December 06, 2007
Infrared Tip
Any wind currents will reduce the surface temperature of an object. This physical cooling of a component might cause you to miss some hot spots during an inspection while completely underestimating the severity of others. Such a situation can happen both outside as well as inside your facility.
Consider purchasing a quality wind meter to get a better understanding of the conditions present during an inspection. Some devices enable a thermographer to also record other environmental data including ambient air temperature for their reports.
Please know that using any wind speed data to “correct” for an apparent temperature reading when air currents are present is not a recommended practice and should be avoided. If you must inspect in windy conditions, be sure to note all problems for a follow-up.
Tip provided by John Snell
Snell Infrared
http://www.snellinfrared.com
Attend Thermal Solutions...the conference for professional thermographers
December 06, 2007
World Class Maintenance Tip
Focus resources for best ROI.
Use a structured and systematic process for deciding where you must spend the vast majority of your proactive resources in order to realize the best ROI. After 20 years of research and applications that address the issue, we are convinced beyond any doubt that the classical RCM process is the correct way to make those decisions.
When properly employed, the RCM process not only identifies where in your plant or facility the bad actor (80/20) systems reside, but also pinpoints exactly where in those systems you must take action to ensure that they behave in a reliable fashion.
Tip provided by Anthony “Mac” Smith, Author, RCM - Gateway to World Class Maintenance, Butterworth-Heinemann, ISBN-10: 075067461X
December 06, 2007
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December 06, 2007
Maintenance 101 Tip
The second law of thermodynamics applies to Maintenance.
The second law of thermodynamics deals with entropy, or the amount of “disorder” in a system (where equilibrium is a state of maximum disorder). Entropy can be reduced in a system by external action. An example of this concept is the common refrigerator. As long as we keep putting energy into the system (in the form of electricity), we can minimize entropy inside and keep it from reaching equilibrium with the surrounding room. Said another way, it takes a constant infusion of energy to minimize disorder.
The same thing is true of Maintenance. The “equilibrium” state of the Maintenance function is one in which disorder reigns – a reactive state. And, like the second law of thermodynamics, it takes a constant infusion of energy – managerial energy – to minimize this disorder. This energy requirement takes on several forms, from a properly functioning work order system, to sound preventive and predictive maintenance programs, to efficient work execution through planning and scheduling, to root cause analysis of those failures that do occur, and so on.
A truly proactive culture requires that the organization do a lot of things right; this is why so few organizations have truly achieved it. And once it is achieved, the organization cannot relax or entropy will raise its ugly head. Proactive maintenance needs the constant infusion of energy, because no matter how good you are, there is always room to improve!
Tip provided by Management Resources Group, Inc.
203.264.0500 x136
http://www.mrginc.net
December 06, 2007
PM Tip Feedback
All of your maintenance tips about PM leave out an important point.
A key reason to do preventive maintenance on equipment (and a selling point to operations) is to ensure product quality.
An effective PM program should also consider the quality of products that are produced on the machine.
Tip feedback provided by Scott Buker
Denso
