October 18, 2007
Effective Asset Maintenance Strategies for Optimal Results
An iPresentation Tutorial by Brian Dunks, Lawson EAM
Engineers are often asked about the effectiveness of their maintenance strategy yet it remains a difficult question to answer. When calculating risks around equipment reliability, to determine the best strategy for asset maintenance engineers have historically relied on experience, intuition or used pc based software applications that support techniques such as Reliability Centred Maintenance, however these specialized applications have been hampered by their lack of integration into an organisation’s total business strategy.
Please join EAM Expert Brian Dunks for a 14 minute iPresentation on recent technology advancements that make the analysis and forecasting of maintenance options a more accurate task. More accurate analysis and forecasting results in strategies that engender a very real and positive impact on asset reliability and availability and overall organizational success.
October 18, 2007
Infrared Tip
One quick way to help your infrared program gain acceptance is to educate others in your organization (especially those who are important decision-makers) about the success of your efforts. Doing so validates the program and enables you to be recognized as a valuable asset to the company.
Look over your inspections from the past six months. Pick out one or two and write up a simple case history about them. Be sure to include both thermal and visual color photographs as well as cost savings information.
Post these inspections to a bulletin board in your plant or have one published in a corporate newsletter. With support of management, consider getting your report printed in a periodical or presented at a professional conference. This will re-enforce the value that your efforts create for the company and help support your infrared inspection program in the long-run.
Tip provided by John Snell
Snell Infrared
http://www.snellinfrared.com
Attend Thermal Solutions...the conference for professional thermographers
October 18, 2007
Preventive Maintenance (PM) Tip
Preventive Maintenance (PM) or Corrective Maintenance (CM)?
Experience has clearly shown that some confusion does exist over just what people mean when they use the term preventive maintenance. One significant factor stems from the evidence that a vast majority of our industrial plants and facilities have been operating for extended periods, years in many cases, in a reactive maintenance mode. That is to say that the maintenance resources have been almost totally committed to responding to unexpected equipment failures. Corrective, not preventive, maintenance is frequently the operational mode of the day, and this tends to blur what is preventive and what is corrective.
In one actual extreme case, a plant developed an entire culture that fostered a feeling of pride in people’s ability to fix things rapidly and under pressure when a forced outage occurred. Plant personnel viewed their actions as preventive in the sense that they were able to “prevent” a long outage because of their highly efficient and effective reactive and corrective actions. What the plant staff did not consciously recognize (or acknowledge) was that they were the highest cost per unit producer among their peers.
Tip provided by Anthony “Mac” Smith, Author, RCM - Gateway to World Class Maintenance, Butterworth-Heinemann, ISBN-10: 075067461X
Learn to develop effective PMs from Mac Smith’s RCM Workshop on DVD
October 18, 2007
Predictive Maintenance (PdM) Tip
Organizing a Successful PdM Program
Predictive maintenance is a systematic method of monitoring and trending rotating equipment on a regularly scheduled basis to determine the condition of machines subject to wear and tear. On-line detection, trending, and diagnostics methods provide an early warning of potential problems and virtually eliminate the need for periodic disassembly and inspection, and the possibility of an unexpected breakdown.
There are twelve essential steps in building a Predictive Maintenance Program. The flow diagram is available by using the link below.
1. Plant survey
2. Machine selection
3. Select optimum condition monitoring techniques
4. Establish predictive maintenance system
5. Set and review acceptable condition data and limits
6. Machine baseline measurements
7. Condition measurement
8. Data collection
9. Data recording
10. Trend analysis of faults detection
11. Condition analysis
12. Fault Correction
Tip Provided by Dennis Shreve
Commtest Inc.
http://www.commtest.com
October 18, 2007
Electric Motor Repair Tip
Take advantage of the motor run witness test as a learning opportunity.
There is nearly zero value in arriving at the motor shop with the expectation of watching the motor turn. When visiting the repair shop always take along a field technician, ideally the tech that first troubleshot the problem. Their time is valuable but if the witness test is done properly the time spent in the repair shop will payoff greatly.
You should develop a standard checklist of items for general review of the motor shop’s repair records; nameplate, fits, measured reading, pictures, etc. Along with the standard list include those items that have been previously inadequately accomplished by the motor shop and those specific items of interest from your repair specifications. Discuss in detail what was found, what was done and recommendations on how this failure could have been avoided or perhaps identified earlier. Always ask the motor shop to discuss one part of the repair process in detail, ideally one process of your choosing. All of this is done prior to entering the shop floor in an office environment so there are no distractions.
All repair shops must recognize they are our partners in achieving improved and continued reliability of the company’s equipment. As a partner we and they are both obligated to share information vital to the objective. Again I retain that the value of witness testing is not watching repaired equipment operate but rather in the provided learning opportunity – take advantage of it.
Reader tip provided by David A Martin, CMRP
Maintenance Coordinator
LOOP LLC
Cut Off, Louisiana
Thank you David - your diamond plate stainless steel Reliabilityweb.com coffee mug is on the way!
October 18, 2007
Maintenance 101 Tip
You have to build a partnership with Operations.
