We are publishing the interview with one of our senior most alumni, Mahen Das (Mr. Mahendra Chetan Das) to share his vast experience in Asset Management (see below) of petroleum refineries and process industry in general. After graduating in mechanical engineering in 1958 from BENCO (Banaras Engineering College), as our college was known at that time, he has put 43 years of work in the petroleum, petro-chemical and other processing field in various capacities. He was involved in establishing MERIT (Manufacturing Enhanced Reliability Improvement Team) program at the Shell Technical Headquarters in The Netherlands (Holland). The program has become a de facto standard for Asset Management in petroleum refineries and other chemical process industries around the world.
Mr. Mahen Das has also co-authored a technical book called “100 years of maintenance and reliability” which reflects vast technical experience of all the three authors.
For chronicle, Yogesh K. Upadhyaya talks with Mr. Mahen Das.
To read bio-data of Mahen Das, clickhere. [Chronicle, please link his PDF bio-data here]
Q-1: Welcome Sir, please introduce yourself to our readers.
I was born in Lahore on October 12 1937 where I got my primary education at Sir Ganga Ram High School. My family from both sides hailed from Dera Ismail Khan, in the erstwhile NWFP. My father was an executive in The Delhi Cloth Mills. In 1946, he was transferred from Lahore to Delhi where I completed my higher secondary education at Sir Harcourt Butler School. Inspired by my grand father, an engineer, I had always aspired to become one. So, off I went to the Inter-Science College at Kamachha, Banaras and then to BENCO.
While many of my close friends in BENCO went on to pursue post-grad studies, I decided to enter industry right after graduation. Colour-Chem Ltd, a dye-stuff manufacturing joint venture with the German chemicals giant Bayer was setting up a factory in Thana. It hired me as a construction engineer. It was interesting work but the company was relatively small and once construction and commissioning was finished, there was little to do. Just then, Burmah-Shell Refineries (now Bharat Petroleum) in Trombay advertised for junior engineers. I applied and was one of the two selected. Thus began my long career with Shell in January 1960.
During the first 2 years, I was put through all sections of the engineering department, namely, projects & advisory, maintenance & workshops, inspection & corrosion and resource planning. I sensed the strong barriers between the engineering, operations and technology functions. This was traditional and typical of the industry at that time; and indeed little different today despite efforts to change it by people like myself. This is bad because all these functions have to work as one team if the organization has to get the best out of the assets.
As part of my “broadening”, in 1963, I was assigned to the Shell refinery in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. I returned after nearly 5 years of work in all their engineering departments, with a stronger conviction that something needed to be done to break the barriers between the different “departments” if the full potential of the organization is to be achieved for getting the best out of the assets. During this period, I was introduced to and married Madhu, now my wife of 42 years. We have a daughter and a son, both happily married and currently living and working in the USA.
On my return to the Bombay refinery, I was first given the job of engineering resource planning, then maintenance manager and then process manager. This was a rare opportunity as the job of process manager is traditionally given to a person with a chemical engineering background. It was in this role that I had the entire processing facilities under my control. In that capacity I called the shots for all “service” departments and could influence them to start thinking and functioning the way I believed would serve the interest of the business best; i.e. as one team pulling the business in the most profitable direction.
The nationalization of the oil industry in 1976 saw the departure of the multinational oil companies from India. With that, some members of the staff were offered positions in their international cadres. I was one of them.
Q-2: You had a long engineering career at Shell refineries around the world.
My decision to leave a promising career in the Burmah-Shell/Bharat Petroleum Refinery in Bombay and accept the Shell-International offer after nationalization in 1976 was not easy. On one side there was the prospect of reaching the corporate head level, on the other, the promise of work in a multitude of international environments each with its unique challenges.
After much consultation and deliberation within the family, I chose the latter and embarked upon the journey which took me to Singapore, U.A.E., The Netherlands, Curacao (a second time!), The Philippines, and New Zealand, for work in the refineries or gas plants in these locations in the maintenance and engineering functions, the last three at the management levels. In every location, I found the traditional barriers between those who should be one team. In every location, I endeavored to bring about the change I believed in; sometimes with success but mostly with failure. The instances of success gave me proof that my conviction was justified.
In 1993, after 33 years in the field, I was summoned to The Netherlands again. This time to work in the technical headquarters in the group which provides technical services to all operating companies; some 45 of them spread all over the world. My objective was set as “giving the benefit of my experience to all operating companies”. Here was the opportunity to propagate my conviction and try to make a difference. I started work on two projects. The first was to design classroom training courses for engineers at the entrance and middle management levels. I also made the first delivery of these courses. They were well received. Many of the relatively mature engineers who attended the mid-management level course told me that it re-inforced their own belief.
