April 14, 2005
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Tip
In regards to past RCA tips provided by Robert Latino.....I have been a maintenance professional for over 33 years and I agree that CONSEQUENCE is the criteria to decide whether or not to perform and RCA. However, one should look at the CONSEQUENCE to maintenance as well as production equally. Case in point. We had pumps from one manufacture which were continuously breaking down prematurely without impacting production. No one was looking at these pumps as a candidate for and RCA because the repairs were not showing up on any lost production report and the repairs were on several different pumps in different locations. While writing a paper on the importance of maintaining an accurate up to date repair history that can be queried I found these pumps were costing our maintenance about $144,000 every year in parts and labor. An RCA revealed that operations were not operating them properly. Training was performed and the problem now rarely arises. The point is, when a problem arises there could be a maintenance consequence as large or larger than the production consequence.
Reader tip provided by Rick Riles
Vibration Analyst
Georgia-Pacific Paper
Crossett Arkansas
Thanks Rick - your Maintenance-Tips hat is one the way!
April 14, 2005
Vibration Analysis Tip
Always pick two vibration sensors of the same model when measuring Cross Channel Phase. Otherwise, differences in the sensors’ high pass & low pass can influence the phase readings.
Tip provided by LUDECA, INC.
ALIGNMENT * VIBRATION * BALANCING
http://www.ludeca.com
Tel: 305-591-8935
Test your vibration data collection IQ
April 14, 2005
Mark Your Calendar: CMMS-2005
Computerized Maintenance Management Summit
July 26-29, 2005
Indianapolis Indiana
You’re Invited!
Please join us for CMMS-2005, the Computerized Maintenance Management Summit from July 26, 2005 through July 29, 2005 in beautiful downtown Indianapolis Indiana.
CMMS-2005, the Computerized Maintenance Management Summit is the only event dedicated to Computerized Maintenance Management and Enterprise Asset Management, Maintenance Inventory, Maintenance Planning & Scheduling and Maintenance Work Management.
You will take away new solutions for maintenance information management that you can put to immediate use as peers and industry experts share knowledge and experience in a non-commercial environment.
Please request a CMMS-2005 brochure
April 14, 2005
Maintenance Tip
Well written standard jobs can save your company large amounts of time and money on maintenance activities. Standard jobs decrease the task time required for completion of the job, minimize errors, and help insure that the correct parts arrive for the work.
The basic elements of a well written standard job are very much the same as the basic elements of a well written newspaper article. We need to answer the questions of who, what, when, where, and how.
• Who will do the job
• What will be worked on?
• When will the job be done?
• Where will the job be done?
• How will the job be done?
Read more about developing maintenance tasks at the ARMS Reliability Engineers Web Site
April 14, 2005
Reliability Tip
Outsourcing Maintenance? Protect the intellectual property of your asset reliability program
If you are thinking about integrating a maintenance outsourcing model with your asset reliability improvement strategy or have already done so, you need to ensure that you protect the maintenance knowledge and expertise of your assets which are key to plant performance.
Maintenance outsourcing may mean handing over accountability and responsibility for the entire maintenance process to a third party. If externally owned and controlled, knowledge and expertise is not captured and therefore lost when the contracts are up for renewal. Furthermore, it makes it more difficult to continuously improve the performance of your asset base with an interruption of this information. Outsourcing contracts that neglect to capture the intellectual property of the asset reliability program will eventually result in widening the gap in performance, not narrowing it.
Manufacturers, and not Outsource companies, must take ownership of the inherent knowledge that exists in their assets’ reliability programs. This knowledge includes:
• tasks and frequencies required to prevent failure and optimize asset performance
• specific targets for normal and non-normal ranges of condition data, from simple numeric values to more complex rules-based engineering calculations as specified by the expert
• enormous amounts of data critical for tracking and trending
Don’t let that knowledge slip away. If you are outsourcing or considering this option, ensure that you have a process and the tools to capture and retain the intellectual property of your asset reliability program.
With data and information come knowledge and therefore the understanding of asset performance. The ability to have the knowledge and metrics at your fingertips affords you the opportunity to pay for performance – it’s a win/win for you and the outsourcer. Successful companies, who invest in sustainable growth, recognize the strategic impact of capturing maintenance knowledge in all forms.
This tip provided by Ivara Corporation.
http://www.ivara.com
iPresentation Invitation:Capture the Expertise of Your Aging Workforce (4 minutes)
April 06, 2005
Belt Tip
When removing belts from multiple belt pulleys, mark with chalk or crayon the order and the direction to the motor or drive they are coming off. 1,2,3,4,5,6 with an in or out arrow.
