First a little background. Max started his vibration analysis monitoring company back in the late 1970’s. He and his company developed expertise and technologies in condition monitoring over many years. They monitored and reported on a large range and number of machines, and worked for numerous companies. He and his people were the recognised experts in vibration monitoring and control. [Read more…]

by James Reyes-Picknell Leave a Comment

Today’s Gremlin – Sweat the Asset

Today’s Gremlin – “sweat the asset”, truly believes that running the plant and equipment as hard as possible is good for business. He couldn’t be more wrong!

This gremlin wants to produce more in a short time and runs the equipment at or even over its design capacity. In one plant in a big mine I met one of these – a production superintendent who believed he was doing his best when he ran the plant hard and just avoided tripping breakers! Running that hard increases stress on the equipment, often ends up in overloading it, and causes it to fail prematurely.

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by Joe Anderson Leave a Comment

The Necessity of Business Acumen in Maintenance

Maintenance professionals have long been regarded as the unsung heroes of organizational operations, ensuring machines run smoothly and assets remain productive. Yet, in today’s competitive business environment, the role of maintenance has expanded beyond just fixing what’s broken. To truly drive organizational success, maintenance leaders and teams must possess a strong sense of business acumen. This blend of operational expertise and strategic understanding allows them to align their efforts with overarching business goals, transforming maintenance from a cost center into a value-creating powerhouse.

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by Nancy Regan Leave a Comment

How to Assign Preventive Maintenance Task Intervals & Failure Consequences

RCM Case Study Part 3/4

Welcome to Part 3 of our in-depth RCM mini-series! In today’s video, we continue our dentist-inspired case study by exploring Failure Consequences and diving deep into the world of Preventive Maintenance. This session is packed with practical insights that reveal how to properly establish Preventive Maintenance tasks and their intervals.

What You’ll Learn:

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by André-Michel Ferrari 1 Comment

Reliability Software – Avoiding White Elephants

Introduction

Software packages and algorithms help speed up calculations in Reliability Engineering Analysis. And obviously in other specialties. They are known as Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Software. Preprogrammed formulas can be readily applied by the analyst to provide modeling results. Additionally, graphics and other informative visual representations can be obtained at a mouse click. This helps showcase issues in an operating environment. And lead to relevant action to address those issues. Our human brain has cognitive limitations when analyzing highly complex systems such as Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) Models. Software helps to overcome those limitations.

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by Mike Sondalini Leave a Comment

Changing an EAM System for Operational Excellence Success

Any standard EAM system can be adapted to achieve Operational Excellence with the PWW EAM methodology.

Rather than going from policy to practice, Plant Wellness Way starts with how to create a healthy environment for parts microstructure when equipment is in-service. By focusing on creating healthy operating environments for components, machines, equipment, and plants, your operation will perform at world-class levels of reliability.

The standard range of Enterprise Asset Management models available will typically use an EAM Policy to decree the purposes of the EAM system. From this statement processes and practices necessary to achieve the EAM Policy aims are chosen. People will then aim to meet the policy requirements for their team or department without taking the flow on consequences into account. As a result, businesses will unintentionally create an EAM system that instils randomness and variability into the company. In this situation is it nearly impossible to create a system that achieves operational excellence success.

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by Nancy Regan Leave a Comment

Let’s get into Failure Modes and Failure Effects

RCM Case Study Part 2/4

In today’s video, we dive deep into the critical steps of Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) by exploring Failure Modes and Failure Effects as part of our ongoing dentist-themed mini RCM case study. This is Part 2 of a four-part series designed to help you understand and apply RCM principles through relatable, real-world examples. What You’ll Learn:

Failure Modes: Discover why detailed Failure Modes are essential and how they guide us to the right proactive maintenance and default strategies.
Failure Effects: Learn how to write comprehensive Failure Effects that depict the worst-case scenarios if no action is taken to manage the Failure Mode.

Case Study Highlight: We’ll look at the specific Failure Mode of bacteria accumulation that leads to cavities and track the progression from the earliest signs of decay to severe health consequences if left untreated. This detailed look will help you see why writing Failure Effects is crucial for assessing failure consequences

Key Takeaways: How to identify and write precise Failure Modes that lead to effective maintenance strategies. The importance of documenting Failure Effects to understand the full impact of asset failures.

This is a must-watch for anyone looking to refine their RCM skills and apply them practically. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for Part 3, where we’ll explore Failure Consequences and Preventive Maintenance!

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by Mike Sondalini Leave a Comment

Useful Key Performance Indicators for Maintenance

A useful Maintenance Key Performance Indicator (KPI) drives reliability growth while guiding your choices for improving maintenance effectiveness and efficiency. A useful maintenance KPI lets you identify the issues causing your maintenance effects and helps you select the right strategy to either support or correct the actions producing the results. It is important that when you select a range of maintenance KPI you pick those that let you improve both equipment reliability and maintenance performance and not simply tell you that you have problems in your business.

