Functional Specification Development

New or rebuilt capital assets that fail to meet critical production or manufacturing requirements can contribute to subpar performance, high operating costs, and quality and delivery problems. The root of the problem is often functional requirements and measurable performance criteria that aren’t clearly defined. 

Omitting clearly defined functional specifications can increase the life cycle cost of an asset by 40-60%. To help prevent this, LCE can develop a comprehensive functional specification for your proposed new asset or for an asset to be rebuilt or upgraded. This functional specification will ensure that the design and manufacture of this asset meets current engineering and manufacturing best practices as well as the functional requirements of your manufacturing process.

Scope of Services:

• Outline scope and expectations for functional specification
• Gather appropriate requirements and meet with subject matter experts
• Produce formal functional specification

Approach:

A qualified Reliability Engineer will:

• Facilitate a kick-off meeting with key plant personnel to outline the scope and expectations of the functional specification development project
• Gather all pertinent and appropriate engineering, performance and  maintenance requirements
• Meet with key subject matter experts within your company to develop a clear definition of performance, reliability, quality, maintainability and cost expectations from the new or upgraded asset
• Develop a draft functional specification document
• Validate the draft assessment with appropriate plant personnel
• Generate formal functional specification suitable for submittal as part of the procurement package

Deliverables:

• A comprehensive functional specification that clearly defines the functional, performance, reliability, maintainability and useful life of a proposed new, rebuild or overhaul capital asset. The formal specification will include:
  - Concise description of the asset 
  - Specific reliability, maintainability and availability expectations, including specify key performance indicators (KPIs) that will be used to verify and validate compliance
  - Factory and site acceptance testing criteria and methodology that must be met before acceptance of the new or upgraded asset
  - Asset Management Plan: The functional specification will include a  requirement for documentation that concisely defines a risk management plan, an operations plan and a maintenance plan