After all, that is why you bought a matched set. Putting them back on helter skelter any where will lead to vibration and possible bearing failure down the road.
Reader tip supplied by John A. Rumble
Maintenance Technician
Perrys Ice Cream
Akron NY
Thanks John - Your Maintenance-Tips hat is on the way!
April 06, 2005
Airborne Ultrasonic Tips
Vacuum Leaks
Pinpointing vacuum leaks with an ultrasonic detector can be especially challenging since the turbulent ultrasonic hiss produced by the leak is mostly sucked inside the volume being tested. Try using a contact probe or magnetic probe instead of the conventional airborne sensor. Position the probe close to where potential leaks could occur and turn the sensitivity to maximum. Listen for the same sounds that characterize a leak as air rushes turbulently inside the volume.
Tip provided by SDT North America
http://www.sdtnorthamerica.com
Toll free: 1-800-667-5325
Tel: 905-349-2020
Learn More From Predictive Technologies Seminars and Workshops
April 06, 2005
Motor Testing Tip
Testing Motors w/ Open Delta PT’s
When performing three-phase power analysis on an AC induction motor the proper calculations require three phases of current and voltage. If you are testing medium to high voltage motors (2300v & up), you will commonly have access to only two voltages due to the open delta potential transformer (PT). In this common cost effective design, PT’s are installed only on phase 1-2 and 2-3. Testing can still be done but calculating phase 1-3 will be necessary. Advanced technology and software will perform this task automatically ensuring accurate measurement and analysis of these motors.
Tip provided by PdMA
http://www.pdma.com
Tel: (813) 621-6463
Learn more about the 2005 Motor Reliability Technical Conference
April 06, 2005
Voice of Maintenance Experience at MARTS-2005
Learn from people who have been there – in the plant and under pressure – and have been successful.
Some of the most successful will be sharing their experience in the Voice of Experience Sessions at the Maintenance & Reliability Technology Summit (MARTS), May 23-26, 2005, Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, IL, near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
• Learn from winners of the North American Maintenance Excellence (NAME) Award. Representatives from NAME Award Winners Aera Energy, Alcoa Aluminerie de Deschambault, and Harman International will explain how the maintenance function is organized at their sites and how they manage maintenance work and materials.
• Learn from long-time practitioner and Reliability Center Founder Charles Latino, who has made a difference for the many people he taught and worked with over the years. Join him as he shares lessons he learned during his five-decade journey toward reliability excellence. Learn what worked, what didn’t work, and what many of us currently overlook from the man who “wrote the book” on industrial reliability.
• Learn from Ricky Smith, MAJ, FA, USA about the many parallels that exist between industrial, facility, and vehicle maintenance operations in industry and those that occur in the military.
• Learn from Jack R. Nicholas, Jr., CEO of Maintenance Quality Systems about the use of detailed, written and/or imbedded procedures for conducting maintenance (and operations) of any plant, vehicle, or system and the results of four studies on conditional probability of failure over the past 30 years. He will provide four approaches that have been found successful in making the transition to procedure-based maintenance.
These presentations are from just one of the MARTS Conference tracks.
April 06, 2005
Alignment Tip
Alignment Tolerance Evaluation
Choosing the correct alignment tolerance evaluation There are several ways of looking at alignment tolerances, including standard versus vector tolerances, as well as sliding velocity tolerances.
The most used are standard tolerances, but which are applied differently for short flex versus spacer couplings. The best laser alignment systems will allow you not only to select tolerance types but also coupling types.
For standard tolerances, keep in mind that the vast majority of true flexible couplings (such as gear, grid, elastomer element, or diaphragm type) have two separate flex planes. So do all spacer couplings. The difference between short flex and spool piece, spacer, or jackshaft couplings lies in the distance between these flex planes. Any time the distance between flex planes is greater than the diameter of the working flex plane, you are better off calling it a spacer rather than a short flex, from the perspective of achieving satisfactory alignment. Keep this in mind when selecting coupling type, as it will greatly increase the alignability of the machines, and ease your job in the field. For a deeper understanding of the subtleties involved in these issues, it is recommended to attend an in-depth training course in laser alignment.
Tip provided by LUDECA, INC.
ALIGNMENT * VIBRATION * BALANCING
http://www.ludeca.com
Tel: 305-591-8935
