Almost 30% of Paragon Engineering’s system Risk Assessments are second opinions. The customer either hired someone else or had the Original Equipment Manufacturer representative perform a site assessment. Somewhere in that assessment the customer either feels they are being “frightened” into an upgrade or they aren’t getting everything they need for the existing system.
A lot of time in the field performing engineering upgrades and equipment maintenance forms the fundamental categories that Paragon Engineering utilizes to assess a customer’s power distribution, protection and control systems. There are usually ten (10) specific pieces of information that we investigate to provide an objective risk assessment to the end user’s system.
There are no “scare” tactics involved because we aren’t manufacturer’s sales representatives. We were hired to advise the customer about the health of their current system (s) and what are the possibilities to mitigate their risk. With power distribution products that are up to 50 years old, there are normally numerous options. Protection Relays and Automation Controls are more limited due to the shorter life cycle of the hardware’s electronic platform.
From the categories of the assessment each hardware platform is graded. The higher the graded value, the greater the risk. The data is input into a proprietary tool. Within the Risk Assessment Matrix (RAM) a very simple algorithm is applied that equates to risk. Risk doesn’t necessarily mean failure. Risk defines for the customer where the “weak links” are within their system and why they were designated higher risk. As part of the process, there is a wrap up meeting with the customer. Each risk, rating and how to mitigate the risk is discussed.
The image in this blog is the output of the RAM tool from a recent assessment. The site visit for the assessment took four days. In those four days every piece of hardware was photographed, each operation was tested, maintenance records were reviewed, etc. The report was 50 pages long because there were 147 different devices inspected.
If you are truly interested in mitigating your risk, hire someone that understands that simply replacing older equipment with new equipment will mitigate risk but it may not be necessary or it could be financially prohibitive. Having an OEM perform the assessment will produce a report that advises the customer to replace a competitors older equipment with that OEM’s newer offer. While the OEM may not support the equipment, there are usually many 3rd party independent vendors that do. EXAMPLE; Westinghouse went out of business in August 1993, you can purchase every vital part for a VCP-W Medium Voltage breaker new. Rebuilding that breaker (they were excellent pieces of hardware) cost 50% to 60% of a roll in replacement.
As with most things in life, the value of a service is proportional to what that service costs. When you hire someone to do a “free’ site equipment assessment, you should keep that in mind.