July 17, 2008
PdM-2008 Predictive Maintenance Technology Conference
PdM-2008
Predictive Maintenance Technology Conference
September 15-18, 2008
Qwest Center - Omaha Nebraska
Learn why best practice companies have a competitive edge because of machinery condition monitoring technologies like:
-Vibration Analysis
-Infrared Thermography
-Ultrasonic Detection
-Electric Motor Testing
-Oil Analysis
* 7 Preconference Certificate Workshops
* Over 45 Predictive Maintenance Case Studies for all levels including PdM beginner and PdM advanced
* Hand’s On Vibration Analysis Learning Lab
* PdM-2008 Expo with 70 Leading Predictive Maintenance Vendors
* 5 Post Conference Bonus Workshops included at no cost
* Association for Maintenance Professionals Breakthrough Benchmarking
* Co-located with LubricationWorld - 2 events - 1 price
* Meet Uptime Magazine’s PdM Program of the Year Winners for 2008
July 17, 2008
Motor Tip
A reader recently asked the question how could preventive maintenance be promoted to management on the basis of energy savings.
One fact related to electric motor operations is that rewound motors operate less efficiently than new motors.
By definition, a “burned out” motor has suffered from a mechanical failure. The winding insulation failed to contain the electric current - regardless of the cause (thermal breakdown, chemicals, vibration, voltage spikes, or moisture.)
Motor rewind shops will agree that seldom - if ever - is it feasible to rewind a motor more than once. This is due to the cumulative damage to the windings during failure.
Rewind shops will also admit that not all motors can be rewound, for the same reason. What they may be reluctant to admit is that rewound motors will operate less efficiently than new motors. Depending on who you talk to, estimates range from 50% to 90% efficiency for rewound motors versus new. Hence, it can be demonstrated that repaired motors will increase energy consumption.
This is avoidable by:
#1: Only replacing failed motors with new motors.
Or
#2: Monitoring motor condition and taking worn motors offline BEFORE they fail.
Worn motors can be “reconditioned”, that is reinsulated before any damage to the windings occurs. A reconditioned motor returns to like new efficiency and capacity.
In addition, the cost of reconditioning is usually less than half that of rewinding, and nearly 100% of worn motors can be reconditioned.
Of course, this is contingent on “catching” motors before they fail. What is required is lucky timing for a manual test or the use of automatic testing systems - like MEG-Alert.
So preventive maintenance CAN lead to lower operating costs, AND lower maintenance expenses, overall. Proactive maintenance will ALWAYS cost less than reactive, emergency repairs!
Reader tip by Randy Reek
MEG-Alert
Hot Springs Village Arkansas
Thanks Randy - your stainless steel, diamond plate, Reliabilityweb.com coffee mug is on the way
July 17, 2008
A Reliability Program Deserves a Reliability Roadmap
Many organizations have tried to implement a reliability program, but have failed to achieve the desired benefits. The lack of a reliability roadmap that integrates the elements of a reliability program is a main factor that leads to reliability program underperformance.
MRG has a proven approach to develop reliability a reliability roadmap
July 17, 2008
TPM Autonomous Maintenance Tip
Maintenance departments spent a lot of energy in designing their strategies to best maintain production equipment.
We often see that - in classic maintenance strategies - engineers and technicians only meet the equipment when it is already too late (breakdown) or when it is scheduled (PM/PdM).
A lot of breakdowns slip through our fingers because our classic approach is not sufficient to tackle all of them. If we take a closer look we will notice that the resistant amount of breakdowns is often due to “abnormal” conditions.
PM/PdM typically deals with “natural” predictable and accepted wear and not with “abnormal” wear. Abnormal wear can - for example - be caused by dirt contamination or wrong settings of the machine resulting in crashes and deformation of components, and in a later stage a breakdown. 80% percent of breakdowns are failures of mechanical components. Mechanical failures have a “life cycle”. Sometimes this is 5 minutes - sometimes it can take weeks or even months and years before a hidden cause of failure results in an actual breakdown.
Production operators spent the majority of their time on and around their equipment. While doing so they build up a sensory database and broaden their experience with their equipment’s behavior. They are best placed to detect abnormalities in a very early stage. Operators can thus be the eyes and ears for maintenance. You will be surprised how well they know their equipment and how valuable their input is.
Moving towards Maintenance Excellence is in the first place abandoning the statement “Production Makes Parts and Maintenance Makes Machines”
TPM/Autonomous Maintenance Programs enable your operators to participate in maintaining their equipment. Operators perform daily checks and cleaning tasks on their equipment and have regularly contact with maintenance technicians.
This will result in increased ownership, performance awareness and better relationship between maintenance and production. It is the only way to achieve “Zero Breakdowns”. There is only one goal for both of them: Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
Maintenance is often as seen as a department next to the production department – but – maintenance should be a part of the production department with shared objectives and common goals. The Voice Of The Customer comes in the first place. Always.
Reader tip provided by Chris Vanschooren
Supervisor Training and Team Implementation
Pfizer NV. Manufacturing
Puurs Antwerp
Belgium
Thanks Chris - your stainless steel, diamond plate, Reliabilityweb.com coffee mug is on the way!
Send in your own tip and get a stainless steel, diamond plate, Reliabilityweb.com coffee mug
July 17, 2008
Vibration Tip
We sometimes get to to worried about the tolerances of our Accelerometers, we have found that the 2 main things to look at when choosing Accelerometers is sensitivity & mounting.
