January 26, 2006
Maintenance Tip Challenge EAM-2006 Runner Up
Using titles to help define work.
While working with maintenance work order lists generated for a particular crew or plant it can be time consuming when the work order has to be opened to see what is wanted. This can be especially frustrating when you were just in the work order yesterday, but there are several work orders for the same machine and you aren’t sure any more if this is the weekly PM that was done yesterday or the monthly that needs to be done next week when the warehouse has the parts kitted.
Since CMMS systems readily bring up work order lists, with just a little forethought, one can use the title to define to what job the work order applies. While working with a system that didn’t readily identify the difference for corrective work, CM, or preventive work, PM, we put “PM” as the first part of the title. The frequency would be listed next, then a few words for the needed work. For example if a PM was generated to do the 4 week lube route, the title would be “PM-4W-LUBE PLANT 1”. At a glance a scheduler would know that the crew lubricator is doing his 4 week route and since this comes often enough the scheduler remembers what he needs without even opening the work order. (of course if details are not known or remembered, the work order list would have that) Also when the work order list showed “PM-1Y-LUBE PLANT 1”, the scheduler would know the work involves outage and non stock supplies and give it the needed attention before scheduling.
Although lubrication PM’s were used in the above examples, the title can help with any job function, even corrective work. With a little coaching, those entering the work orders can get critical information up front in the title. “BLOWER 101 ALIGNMENT NEEDS CHECKED - HIGH AXIAL VIBRATION” will stand out quicker than “THERE IS HIGH AXIAL VIBRATION ON BLOWER 101 AND THE ALIGNMENT NEEDS TO BE CHECKED”. Especially when all one sees on the summary list is “THERE IS HIGH AXIAL VIBRATIO”.
Each CMMS has different view screens, sorting styles and methods so a little thinking up front will help save minutes for each work order, and with a scheduler posting over 100 work orders a week, this may make the difference to get done on time for a personal scheduled event.
Congratulations to Evan Smith, Reliability Engineer, Praxair in beautiful Pocatello Idaho. Evan won a 3 day pass to EAM-2006 March 8-10 in Las Vegas for his great tip!
January 26, 2006
Maintenance Tip Challenge RCM-2006 Runner Up
Make sure that all the maintenance employees understand and are involved in development and implementation of the overall philosophy of the maintenance program you want to build.
1. Spend time giving employees an overview of the vision for the future of the maintenance program.
2. Give them time to provide feedback; it is surprising how much the technical staff knows and has to offer for building a more efficient and effective maintenance program.
3. When developing a program draft the concept with a small group and then take it to the larger group for review and comment. Starting with a blank sheet of paper with a large group can be very hard to manage. Help focus the discussions with a frame they can work from.
4. Provide time feedback and recognition of ideas that are submitted. The employees may not like your answer but they will respect the fact that you reviewed the idea and gave it consideration.
5. Ensure there is action on an agreed upon outcome, nothing frustrates technical staff more than a lot of words and no action.
6. Finally keep them informed as much as possible so they remain part of the development process.
Technical staff is a vital resource that should be used to develop the overall maintenance philosophy and program. If they are made part of the process you stand to gain information you never thought of and should attain the successful implementation of any program you choose to develop.
Congratulations to Simon Watson, Maintenance Manager, Orange County Sanitation District in Fountain Valley California. Evan won a 3 day pass to RCM-2006 March 8-10 in Las Vegas for his great tip!
January 26, 2006
Early Bird Savings: EAM-2006 and RCM-2006 in Las Vegas
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March 8-10
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January 26, 2006
Alignment Tip
DOCUMENTATION
When performing shaft alignments, having a detailed history of the alignment improves communication between those involved with solving and approving the alignment. The best alignment systems automatically record alignment readings and moves in a measurement table.
This is ideal for record keeping.
Additionally, it is good practice to keep a detailed log of the shim corrections performed. By doing this, each shim correction can be tracked to avoid having stacks of shims installed under each foot (it’s recommended to keep no more than 3-4 shims under each foot). If needed, steps can be taken to reverse the shim corrections should the alignment end up going in a direction that was not planned. Murphy’s Law: If anything can go wrong, it will.
Tip provided by LUDECA, INC.
ALIGNMENT * VIBRATION * BALANCING
http://www.ludeca.com
Tel: 305-591-8935
January 26, 2006
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Tip
In Root Cause Analysis, use of the term “Human Root” can often be misconstrued. Human roots merely indicate a decision error of some type. What is important to the analysis is why the person who made the decision thought it was the correct decision for the situation. The answer to this WHY question is often what we refer to as Latent Roots or Organizational System Roots. These are the systems that shape our decision-making.
When making RCA recommendations in these cases, there is almost never a reason to make a recommendation for a Human Root Cause (unless it is sabotage) because if we address the associated Latent Root Cause(s), it should correct the human behavior identified. This results in getting what we want done without giving the impression that we are addressing an individual (who would perceive it as blaming them).
Tip provided by the Reliability Center Inc.
http://www.reliability.com
Tel: 804-458-0645
More Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Resources
January 26, 2006
EAM Made Simple
A Sponsored White Paper by Genesis Solutions
Asked to pen this piece on Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), I was struck with a radical idea. I would script the definitive and all encompassing manual for EAM. Not only that, but it would be written so that an 8 year-old could understand it. As it turns out not many people involved with EAM are of the age, so I figured I’d just keep it as simple as possible. Here it goes…
January 26, 2006
Oil Analysis Tip
Change Maintenance Practices – Not Alarm Limits –
to Effectively Monitor Soot Levels in EGR Engines
The growing popularity of EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) engines has raised the question, “What is an acceptable level of soot?” and if I can expect a higher level of soot in an EGR engine, “Then why not raise the oil analysis alarm limit?”
