Regulations prompted many facilities to initiate mechanical integrity (MI) efforts and forced many others to formalize MI efforts already underway. Now, years have gone by and many of these same facilities continue to wrestle with MI challenges: Could our MI program be more efficient? Why is unplanned maintenance still consuming too many resources? We?re ?in compliance,? so why are failures still occurring?

Taking your MI program to the next level requires a true desire to achieve a higher level of performance. Understanding your risks and focusing MI resources and activities accordingly is the proper starting point for many such efforts. However, it is just as important to have management support in the form of an appropriate culture for MI and a commitment to continuous improvement.

This paper will briefly discuss risk-based approaches to MI. In addition, the paper will address management support and the subversive effects that a shallow support system can yield. Finally, the paper will discuss practices to bring about continuous improvement for your MI program. Make it your goal to take your program beyond compliance and to the next level.