We almost exclusively use Shear type, as it has the best all round performance in a wide range of conditions, and they are best suited to high temp areas where thermal transients can affect data collection.
What is most important is to ensure you use the same Accelerometers for all your routine monitoring as this allows for repeatability in data collection.
That way even if your Accelerometer is at the limits of it’s tolerance, that difference will be the same each time.
Accelerometers are robust and rugged, and we still have some working perfectly well after more than 6 years in the field, the cables on the other hand, are more prone to damage and failure, so we now keep spares on hand just in case.
In the end it’s all about constant repeatable data, so try and have as many constants in your set up and equipment as possible.
Reader tip provided by Matt Gorman
Condition Monitoring Tech
OneSteel
Newcastle New South Wales
Australia
Thanks Matt - your stainless steel, diamond plate, Reliabilityweb.com coffee mug is on the way!
July 17, 2008
EXECUTE SCHEDULED WORK FROM ONE INTUITIVE SCREEN!
PRODUCE DAILY SCHEDULES IN MINUTES NOT HOURS!
eMESA is an easy to use, 100% web based enabled solution that maximizes your existing investment in SAP Plant Maintenance.
eMESA is a SAP certified software solution that allows you to simplify your business process.
July 17, 2008
Barringer Reliability Tip
From Which Reliability Tool should I use? By H. Paul Barringer
Reliability tools exist by the dozens: what are the tools, why use the tools, when should I use the tools, and where should I use the tools?
Each week we will explain a reliability tool. The details about these tools will be brief as books are written about each item. Think of the presentations below as hors d’oeuvres (a little snack food or starters)—not the main course.
Availability-
What: A tool for measuring the % of time an item or system is in a state of readiness where it is operable and can be committed to use when call upon. Availability ceases because of a downing event which causes the item/system to become unavailable to initiate a mission when called upon. In the simplest view the metric is availability = uptime/(uptime + downtime).
Why: The measure is important for knowing the commitment of time for performing the mission and it usually only involves the use of arithmetic.
When: Often the measurement tool is based on past experiences and the complement of the measurement tool addresses unavailability to perform the task.
Where: In design of a system it is a calculated value and in operation of a system it is a performance index that is often easy to use and provides and index that is understandable to the average person. Today there is a great tendency to “Enronize” availability metrics by using uptime metrics that presents data in the best light (an issue of data integrity) to maximize managerial bonuses by excusing (deducting) downtime from the calculations to put lipstick on the pig. Use the KISS principle. Think of availability in terms of the investor’s typical year of 8760 hours. The no-excuse annual metric in hours is availability = uptime/8760. Suddenly you’ll find a metric of great interest to investors that can be bench marked as a financial issue, and thus motivate the management team to solve real issues of importance to the business. Please note, you can have high availability but many failures and thus low reliability as availability ≠ reliability. Likewise, you can have high availability but little output so team the metric with effectiveness to get the complete story.
July 17, 2008
Ultrasound Tip
If you’re not keeping good records for your ultrasonic inspection program, how will you know what you are measuring against?
Don’t fall into the trap of not keeping records from your program.
It is important to establish a baseline dB level for each bearing monitored and record this. After a baseline is determined, you should keep track of the dB levels at the beginning of the survey and what they were after you performed the lubrication survey.
You should also record how much grease you applied during the survey. Record keeping can help determine the frequency of your surveys.
Ultrasonic inspection can be subjective to each individual and what one technician considers white noise another may interpret as rough and the bearing in need of grease.
If multiple people are lubricating equipment then there is no way to know when and how much grease is being added to a bearing or if there has been any change in dB levels from one survey to the next.
There are different ways to keep track of your surveys. One would be a common spreadsheet. You should keep track of the baseline dB level, the dB level at the time of survey, the dB level as left, amount of grease added if any, and any abnormalities heard while greasing. Relying solely on ultrasonic inspection to make bad bearing calls is not practical in many plants. Ultrasonic inspection can pick up a very early bearing defect and you should consult the vibration department to help determine the severity of a defect.
Tip provided by Melissa Smith
Lead Analyst
Cedar Rapids, IA client site
and by
Mike McCarty
Oil Analyst-Eddyville, IA client site
Allied Reliability
Thanks Melissa and Mike - please keep more tips coming!
Web Workshop Invitation: Introduction to Condition Monitoring - July 25
July 10, 2008
Advancing Reliability Web Workshop 6: Key Features of Select RCM Methodologies
Please join Jack Nicholas Jr., Author of Advancing Reliability and Maintenance (3rd Edition) in the 6th web workshop in a series of 12 workshop scheduled for 2008 for an informative discussion about at least 15 approaches to Reliability Centered Maintenance including those that follow the original intention of Nowlan and Heap as well as RCM Variations that have taken a slightly different or modified path. Also included in the review will be RCM Derivations, most of which claim to meet the original intentions of Reliability Centered Maintenance but have found ways to make the process quicker and less resource intensive.
Jack will also explain the definitive RCM Documentation that exists including works for the originators plus 2 early pioneers who brought their work forward to an industrial setting.
July 10, 2008
Book Reviewers Wanted
The new online bookstore at MRO-Zone.com is asking maintenance and reliability professionals to post reviews and ratings for the books they have so other can act on their recommendation.
To write a review:
1) Visit the MRO-Zone.com Bookstore using the link below
2) Find the books that you have read
3) Write a brief review that will help other maintenance and reliability professionals select the best books for each topic
