Ensuring the safety of lifeboats and associated equipment at sea necessitates regular assessments. VIKING has introduced a new iPad-based solution designed to improve the accuracy and consistency of inspection reports, offering these documents promptly after service.
This method aims to address the delays and potential inconsistencies found in traditional post-event reporting practices, which can be affected by the varying experience and workload of the engineers conducting them.
iPad-Based Servicing Solution for Lifeboats
With an eye on overcoming traditional challenges, VIKING is launching an iPad-based lifeboat servicing solution in 2021. This innovative system creates a uniform reporting format that promises immediate delivery of service inspection documentation.
VIKING’s global service director for boats and davits, David Torres, highlights that current reporting practices are time-consuming and lack uniformity. The new digital system standardises the process, allowing engineers to generate and issue complete documentation promptly, enabling clients to resume operations without interruptions.
Rules of Reporting
The new documentation process aligns with VIKING’s 'rules of reporting', demanding clarity from technicians about their activities onboard.
This includes a detailed account of their findings, actions taken, and outcomes, offering clients comprehensive insights into the inspection procedures performed on their vessels. Transparency is ensured throughout the process.
Enhanced Clarity Through a Rating System
The inspection process employs a rating system where technicians assign values between one and five to onboard equipment. A rating of '1' indicates a 'possible unsafe condition', while '5' denotes 'new condition'.
Each score necessitates a specific response, ranging from 'immediate action' for a '1' rating to 'no action' for equipment rated '4' or '5'. Intermediate ratings warrant further follow-up or minor actions. Torres explains that conventional practices could be vague, often leading clients to react only when issues arise, resulting in unexpected and costly repairs.
A Proactive Approach for Enhanced Productivity
VIKING’s method encourages clients to anticipate maintenance needs and budget accordingly, avoiding sudden expenses and downtime. By shifting from a binary pass-or-fail approach to condition monitoring, the new system aims to help clients efficiently prepare maintenance budgets, save costs, and enhance operational safety.
Torres notes that the service extends to both VIKING’s own products and third-party equipment, thanks to their multibrand approval and extensive product expertise. The global rollout of this service is set for the beginning of 2021.
Regularly assessing the condition of lifeboats and related equipment is crucial to ensuring safety at sea.
A new iPad-based inspection and reporting solution from VIKING will enhance the accuracy, consistency, and timely delivery of servicing documentation.
Standard industry practice for lifeboat servicing relies on inspection reports that are compiled after the inspection has taken place. Aside from the wait customers can experience for relevant documentation to arrive, post-event reporting poses a risk for consistency, while accuracy may vary depending on the experience and workload of the engineer.
iPad-based lifeboat servicing solution
A new iPad-based lifeboat servicing solution being implemented by VIKING for 2021 looks to overcome these issues by creating a standard reporting format that builds-in consistency and can deliver the service documentation inspection report immediately.
David Torres, VIKING’s global service director for boats and davits, explains. “Current reporting methods for lifeboat servicing take time and could also be improved in terms of uniformity,” he says.
“With our new system, our engineers use a digital checklist to follow a standardised process and issue documentation on the spot, allowing the customer to resume operations without delay.”
Rules of reporting
Documentation adheres to VIKING’s ‘rules of reporting’, Torres adds, which state that all service technicians must describe why they were on board the vessel, what they found during their visit, what they did to rectify any issues and what the result of their actions was. The client thereby gains detailed and transparent insight into the procedure.
Transparency is key
While inspecting onboard equipment, the technician assigns each item a value from one to five
Further clarity is achieved through VIKING’s rating system. While inspecting onboard equipment, the technician assigns each item a value from one to five, with ‘1’ denoting ‘possible unsafe condition’ and ‘5’ ‘new condition’.
Each rating is in turn linked to a response, so a product that receives a rating of 1 requires ‘immediate action’, while equipment rated 4 or 5 requires ‘no action’. Ratings of ‘2’ to ‘3’ call for ‘follow-up service’ and ‘minor action’, respectively.
“Conventional practice is more black and white,” says Torres. “If you simply tell the client, ‘This winch is in poor condition; it needs replacing,’ or, ‘It’s fine; you don’t need to do anything,’ you’re not giving them the full picture, and they will wait until something goes wrong and end up having to pay for expensive emergency repairs.”
More proactive means more productive
In contrast, VIKING’s proactive approach helps the client to plan and budget for maintenance work before the next inspection, avoiding unforeseen outlays and equally costly downtime.
“By providing more specific feedback, we are moving away from OK – not OK and reactive maintenance towards condition monitoring, which will ultimately help in preparing the vessel’s maintenance budget, save our customers time and money while improving the operational safety,” says Torres.
Moreover, thanks to VIKING’s multibrand approval and comprehensive product knowledge, the same proactive maintenance service can will be applied to third-party equipment as well as their own OEM products. The system is currently being rolled out across VIKING’s global network and is due to go live in early 2021.
