KAPA mpiMaintenance, Purchasing & Inventory System

Detailed FeaturesMain Modules and Features

KAPA: A Turn-key Application

KAPA mpi can be provided as a turn-key solution. This means that all required information based on ship drawings, general information on company maintenance practice and preferences, certificates and other documentation is provided with the software upon delivery. Any further data can be progressively input by the end user, or fed into the system as an additional service.

Initial Data Entry for KAPA database

1. Components - machinery & equipment items

Information entered:

  • Component name
  • Maker/manufacturer (where applicable)
  • Model
  • Serial number (if available)
  • Drawing numbers - of relevant documents, i.e. extracts from spare parts code books, relevant drawings, manuals, etc.
  • Attachment of scanned drawings/documents, as per drawing numbers above
  • Various notes, e.g. power, capacity, technical characteristics, etc.
  • Unique code according to the in-built coding system
  • Circulating components definition (e.g. 7 pistons of a 6-cylinder M/E). In case serial numbers of circulating components are provided, they can be defined in the system and their respective operating positions declared. Use of circulating components has the advantage of retrieving, at any instance, the total work hours of any such component, the work hours elapsed since last overhaul, correct planning of overhauling taking into account the idle time, etc.

Components are defined by use of (in order of importance):

  • Equipment Particulars Lists (e/r machinery, deck machinery, electrical equipment) provided by the yard
  • Capacity Plan or Tank Tables for the definition of tanks, holds, etc.
  • Spare parts/tools lists for various machinery items provided by the yard (yard spares/tools documents)
  • Equipment lists provided by the vessel or company in case of lack of the above
  • Information extracted from the class status document for items under Continuous Machinery Survey (CMS)
  • Critical components may be defined according to company practice, since a list of critical equipment items usually appears in the ISM documentation

2. Spares

Information entered:

  • Spare name
  • Part number (P/N)
  • Maker/manufacturer
  • Drawing number - of relevant document
  • Specific supply information (supply specs)
  • Various notes
  • Attachment of scanned drawing/document, where above info was taken from

Spares information is taken from main (usually) machinery spare part code books or spare part illustration drawings. The complete spare parts code books are entered for the main machinery items, i.e. M/E, D/G's, Purifiers, Compressors and Cargo pumping system for tankers (from our experience these amount to about 8500 to 11000 spare entries).

3. Jobs

3.1 Job descriptions

Job descriptions are defined and entered usually from:

  • Manufacturers books for main machinery items (M/E, D/G's, Purifiers, Compressors, Cargo pumping system for tankers) according to their proposed Planned Maintenance schedule
  • Company maintenance practices, sometimes according to relevant ISM documentation
  • General maintenance principles applicable mainly to auxiliary machinery, such as pumps and heat exchangers maintenance
  • Safety (LSA and FFE) maintenance according to approved ISM documentation
  • Communication items maintenance according to approved ISM documentation
  • Drills
  • The class status document for Continuous Machinery Survey (CMS) items - if so desired

Scanned drawings/documents are attached as per 3.2. In addition, any short/summary instructions in text format (joc card) about how to carry out a specific job are entered, be they provided by the company or taken from manufacturers maintenance instructions.

3.2 Job instructions - attachments from scanned maintenance books

Machinery maintenance books usually provide instructions about how to carry out various maintenance jobs (in the from of text and pictures of drawings). Since these maintenance instructions are scanned (or provided in electronic format in the first place) they are attached to the corresponding job descriptions, so that they become readily available when one has to take care of a job in reality.

Maintenance manuals are broken down to sections and the appropriate sections are attached to each job description. For example, the maintenance section of the exhaust valves of the M/E is attached to all maintenance jobs connected to M/E exhaust valves.

3.3 Job forms

Some jobs require that a form will be completed every time the job is done (e.g. when measuring crankshaft deflections an appropriate from is used where all measurements are recorded). Usually these forms are available in an editable format, excel (.xls) or word (.doc) files.

  • Job forms (empty from templates) provided by the company are attached to the appropriate jobs, so that the user has them readily available when closing/completing a job
  • Job forms can be converted to KAPA forms (upon agreement). Forms are created based on the existing company forms, however, the data recorded on the are stored directly in the database, thus providing the following advantages:
  • Compulsory fields can be defined
  • Validation of values entered, i.e. if a value exceeds the manufacturer's set limit, the system provides a warning (for example M/E crankshaft deflection measurements, wear measurements of cylinder liner and piston rings, etc.)
  • Standard search facility of KAPA for retrieving historical data according to any criteria set by the user
  • Production of graphs, trends, etc. for any chosen parameter

3.4 Counters (for machinery items, e.g. M/E)

Counters are defined for at least those machinery items for which job periodicity is based on operation running hours, e.g. M/E, D/G's etc. A more extensive list may be entered, so that the total running hours of various machinery items are recorded and kept in the system.

3.5 Job planning

Job planning means that a job description will be connected to the appropriate component (e.g. machinery item) and the time interval between two consecutive instances of job performance will be set (for example, 3 Months, 2 Years, 6000 hours related to a specific counter, etc.)

  • Job planning is performed for the components (where applicable) and job descriptions as described above
  • Notice (warming) for jobs. A specific number of days is entered, according to the periodicity, for each job so that a warning is provided by the system when a job's due date is nearing
  • Alarms/trips groups are defined with testing intervals according to company practice. The corresponding jobs are usually included in a group called 'Alarms/Trips'
  • Jobs may be categorized in groups. For example, a usually appearing group is 'Safety Items'
  • The system does not allow a specific job description to be connected twice to the same component, since this would lead to duplication (or multiplication) of job definitions

3.6 Initialization of jobs

Initialization of jobs means that either the last date done or the next due date is defined and the job is approved, so that the job appears on the time plan and is, consequently, active.

  • For newly delivered vessels (or vessels that have recently undergone a special survey) the delivery date of the vessel can be entered massively for all jobs, so that all jobs are initialized and the next due dates calculated according to the jobs periodicity

4. Certificates/Surveys

Certificates and surveys are take from the appropriate section of the class status document or a company provided list and are handled as follows:

  • Certificates/surveys are defined (description, periodicity, time window to be renewed, dependency upon other certificate/survey)
  • The certificate/survey is consequently planned, where the appropriate due date or last done date is defined

5. Scanning of documents/Manuals/Drawings

In case documents/manuals/drawings are provided in hard copy, the are scanned and itemized in order to be attached to the appropriate entries as described above.

6. Supplies/Consumable items lists

In case the Supplies/Consumables Purchasing Module ins included in the KAPA configuration, supply items lists, such as IMPA or ISSA, can be entered in the system. Moreover, any company used/developed lists can be entered in the system, if available in electronic format (e.g. excel file).