The second was the development of MERIT. A team of six of us pooled our experiences, a total of about 200 years at that time, to design a review methodology to uncover asset management weaknesses of the operating company being reviewed, and formulate fit for purpose remedies. Although the methodology underwent much evolution later as we applied it over the years, the basic elements remained the same. These were:
The operating company must willingly invite a MERIT review; it must not be imposed upon them or perceived as an audit
The top management must be seen to support the review
The review team must have equal number of members from the headquarters and the client company. This, to help create ownership in the client company for the exercise
Relevant data will be collected from the client company’s records, as well as by interviewing a number of key relevant personnel selected from its organization. These interviewees will range from the top management to the shop floor and will include contractors
From this data, the team, working together, will learn the key business processes as they are currently followed
These will be compared with the known best practices to determine the company’s strengths and weaknesses
The team will then design remedies for the weaknesses. Full involvement of the local members will ensure that the remedies are fit for purpose, take advantage of the identified local strengths, and are owned by the local company
Finally, the benefits, costs and a plan for implementation of improvements, with targets and performance indicators will be produced
These findings will be presented to a large audience by the local team members. The minimum present will be the management team and all interviewees including contractors
The management will report on the progress of the implementation plan during the annual appraisal by shareholders
This was a huge success. Later, when Shell decided to start selling technical services also to 3rd parties, MERIT was the top selling product. During my tenure from 1993 until 2002, I led MERIT reviews at about 35 companies of the Shell group, and about 20 3rd party companies. These included several outside the petroleum sector, namely, steel manufacture, metal refining, chemical fertilizer manufacture, thermal/nuclear power generation.
Q-3: Your advice to engineers in India to take up technical work in process industries as a career?
This is certainly one of the choices graduating engineers have and should seriously consider. The process industry offers opportunities of working in many fields, as becomes apparent in the question above, for all engineering disciplines. It presents many challenges, as there is a lot to be done in asset management, especially in India. There has been enormous investment in this industry, e.g. R.I.L. in Jamnagar has the biggest petroleum refinery in the world. They are now commissioning a second one of the same size. From what I have seen during my consulting visits, the risk to personnel, environment and assets posed by the hazards of this industry are not always appreciated and, therefore, are not managed. Compared with the West, India has a poor record in technical integrity related accidents. On the operating cost front, India still looks good compared to the west, mainly because of the very low cost of labour here. This situation will not last much longer and when the labour cost catches up with e.g. Malaysia and Singapore, Indian industry will have to improve work efficiency in order to stay competitive. As I can see, therefore, these are indications that work in this industry will remain very interesting and challenging for a long time to come.
Q-4: Please tell us about the subject of Plant Asset Management.
Asset Management, in the context of a process plant, is a term which we coined during the development of MERIT. It is the business process whose objective is to exploit all currently existing assets of the plant in such a way that the benefit to the business is maximized. It encompasses the following traditional activities:
Operation of the assets to produce the intended products
Inspection and Maintenance of the assets to ensure their reliability and technical integrity
Changes to assets for marginal improvements in performance
Technological support to Operations and Maintenance
Logistical support to Operations and Maintenance
The fundamental premises are a) the management must address this business process in a holistic manner, i.e. give ALL aspects the attention they deserve in proportion to the impact they have on the business, and b) that the traditional groups engaged in the above-mentioned activities must work as one team if the objective is to be achieved.
When the entire team works towards the main objective of maximizing the benefit to the business, the following sub-objectives become imperative:
Minimizing the life cycle cost of ownership
Maximizing production and value addition
Minimizing down time
Maximizing efficiency of execution of all activities
Elimination of waste of all kinds
A MERIT review scrutinizes the above mentioned aspects of the client’s business, in partnership with the client. This scrutiny reveals shortcomings. The review team then designs remedies for the shortcomings and helps the client to implement the remedies.
One example of good asset management is reducing the down time of a production facility by reducing the turnaround frequency and duration, without impairing its reliability and technical integrity.
In my experience, MERIT revealed improvement opportunities which would bring about recurring operating cost savings of up to 60% of pre-MERIT value, as well as substantial enhancement of production, without incurring any capital expenditure. This is an extremely attractive business proposition, particularly when availability of capital is scarce. This was a strong selling point for MERIT. In my experience, no client could produce an approved capex (Capital Expenditure) proposal with benefit/cost ratio as good as our MERIT proposal.
