Motorblog

Motor Diagnostics and Motor Health Study August 11, 2006

- From the President
- Skilled Workforce Study
- Skilled Workforce Podcast
- Part 2 of the Maintenance and Management Communication Study
- Tech Tip
- The Motor Testing Game
- SUCCESS by DESIGN Reliability Services

From the President

It is interesting to see what a little customer/client attention can do.  I fly very often, almost weekly – in fact, I am drafting this article on August 10, 2006, while sitting on an American Airlines aircraft following heightened security.  I have experienced different things with airlines, and I have written about many of these experiences.  During this past week, I experienced yet another exciting issue, not including having to surrender my shampoo today.

One of the most interesting predictive jobs is weather forecasting.  In fact, such ‘new math’ as chaos theory finds their roots in weather prediction.  When you watch weather forecasts note that the weather person will identify a percentage chance that something may occur.  There are patterns and identifiers that are watched for as part of this system.  Some geographical areas are easier to predict than others, and, when the weather person is wrong, we all condemn him or her.

Sound familiar?

In this case, there was a 10% chance that rough weather would hit Dallas, Texas on Monday of this past week.  Because the chance was so low that the airlines took the risk and flew normally.  Following about an hour of circling away from the Dallas Airport, due to a sudden lightning storm, we were diverted to Little Rock, Arkansas, in order to add fuel so that we could continue to circle.  The result is that we landed several hours late.

I missed my connection to Seattle, Washington, by about a minute.

Planes were lined up on the tarmac as Dallas Airport personnel and systems coordinated lean ground crews and the airlines re-booked, re-arranged, dealt with complaining customers and loaded planes.  A year ago I went through a similar issue and it was terrible.  Rude people, re-booking late, poorly-planned over-booked planes, etc.  Even earlier this year (Memorial Day weekend) on a Thursday return flight from Florida, the flight was cancelled due to weather.  We were told to call a phone number which took forever (while my cell phone was beeping ‘low battery’) before being told to talk to the ticket counter who said to call the number.  Finally, even though I was flying first class (frequent flier upgrades, if you have to ask), I was told that I would be on standby on Sunday but to expect not to be on a flight until the Monday.  I gave up and rented a car to drive back to Connecticut (16 hours). 

Well, in this week’s incident things moved like clockwork.  I was put on standby for one flight and was confirmed on another, the same evening!  I was treated professionally and, within just a few hours, everything was back to normal.  When I talked to one of the counter-people, she said that improvements in software/automation and preparing for unexpected, unplanned problems, allowed them to deal with the situation and get back on line.

In effect, I was witnessing a fundamental change in how the airline industry operates.  And, if this can change, so can we.  Especially with the coming workforce changes (see Skilled Workforce in the 21st Century below).

So, kudos to my two favorite airlines, American and Northwest.  Oh, and a side comment about Northwest, I have to say that even with contract issues, the service and professionalism from the workers affected has been exemplary.

In the meantime, this week the workforce is our subject with the release of the Skilled Workforce in the 21st Century study by SBD and ReliabilityWeb.

Sincerely,
Howard W Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP

The Skilled Workforce in the 21st Century Study

At long last, the study that Terrence O’Hanlon, CMRP, and I developed in December of 2005 is being released!!  The interesting part about waiting to release a study of this type is that we were able to observe industry from the study’s perspective.  We have watched a changing industry heading the direction that we estimated and companies that are suffering because they have been resisting change or have tried to move backwards.

The “Skilled Workforce in the 21st Century” study is being offered for free.  It was generated on a voluntary basis and starts with a history of the workforce and US Census Bureau information before reviewing a number of the published studies from the United States, Canada and Australia.  The next sections cover a survey by ReliabilityWeb then tie together the findings and conclusion.  The study provides a roadmap for maintenance professionals and managers alike.

This goes along with a corresponding article to be published in Reliability Magazine this month and a general release through ReliabilityWeb.

To download your free copy, go to http://www.motordoc.org, or http://www.motordiagnostics.com/presentations.htm

Questions related to this study can be sent to .

The Penrose Lecture Series™ Podcast

The Penrose Lecture Series™ is continuing as a Podcast available for audio downloads and iTunes.  The series is starting with the coverage of the ‘Skilled Workforce of the 21st Century’ study and will continue with other subjects with installments each week.

This week we covered the conclusion of the Workforce study and will cover general discussions related to the R&M workforce through the next century, including where we see the future of the present maintenance evolution over the coming years.

A Podcast is set up to provide audio (in this case) or video that can be played with the standard audio software on most computers, on MP3 players, iTunes or burned to CD Rom to listen in your car or on your CD player.