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by James Reyes-Picknell Leave a Comment

Today’s Gremlin – Follow me blindly

Today’s Gremlin – “follow me blindly”, is one of the big reasons your equipment isn’t reliable. Manufacturers tell you what maintenance to perform and how to do it, then insist you follow their guidance by voiding warranties if you don’t. Those recommendations are full of inspections and replacements if you find any flaw – even normal wear and tear! They ask you to overhaul equipment, replacing all sorts of parts that you must buy from them. If you are in the parts business, as your manufacturers are, you can make a real killing! So, if I’m a manufacturer of industrial equipment, you must follow me blindly.

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by George Williams Leave a Comment

Business Acumen: Driving Success in Maintenance and Reliability

In this video, we delve into the importance of business acumen for leaders at all levels. Business acumen is the ability to understand how an organization adds value, whether through its industry, structure, or processes. It’s crucial for setting direction and making informed decisions.

Learn how business acumen helps leaders articulate the nuances of their organization, navigate political and economic landscapes, and drive value in maintenance, operations, sanitation, and security. Discover how understanding your organization’s operations can lead to better business decisions and support across all levels.

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by Nancy Regan Leave a Comment

Dive into the Operating Context and Functions

RCM Case Study Part 1/4

Mini RCM Case Study: Creating a Reliability Strategy from My Trip to the Dentist

Welcome to Part 1 of our four-part mini-series, where we’ll create an RCM case study inspired by a relatable scenario: a trip to the dentist! In this series, you’ll learn the fundamentals of Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) and apply them in a practical, engaging way.

In this video, we’ll cover:

1. Operating Context – Learn what it is, why it’s important, and how to draft it.

2. Functions – Discover how to define the reliability you need from your equipment by writing specific and measurable functions.

Meet Johnny Chomper—a 30-year-old professional whose teeth need to perform well to support his lifestyle. From biting and chewing to maintaining a confident smile, Johnny’s teeth are put to the test daily. We’ll draft his operating context and write a Primary Function that clearly defines the reliability required from his teeth. What You’ll Learn:

How to set the stage for an RCM analysis with a detailed operating context.
The importance of defining functions to establish reliability goals for your assets.
Step-by-step guidance on how to write a function that captures the desired reliability.

Stay tuned as we build this case study step-by-step, bringing RCM concepts to life in a way that’s easy to understand and apply. Don’t miss the next video, where we’ll dive into Failure Modes and Failure Effects!

[Read more…]

by Mike Sondalini Leave a Comment

ACE 3T Procedure Plummer Block Example

An example of an Accuracy Controlled Enterprise ACE 3T (Target – Tolerance – Test) Procedure with reliability standards to install taper spherical roller bearings on adaptor sleeves in Plummer blocks with taconite seals for 30mm-250mm diameter conveyor shafts

Machine performance is totally dependent on human beings. To address the problem of human error causing equipment failure, an Accuracy Controlled Enterprise sets best practice quality standards and uses 3T Target-Tolerance-Test work task quality control that assures high quality workmanship for high reliability results. Their work procedures are standardised so everyone follows the same methods to produce the same results, their training teaches people how to do craftsmanship work that creates outstandingly reliable plant and machinery. They create the reliability they want and as a result achieve operational excellence.

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by Nancy Regan Leave a Comment

How to Set CBM Task Intervals

Understanding the P-F Interval

How do you determine the right interval for a Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) task? It all comes down to the P-F Interval—the time between when a Potential Failure Condition is detectable to when the failure occurs.

In this video, I break down how to set CBM task intervals correctly using a simple example. The Failure Mode is: “Filter clogs due to normal use.” I’ll explain that CBM task intervals aren’t based on Criticality, MTBF, or the Useful Life, but instead on how quickly failure occurs once a Potential Failure Condition is detectable.

Learn how to properly identify and set your CBM task intervals to keep your equipment running reliably

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by André-Michel Ferrari Leave a Comment

Evaluating Equipment Repair Effectiveness

Introduction

How effective are the repair tasks you conduct on your equipment?

This article looks at quantifying the effectiveness of corrective maintenance, typically an unplanned repair on an asset. Unplanned repairs are undesirable because the asset loses its function and cannot produce what is required often leading to loss of revenue. Yet, this advent is inevitable because assets are subject to degradation over time.

The effectiveness of a repair relates to the condition in which the asset is restored to after a repair. But also how long it will operate until the next repair, Evaluating the effectiveness of the repair will provide the asset operator with a decision making tool. Can we do something different if the repair effectiveness is unsatisfactory? Or do we have to replace the asset as it is failing too frequently?

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by James Reyes-Picknell Leave a Comment

Today’s Gremlin – Lube it wrong

Today’s Gremlin – “lube it wrong”, is a leading cause of machinery breakdown. 60% to 80% of all bearing failures are due to lubrication related problems. Wrong lube, too much lube, too little lube, contaminated lube, degraded lube, overheated lube and even poor lube selection can all lead to premature failures of bearings. Put a tiny bit of dirt into a hydraulic system and watch it fail quickly.

[Read more…]