Time impact of Expanded Process Control Procedures (EPCP)

Abstract

The United States Navy (USN) surface ships must receive maintenance and modernization in order to attain their expected lifetimes and the level of readiness that the Navy requires. A program called Enhanced Process Control Procedures (EPCP) aims to decrease the number and frequency of critical systems failures occurring during the maintenance availability. This research aims to identify the costs and benefits of the program, determine other factors that cause critical systems downtime and maintenance availability extensions, and provide recommendations to improve the EPCP program. The costs of the program are the increased time required to complete the work, greater funding requirements, decreased flexibility, and possible impact on the technicians. Analysis of EPCPs over an 18-month period between 2012 and 2014 revealed that the total time to develop, review, and correct the EPCP documentation averaged 28 days, with a standard deviation of 26 days. The 75% confidence value for the total administrative time required of an EPCP was almost 36 days. The author recommends using this time duration when planning a maintenance availability. The benefits of the program are a larger degree of accountability, lower probability of human error, and greater communication and coordination. The review of EPCPs suggest that the efficiency of the EPCP program could be improved by increasing the number of reused EPCPs, decreasing the number of EPCP errors, involving subject-matter experts in EPCP documentation, and decreasing the EPCP administrative temporal impact. Additionally, the author recommends the USN utilize an improved record keeping system to minimize delays in maintenance availabilities.