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News

The flagship Proactive Integrated Equipment Reliability and Strategic Sourcing (PIERSS) program offered by three-time USA Services Supplier of the Year PKMJ (who was acquired by Rolls-Royce in 2013) is starting to gain traction among USA members.

The Rolls-Royce PIERSS program, finalized in USA Agreement No. 2013-03-00, is a proactive and integrated approach to improving equipment reliability and supply chain processes. PIERSS facilitates a collaborative effort between engineering, maintenance, and supply chain, aimed at sharing knowledge and increasing performance. The PIERSS program establishes an intelligent and effective communication path between Equipment Reliability and Supply Chain.

Using a variety of software programs, processes, and documented site experience, PIERSS gives utilities the ability to better understand material demand and equipment reliability needs. Participants of the program can forecast material needs 104 weeks out, allowing utilities to strategically plan for long lead-time items. Using actual, real-world, documented experience from 157 nuclear units globally, utilities can compare their own preventive maintenance work orders, and reprioritize or defer work. The program’s initial product, Proactive Obsolescence Management System (POMS), can identify obsolete parts before they need to be replaced, and enables sites to strategically plan replacement solutions.

PIERSS value is beginning to show. Earlier this year, FirstEnergy won a Top Industry Practice (TIP) award from the Nuclear Energy Institute for their implementation of PIERSS. And STARS member Pacific Gas & Electric Company, who has implemented the critical spares portion of PIERSS, recently received an INPO strength on their critical spares program.

Rolls-Royce is currently working with multiple USA sites on initiatives under the PIERSS Program. Several sites have started the program by signing up for individual initiatives, which have shown success. Inventory Analysis identified stocked material to be written off as excess at D.C. Cook and Fermi. Critical Spares Analyses have been completed at Hope Creek and Salem, allowing them to make adjustments in stocking strategy and resolve equipment failure vulnerabilities. Rolls Royce has also provided Fermi with a 15% cost savings on recent material purchases through the Strategic Sourcing portion of the program.

“And this is just the tip of the iceberg,” states Paul Tobin, Executive Vice-President, Rolls-Royce Nuclear Engineering Services. “FirstEnergy will be able to avoid $2.6 million annually by optimizing preventive maintenance, and we expect similar savings will be possible at the USA member stations.”

With the fluctuation in energy prices and the continued need to keep nuclear energy a cost-effective solution, solutions such as PIERSS are exactly what USA members, and the industry, need.

For more information about the USA Agreement for PIERSS, please contact Jim Kitchens, jkitchens@usainc.org.

Rolls-Royce office in Moon Township, PA.