performance, increase productivity and maintain uptime.
What mistakes do plants most often make when evaluating or implementing new solutions and how can they avoid them?
One of the most often overlooked processes is the continuous and updated training of personnel, especially when new equipment, processes and industrial requirements are introduced. Therefore, ensuring that personnel are up to date with the new advancements and systems becomes paramount for success.
How important is cross-functional collaboration among engineering, operations, maintenance, safety and IT teams and where do you see the biggest communication gaps?
Teamwork and collaboration among all involved groups enhance the chances of achieving the goals set by the organization. The biggest concern here is the dissemination and understanding of the reasons for change and how those changes will guarantee success in increasing production, reliability, uptime and safe operations.
Looking ahead one to two years, what major plant-level priorities do you expect will most influence investment decisions across industrial facilities?
Increased safety regulations, automation and personnel training and progression from the production line to the control room. So, once again, training is the primary tool for success.
How are maintenance strategies changing as industrial facilities face tighter labor availability, higher uptime expectations and aging assets?
Because there is now so much emphasis on uptime, the age of the assets puts a heavy burden on maintenance and upkeep.
What are the most common reasons plants struggle to move from reactive maintenance to a more planned and reliability-focused approach?
Keeping production running and breaking away from the attitude of “run it till it breaks” or “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” and realizing that by improving maintenance will ensure that the equipment can last longer and production can keep up with demands.
How should facilities balance preventive, predictive and corrective maintenance in a practical way?
Corrective is the most reactive form of maintenance that comes into play when the equipment is completely down and production has halted. Planned maintenance, which is a combination of preventive/predictive when the right aids, not just mechanical tools, are used, is preferred. Now, condition-based maintenance (CBM) is even superior as it is all planned and based on specific conditions that require immediate corrective action.
Where do plant engineers and maintenance leaders often miss opportunities to improve asset reliability and reduce total life cycle cost?
When the maintenance is purely corrective after failure, the useful life cycle of the equipment is reduced. If a CBM process is established, then there is more insurance that the equipment will last longer and will increase its productivity/reliability.
How can maintenance teams better communicate the business value of reliability investments to plant leadership?
Perhaps a conscientious plan is presented with cost savings details and projected improvements/increases in production/productivity will convince leadership to spend money on improving equipment reliability.
What role do spare parts planning, supply chain resilience and inventory strategies play in effective maintenance programs?
When the appropriate maintenance program is established, the procurement of parts and labor can be properly scheduled as needed rather than inventorying parts and realigning labor assignments based on immediate needs.
What workforce and training issues are having the greatest effect on maintenance performance in industrial plants?
The implementation of Centralized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) has been key to many industrial plants. The ability to look at maintenance records, being able to order specific parts on-time and schedule downtime from a single system. Having the capability of running reports that can show where the major equipment suffering points are also improving maintenance efficiency and uptime.
How should facilities measure maintenance success beyond basic downtime metrics?
Capturing costs savings and labor utilization, i.e. reduction in overtime hours, as well as recording increases in productivity can be used to quantify maintenance success.
Looking ahead, what trends will most influence maintenance and reliability practices across industrial facilities?
Improvements in telematics, equipment monitoring systems, automated vibration recording devices, fuel and energy consumption, safety concerns.