Soot is soot. Knowing that a particular engine design creates and retains more of it doesn’t make higher levels acceptable. Alarm limits should remain the same – maintenance practices should change. Utilizing enhanced additive packages with more efficient dispersants and closely monitoring the condition of the oil between oil changes to determine optimum drain intervals is the better solution.
Unlike gasoline engines, fuel in a diesel engine is injected during the compression stroke. The high pressure ignites the fuel immediately allowing it no time to properly mix with air. Combustion is incomplete and soot is created. Engine designs of the past expelled most of the soot created by inefficient fuel combustion through the exhaust, but EGR engines re-circulate exhaust gases back into the cylinder at a lower temperature to reduce NOx emission. Retarding ignition timing and reducing the amount of oxygen in the cylinder produces less NOx but inhibits combustion and creates excess soot.
If not adequately dispersed within the oil, soot particles begin to agglomerate, or gather into clusters increasing viscosity and allowing deposits to form on metal surfaces. Thick, sooty oil can plug filters and increase operating temperatures which can cause lubrication starvation and ultimately, metal on metal contact. The soot then becomes a harsh abrasive that accelerates wear in cylinder liners, rings, piston skirts, journal bearings and valve trains.
Tip provided by Polaris Labs
Tel: (317) 808-3750
Click here to learn more about condition-based monitoring through oil analysis offered by Polaris
January 26, 2006
Ultrasound Tip
Learn the Sounds of Your Testing Environment
Listen to your plant through the headphones of your ultrasonic detector and you will hear an entirely different world… one you may not realize existed. Your factory floor sounds very different when audible noise is filtered out and ultrasound dominates. To the uninitiated, ambient ultrasounds may disturb an ultrasound inspection often breaking concentration. But most already possess the skills to overcome this and don’t realize it. The listening skills learned from real life apply to the ultrasound world and learning the sounds of your test environment will go a long way toward successful inspections.
For example, recall the last time you had a conversation with a friend in a noisy café or bar. Chances are there was a baseline din caused by other conversations; people coming and going, a television, and who knows what else. Before you could successfully converse your subconscious familiarized itself with the clamour in the background and quickly found a way to filter it out, allowing you to concentrate exclusively on your friend. The same theory applies to a successful ultrasound inspection.
The ultrasound detector filters out audible sounds allowing you to hear pure ultrasound. Now you must concentrate on hearing only the ultrasounds you want. For instance, while performing a leak survey in a snack foods plant you clearly hear the characteristic sounds of an air leak, but you hear other ultrasounds too; irregular whooshing and swishing noises from a packaging line where blow-off valves and steam are at work. Familiarize yourself first with the plant’s “parasite” ultrasounds just as you would the conversation at the café, and then ignore them and listen only to the ultrasound you want to hear. A more successful inspection is guaranteed.
This tip supplied by SDT North America
http://www.sdtnorthamerica.com
905-377-1313
More Ultrasonic Resources and Links
January 19, 2006
Leadership and the SAP Plant Maintenance Tool
Pre-conference Workshop
March 8
Part of EAM-2006 & RCM-2006
March 8-10
Las Vegas
Engaged leadership by most any measure, is the key success characteristic in any successful SAP Plant Maintenance Implementation. As a leader, the organization will respond to what your values are and participation in the SAP PM implementation. As the saying goes “We tend to respect what the boss inspects”. Understanding the basic SAP PM tool set and providing leadership support for the organization is the foundation required to ultimately developing reliable maintenance practices and ultimately achieving your goal of increased reliability and lower cost to achieve that reliability.
This workshop is designed to educate leadership within a manufacturing environment on the functionality of the SAP Plant Maintenance Module and its interdependencies with the other SAP Enterprise Modules. It is this collective synergy of manufacturing subsystems that present the largest value to the company as a whole. The maintenance organization is asked to standardize their reliability processes across an entire manufacturing environment, which in turn will both globalize many facilities while at the same time creating agility and small company flexibility to multi-facility organizations. Leadership’s role of champion of the SAP Plant Maintenance reliability effort is to demonstrate and lead the value proposition. The workshop will conclude with a leadership evaluation of key skills and action items to benchmark success.
The topics addresses include:
• How to obtain and utilize the information at a leadership level to manage the business of Reliability Improvement.
• What roles and skills are needed to effectively execute to SAP PM Module and Reliability effort.
• How Maintenance Best Practices align with the SAP PM Module.
This workshop has been successfully given in many manufacturing organizations to leadership teams providing leadership team members, both SAP novices and users, an overview and understanding on how to better support the organization and expedite reliability improvement.
Note: This workshop is offered independent of and has no connection with SAP AG or its affiliate companies. SAP is a trademark of SAP AG.
Space is limited in this one day preconference workshop so please reserve your space today.
January 19, 2006
Preventive Maintenance Tip
When running emergency or standby diesel generator sets for operational checks ensure you run them long enough and with enough load on them to prevent wet stacking. This will ensure the engine is up to proper operating temperatures and that unburned fuel does not accumulate in the exhaust system and carbon and sludge buildup are limited.
If plant, facility, or building loads cannot be used due to critical equipment, where even momentary voltage fluctuations could cause data loss or interruption, then consider installing a load bank to provide the necessary load for test operation.
Tip provided by Mike LeCompte
Maintenance Systems Development, LLC
Moncks Corner SC
http://www.maintsysdev.com
