Solve. Achieve. Sustain.
Understanding the Importance of Machine Bases
How to ensure your assets are on a solid foundation
Installing an asset is a critical step that can impact reliability short term and long term. Often times assets are installed without much thought. They are thrown on the machine base, anchors drilled and away the operation goes.
But while focusing on the Installation – Potential Failure – Failure curve, it becomes obvious that time and precision during the installation point can greatly extend the life of the […]
Using Reliability Analysis to Determine Spares Stocking
How to use an FMECA or RCM Analysis to Determine What Spares to Stock
Determining which parts of stock can be a very overwhelming process. As such, many choose to blindly accept the OEM or Manufacturer’s recommendations. And why shouldn’t they? The OEM has many years of experience in building these types of assets and supplying spares, right?
One of the common issues with following the OEM recommended spare part lists, is that there are often there are parts that may not be used, […]
Using Failure Mode Effects Criticality Analysis as a Reliability Tool
How to use FMECA to drive reliability improvements in your organization
An important part of the Reliability Centered Maintenance process, or used as a standalone approach for less critical assets; the Failure Mode Effect Criticality Analysis is vital reliability tool. However, a large percentage of organizations do not take advantage of the tool during the design phase of the asset, or to develop the maintenance strategy once the asset is installed.
Why this tool is not used often, I […]
Learning to Crawl, Before You Can Walk and Run
Some Insights into the Current Status of Maintenance & Reliability Fundamentals
Let’s face it, we as engineers, maintenance staff, etc. all love technology and the newest gadget. Our industry is never short of these new and shiny techniques, tools, sensors, etc. Now, this new tech can lead to significant improvements in availability, OEE, or uptime. But these are not the silver bullets many claim them to be… especially if the foundational elements are not in place.
I had […]
Who Owns the Storeroom? Maintenance or Procurement?
Understanding who owns the storeroom processes and stocking strategy
There are two different perspectives on the maintenance storeroom. These perspectives are on who owns the operation of the storeroom. Some believe that Maintenance owns the storeroom and the operation of it. Others believe it is Procurement, or potentially Logistics or Warehousing. Some organizations require the storerooms to be operated by a consistent group, while others leave it up to the site.
Regardless […]
Striking the Right Balance of Costs
How to Balance the Cost of Maintenance
There is not a single maintenance department that I am aware of that has an unlimited budget. If you are aware of one, please let me know as I would love to see if it is successful or not.
Since most of us do not have an unlimited maintenance budget, we need to be smart about how we spend our maintenance money. Therefore there needs to be a balance and well […]
What is In and Out in 2018: The Maintenance and Reliability Edition
Out In
ISO 55000 No Standard*
Finance driven spare parts* Maintenance driven spare parts management
Price based spares Risk-based spares
Managing KPIs […]
Learn to Speak Finance
The Key To Gaining The Ear Of Your Executives
As a maintenance professional, you spend a lot of time explaining how a proper maintenance & reliability program will improve uptime, safety, etc. But why is it that there is a hard time gaining support for the improvement initiatives? Well, senior executives are focused on how the company is being a measure of performance from the shareholders, financial analysts, or owners. Most of these measures are financial in nature, and while there are others, the primary measures are financial.
So with the senior executives focused […]
The Importance of Documentation in Precision Maintenance
Why Proper Documentation Will Lead to Sustainable Improvements
Imagine being able to look back and see what settings the equipment was last ran at for a particular SKU. Or being able to look back at the last three alignment inspections and see that slowly the alignment is drifting. What could you do with this type of information? You could perform Root Cause Analysis to see why the alignment is drifting, or trend the drifting to know when it will be out of acceptable tolerances.
Having the right information is critical to making informed decisions […]
What is Precision Maintenance?
Precision Maintenance May Be The Key To Unlocking Reliability
Why is it that some individuals perform a PM Routine and always find something and others don’t? And why is that when some individuals perform a rebuild or overhaul, the equipment struggles to start and return to steady state? The answer comes down to how detailed the individuals are during the maintenance activity. But how can this be overcome with such a wide range of individuals in the maintenance team? The answer is precision maintenance