April 21, 2005
3 Motor Testing and CBM
Concepts behind the use of technology in your motors program.
VP, Electrical Reliability Group
T-Solutions, Inc.
Use of Technology
One of the considerations when selecting technology is: How effective will the technology be? It must be understood that as maintenance and reliability professionals, we feel we must prevent all failures from occurring. I put it to you, however, that this is not true: All failures cannot and should not be prevented. The art of Risk Management must be considered.
For instance: If you know that the findings from your CBM program will not be applied, and that the equipment will be allowed to fail anyways, you do not have an effective program. If the program is not effective, it should not exist as it is an additional expense and misuse of manpower. In the same thought, if the program is not effective, but should be, a true maintenance professional will push forward, or champion the program.
Finally, in any use of technology within a complex system, it must be remembered that all failures are random. The use of technology will either detect a failure or identify a condition that will lead to a failure.