The principles, or good practices, which we identified as being essential to good asset management in the petroleum and petro-chemical industry, are equally applicable to other process industries. This is my belief after personally conducting MERIT reviews in steel manufacturing, metal refining, fertilizer manufacturing, thermal and nuclear power generation, etc.
Q-5: You have also co-authored a book “100 years of maintenance and reliability”.
About 6 years ago, my ex colleague V. Narayan was writing a book titled Effective Maintenance Management. It is about risk and reliability strategies for optimizing asset performance. It struck him then that a compilation of real-life experiences in this field from which practical lessons could be drawn would be interesting for practitioners. His publishers, Industrial Press New York, were warm to the idea. When he mentioned it to me and the third co-author Jim Wardhaugh, another ex-colleague, we were both enthusiastic. So, off we went with it. And that is what it is about.
A number of anecdotes, each describing a real-life experience of how each of us encountered a particular situation and how it was handled. From the experience described in each anecdote some lessons can be drawn. The anecdotes describe how we handled that particular situation. The reader may or may not see him / her handling it the same way, but will certainly get one perspective on it. The book was published in August last year. It is not exactly a best seller, but those in industry dealing with people in the course of their work might find it interesting and thought-provoking reading.
Q-6: Please tell us about college days.
As I have said earlier, studying to be an engineer in the premier university at that time was my aspiration for as long as I can remember.
My 5years in college, including the one at Kamachha, was among the most memorable periods in my life. Living, sharing and interacting with people from many diverse backgrounds did a lot for character building. I made several life-long friends.
I have not visited the campus after graduating in 1958, but I remember it as being spacious and beautiful with buildings in distinctive Indian architecture. It had a special aura around it probably because of the association with Malaviyaji.
The most memorable gurus are Prof. Bhatt, Mukherjee, Chakraborty, Rane, and Kunwar Ganesh Singh. Kunwar ji owned an antique motor car. The story goes that it needed a new piston; Kunwar ji and his favourite chelas, searched for it high and low but could not find one. So, one was turned out of local wood in the college carpentry shop and fitted into the car. With the fuel and ignition to that cylinder blocked, it worked, albeit with a bit of shudder!
A typical year seemed to be divided in three distinct parts. The first, spent generally in frivolous merrymaking; the second involved in the annual functions of the Engineering Students’ Society, and the third totally engrossed in preparing for the final exams. All periods were a lot fun. I participated in the engineering models exhibition every year. In the final year, our working model of “Data Processing Machine” made together with my good friends Robin Nanda (initiater and leader), Gautam Dar and Satish Savkur was awarded the first prize. I also fondly recall the annual picnic on the other bank of the Ganga which we crossed in wooden country boats with sails so tattered it was a miracle they caught any wind at all.
Other fond memories are: trips to Sankat Mochan before the final exams began; eating sprees at Jal Yog Mishtan Bhandar after submitting the annual design project; shopping trip to Vishwanath Gali each time before leaving for home; and many more.At the end of the 4th year, one gifted one’s bicycle, bedding and whatever else one could, to the staff that had served you for 4 years. In my case, it was the dhobi. I still remember the grateful expression on his face.
Q-7: Please tell us about your personal life.
I married Madhu in 1966. She is a graduate from Chandigarh. We have a daughter who is a pharmacologist. She and her husband, also a pharmacologist, live near Philadelphia. Our son is an economist, recently married. They live in Brooklyn. I and my wife were very happy living in the Netherlands where we had been since 1993 and considered it home, until our first grandchild arrived in August 2005. That changed our perspective about many things, including our priorities in life. We started asking ourselves what we were doing there away from the children. So, by August 2006, we wound down every thing in the Netherlands and arranged for us to shift residence to East Windsor, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Relocating at that stage in life is not easy. With the grace of God, however, it went pretty smoothly for us; probably because we already had the experience of moving every 2-4 years since we got married. I am a keen “handyman” who likes to do most of the fixing and repairing himself. So, that part of settling-in was more fun than others. We have made friends in the community where we live and it has started feeling like home. I still do some consulting work for asset management, as long as it does not interfere too much with mynon-professional life.
Both I and Madhu play golf and bridge. There are several affordable golf courses in our vicinity which we frequent. There is also a bridge playing group within our community which meets regularly.
We take every opportunity to spend time with our grand son. They say, your grand children are dearer to you than your children! I think it is indeed so.
The period 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. every day is sacred for us. The whole day, we could be doing our separate things, but come 5:30, we sit together and talk about what has gone on or just sit and feel the “togetherness”.
I love Urdu poetry, especially the ghazal and would like to learn the language more, to fully appreciate it.
Q -8: Thank you, Sir. Thanks for spending valuable time for the interview.
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