SAP plant maintenance module implementation in a chemical production site

This industrial thesis internship is based on a project of SAP PM module implementation at DOW’s Polyurethane production facility in Correggio, Italy. SAP implementation at Correggio is aimed at aligning Correggio with DOW’s Global Maintenance Work Process (GMWP) policies. The Correggio site consists of the polyurethane production plant and the R&D division; however, the initial SAP PM implementation project is only focused on implementation at the polyurethane production facility and then another separate SAP implementation project will be implemented at the R&D site in the future. The SAP PM module implementation is designed to cover maintenance activities and optimize the scheduling and planning of inspection, preventive maintenance, and repair activities. Therefore, for a project of such magnitude, a one-year implementation timeline has been decided as a reasonable objective to make the system operational. Successful implementation of the PM module depends on registering all plant assets in SAP, creating and registering maintenance plans for all assets registered in the PM module, training managers, supervisors and operators on the correct usage of the SAP module once it is operational. Therefore, this thesis internship project deals with a lot of challenges during the implementation project and describes all the steps taken to implement SAP PM module at Correggio by following DOW’s Global SAP implementation policies and devising suitable methodologies tailor-made for an effective execution of project deliverables at Correggio. The implementation project was realized with support from the DOW India “Risk Based Inspection (RBI)” team and DOW Spain “Master Data Administrator (MDA)” team in addition to the maintenance department at Correggio. The chosen structure mirrors the structure of maintenance planning as implemented globally in all DOW sites.