Part 6 is under 10 minutes and covers our view of reliability and maintenance in 2016.  You can obtain all parts of the Podcast through one of the following:

iTunes link:  http://phobos.apple.com/webobjects/mzstore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=164604364 once you have subscribed, each episode will be automatically downloaded to your computer or iPod (or other MP3 player) whenever you log in to iTunes.

Direct Download: http://penroselectureseries.blogspot.com

Please forward any questions or comments to
and we will do our best to address them in the next two installments.

Part 2 of the Maintenance and Management Communication Study

In Part 1 of the Maintenance and Management Communication Project, we covered 21 of the root causes for the loss of communication between maintenance and management.  In Part 2, we begin the discussion and instruction of how to improve communication from the maintenance perspective.  Part 2 will discuss best practices in report and presentation development using techniques to convince management of the direction that you are recommending, thereby improving the chance that those recommendations will be followed.

Both parts of the study can be downloaded for free from http://www.motordiagnostics.com/presentations.htm or http://www.motordoc.org.

Please respond to with your comments.

Tech Tip: Energy Efficient Electric Motors

This was not actually a question that came in, but an experience that I had recently.  An article on that experience will be in Uptime Magazine’s September Edition.

Switching from standard T-Frame electric motors and U-Frame electric motors to energy efficient and premium efficient electric motors is not always cost effective from an energy standpoint.  The energy impact is based upon the amount you pay for your electrical energy and the costs associated with changing out the old motor to the new motor, for a retrofit, or the difference between the repair cost and new cost for a repair versus replace decision.  This is especially a concern when dealing with U-Frame motors, which had a tendency to be more efficient than their standard efficient T-Frame successors.

Chances are that the real opportunity for retrofitting or replacing these motors is reliability.  Newer energy efficient and premium efficient electric motors have better materials and engineering than their predecessors.  The impact, in critical applications, can result in improved availability.

There are excellent tools, such as the US Department of Energy’s MotorMaster Plus, that can be used to evaluate a retrofit or repair versus replace quickly.  Information on this free software tool can be obtained in the June edition of Uptime Magazine (in electronic format at http://www.uptimemagazine.com) , an iPresentation, which includes an overview, at http://www.reliabilityweb.com/forms/tsol_reg.htm, and instructions on how to use MM+ can be downloaded from http://www.motordiagnostics.com/presentations.htm.

The Motor Testing Game

We are creating a new simulation game called “The Motor Testing Game” in which Version 1.0 will be released at PdM-2006 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

This interactive one-day workshop will pit teams of five against each other in the challenge of maintaining their electric motor systems for the greatest positive impact on business.  The assortment of teams will provide the attendees a unique series of options that they can bring back to apply at their companies.

Each team will select motor maintenance philosophies such as reactive, proactive, outsourced or other hybrids and styles.  A budget and options will be assigned and technologies purchased for application for fictional sites.  Each site and options will end up being unique, including within the same company structure, and also tailored by the players.

The day will start with training in the use of the game, and then we will break up into teams and the moderator.  Budgets will be assigned to the team administrators for distribution amongst each team, cards related to the specifics of the motor systems for each site, the purchase of technology, personnel and philosophies and outsourced capabilities.  The game will be time-limited to the end of the day, 52 moves (52 weeks) or until one winner emerges.  Actions and reactions will be based upon probability with decisions and philosophies affecting the outcome.  The objective is to have a remaining budget and to stay within production loss limits.  If either limit is crossed, the team is out of the game.

Work with your motor management budget and production loss limits.  The team with the most toys and money at the end… WINS!

To register, go to: http://www.maintenanceconference.com/pdm/ and sign up today!

SUCCESS by DESIGN Reliability Services

SUCCESS by DESIGN provides reliability and professional consulting services to our clients.  A few of these clients include: The Joint UAW/GM World-Wide Facility Group Joint Task Team for Maintenance and Construction as the Subject Matter Experts for maintenance; The AMEX (Maintenance Excellence) team for US Steel in the development of the Motor Management program and Root-Cause-Analysis of rotating machines, including post-mortem studies; Reliability Center, Inc electrical root-cause-analysis and electrical scene investigations, including training; and, other clients related to management of R&M, technology and expert witness.

SBD Services include:

- Industrial reliability, waste-stream, process and reliability assessments
- Industrial systems technical support
- RCM training and facilitation (NAVSEA and NAVAIR Certified)
- RCFA training and investigation, including Electrical Scene Investigation (ESI)
- Energy conservation and alternative energy strategies
- Technical maintenance program training and development
- Expert witness services
- Best practice development, surveys and evaluation
- Motor system maintenance and management training
- Electrical motor diagnostics training and support
- Development of motor management programs and initiatives
- Time-To-Failure-Estimation (TTFE™) planning
- Business development of reliability and maintenance

For more information on our services, go to http://www.motordoc.net or email us at with any questions.