One of the easiest traps to fall into is to create an adversarial relationship with the Operations organization. After all, if they wouldn’t break it, you wouldn’t have to fix it, right? Bet if you asked them, they’d say that if you’d fix it correctly, it wouldn’t break. You spend a lot of time and effort trying to decide who gets the “blame” for an equipment failure, and it usually winds up in your lap. This is a counterproductive situation and one that is guaranteed to cause your maintenance process to be reactive.
Face it; your functions are interdependent. The plant cannot exist without Operations, nor can it exist without Maintenance. Neither function can be successful without the other. A proactive Maintenance function is dependent on operators being the “first line of defense” and taking responsibility for equipment care. It is also dependent on getting necessary downtime for correcting problems discovered on predictive inspections. Your weekly work schedule is worthless if Operations is not involved in its creation because they have to commit to the equipment being available at the appointed time.
A great way to build a partnership is to sit down with your Operations counterpart and have a frank discussion about what each needs from the other in order to be successful. Draft a “partnership agreement” that spells out, in writing, your responsibilities to each other. Commit to it, sign it, and review it periodically to make sure you are both complying with it.
Tip provided by Management Resources Group, Inc.
203.264.0500 x136
http://www.mrginc.net
October 11, 2007
Using RCM and Lifecycle Simulation Workshop at IMC-2007
Dec 4-7, 2007
Daytona Beach Florida
Using RCM and Lifecycle Simulation Workshop
by Mick Drew, CMRP
This innovative Reliability Centered Maintenance approach empowers asset managers and maintenance practitioners with a decision making environment that harnesses traditional RCM methodology and power of computers to simulate decisions and predict outcomes. Learn how easy it is to keep maintenance decisions up to date with the latest work history and failure data. Participants in this workshop will learn how to forecast failure using Weibull analysis, develop zero based budgets, justify budgets, and assess the health of their existing maintenance plans.
Roll your sleeves up for this one because in this workshop you will join others to make decisions and choose the best maintenance tasks to include in your maintenance plan. The instructor will role-play the asset owner and you will need to justify how your decision meets safety, environmental, operations and are cost justified over a full lifecycle.
If you have trouble evaluating the worth of maintenance activities, this workshop will provide valuable insight into the power of combining computer simulation with RCM.
The final session of this workshop will show how many of the pitfalls of implementing classical RCM can be overcome.
Hotel and early bird conference discount available.
Registering 6 or more? Ask About Team Discounts
The only conference with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee or your money back!
Please call toll free (888) 575 1245 to register or…
Find out more about the 22nd International Maintenance Conference
October 11, 2007
Maintenance 101 Tip
Scheduling will enhance your credibility with Operations.
Often, Operations personnel are reluctant to release equipment to Maintenance because they have been “burned” by broken promises in the past. That’s understandable; in a reactive environment, it’s difficult to make accurate estimates for repair duration because you usually don’t know what you’re going to find until you get into the equipment. Nor do you know what parts are going to be needed or whether you have them in stock.
Creating a schedule for all the work you intend to do next week literally forces you to have forethought about the jobs you intend to do, including how long they will take. Even if you’re not formally planning, these estimates will likely average out to +/-30% accuracy when compared to actual performance. Planning, of course, will improve this accuracy and cut the variability in half. (Kister, Timothy C. and Hawkins, Bruce, 2006, Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook - Streamline Your Organization for a Lean Environment, Elsevier, Burlington MA, page 243.)
When you sit down with Operations to create the schedule, two things will likely happen: they will realize that you’re attempting to schedule your necessary work at a time most convenient to them, and they will gain an appreciation for all of the work you have to do in the week. They will no longer make the assumption that your craft technicians are sitting back in the shop, waiting for something to break. The schedule becomes a “contract” between the two parties – Maintenance agrees to have the resources (labor and materials) available to perform the work, and Operations agrees to have the equipment available at the appointed time.
Tip provided by Management Resources Group, Inc.
203.264.0500 x136
http://www.mrginc.net
Standardizing MRO Data Is Foundational to Your Company’s Reliability Program
October 11, 2007
Learn Best Practices For Infrared and Motor Testing
Attend Thermal Solutions, the conference for professional thermographers, motor circuit analysis technicians and reliability leaders, January 21-24, 2008 in Sarasota, Florida.
Learn best practices from a variety of paper presentations, educational short courses and countless networking opportunities while exploring the latest technologies in the conference exhibit hall. 1-800-636-9820.
October 11, 2007
Lubrication Tip
I have a simple lubrication contamination control tip that has been lost due to lack of training in our “Getter done!” world.
It’s common sense really, wipe grease nipples off before and after you grease them.
Obviously, before to ensure you do not inject contamination into the process, and after to reduce the contamination that will accumulate on the grease nipple the the next yahoo that doesn’t wipe it off can inject into the process, or is easier for him to wipe off.
I love your articles, please, keep up the good work.
Reader tip provided by James Morgan
Manufacturing Engineering
Formet Industries Ltd
St. Thomas, Ontario
Canada
Thanks James - glad you like the articles too! Your diamond plate stainless steel coffee mug is on the way.
