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on Maintenance Reliability

A listing in reverse chronological order of these article series:


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Root Cause Analysis: The Key To Breaking The Reactive Cycle

Root Cause Analysis: The Key To Breaking The Reactive Cycle

Addressing The Root Cause Of Failures Will Unlock The Potential Of The Business

You walk into the plant on Monday morning.  You are immediately confront by the production manager stating “Press 201 is down.  The mechanics are saying it is the clutch again.”  You feel an overwhelming sense disbelief.  You ran overtime last weekend and replaced clutch at a cost of $30,000.   How is it the clutch is failing again?

This scenario may sound familiar.  It happens all the time, across many different industries and plants.  So what exactly happened?  The root cause was not properly diagnosed, and the clutch was replaced.   Based on the short life of the new clutch, the root cause was likely something else that is affecting the clutch. [Read more…]

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Stress in Metals

Stress in Metals

What readers will learn in this article.

  • Explanation of stress and strain.
  • How metals yield and deform under stress.
  • What happens at the molecular level in metals under stress.
  • Methods to minimise stress concentrations.

Too much stress in metal will cause it to fail. Failure can occur by putting the metal under a once-only load greater than it can take or by continually loading the metal cyclically with a high load less than the breaking load (metal fatigue). [Read more…]

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Guarantee Your Performance with Basic Care

When you hear the term basic care, what comes to mind?

I remember hearing a story of a brand new packaging line that was installed.  It operated at high OEE, delivering significant improvements over the old line.  Within 6 weeks, the line was running worse than the original one.   Finger pointing ensued, the OEM saying it was how it was maintained.  With the manufacturer saying it was a poor design.

A few weeks later, a prominent government official was scheduled to visit the site to officially open the new line.   The site was shut down and all the equipment was thoroughly cleaned.  The line started up and ran just as well as it did when it was first installed.  This story highlights the importance of having clean equipment, and the impact it can have on an operation.  This is where Basic Care comes in. [Read more…]

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Why Do You Need Reliability Centered Maintenance?

Why Do You Need Reliability Centered Maintenance?

I had a conference call this morning with some potential clients in regard to rolling out a RCM Blitz™ effort. The sad thing about Reliability Centered Maintenance is the reputation the tool has acquired over the last 40 years has one of two faces.

The sad, tragic and more popular face is that if the Resource Consuming Monster. The reputation that RCM is too detailed, that it takes too long, and that by the time you finish your analysis there are no recourses and there is no money left for implementation. According to a survey conducted on ReliabilityWeb.com nearly 70% of all RCM implementations fail, with statistics like this, it is a wonder the tool still exists. [Read more…]

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Unlock the Efficiency of Your Planner with a Single Step: BOMs

How Bill of Materials (BOMs) Can Exponentially Increase the Efficiency of Your Maintenance Planner

BOMs - Siemens PLM
Image by Siemens PLM Software

Imagine a world where the Maintenance Planner can quickly and easier find all the material information for each job. Even those that do not yet have a job plan. Dreams or reality? Reality. This reality is found within operations all over the world and you can have it too. How can you achieve a level of efficiency with your Planner and have all materials information readily available? With Bills of Material.

A Bill of Material or BOM as it is commonly referred to, is a list of material needed to support the operations and maintenance of an asset or component. It includes a part description, part number and how many are required on a specific component or assembly. It may also include a reference number that refers to a sub assembly drawing. [Read more…]

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Dealing With a Bully Boss!

Dealing With a Bully Boss!

The following article came about from an on-line conversation I had with a follower who responded to an article I had written on the differences between Leaders and Managers.  Her hope was that someday soon someone in a leadership position at her company would recognize the harm her boss was causing and how miserable he had made the lives of those who worked for him. 

So as promised here is my take on working for a bully boss!
If you’re lucky you only work for one in your lifetime. [Read more…]

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5 Reasons Why You Need to Be Using Procedure Based Maintenance

5 Reasons Why You Need to Be Using Procedure Based Maintenance

Using Procedure Based Maintenance to Improve the Performance of Your Operation

Imagine an operation in which there are no lost time accidents, OEE is increasing and there is a plan to address the skills shortage. These sites do exist and chances are they using procedure based maintenance. Procedure Based Maintenance is simply having all maintenance activities documented in a procedure. These procedures are then followed step by step when conducting breakdown, corrective and preventative maintenance. [Read more…]

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Shaft Coupling Selection Issues

Shaft Coupling Selection Issues

What readers will learn in this article.

  • The purpose of shaft couplings and how they work.
  • What to consider when selecting shaft couplings.
  • Maintenance issues with using couplings.

Couplings are used between shafts to connect them so power can be transmitted and to allow for axial expansion. Shafts can either be aligned or intentionally inclined at an angle to each other. When at an angle a universal joint is used to connect the shafts. When aligned a shaft coupling is fitted.  [Read more…]

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The Dangers of RCM Shortcuts!

The Dangers of RCM Shortcuts!

When people first begin to learn about Reliability Centered Maintenance and methodologies like RCM Blitz, they get excited about the potential results that can come from performing a RCM analysis and implementing the resulting tasks. Shortly after completing their RCM Training some begin to understand that good RCM takes leadership, structure and discipline, others begin to think of ways to shortcut the process. [Read more…]

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Fast Track RCM: Improving Plant Performance & Profitability

Fast Track RCM: Improving Plant Performance & Profitability

A Proven Framework to Improve Performance and Build Ownership of the Equipment

Understanding the how equipment failures along with utilizing a proven and effective approach to developing an equipment strategy is a winning combination for manufacturers everywhere. When combing the knowledge and the system, manufacturers can yield significant improvements in their operation, such as a reduction in PM workload of 22% with gain 4% in line efficiencies. Or how about a reduction of 42% of PMs, without a single loss in equipment availability. It is possible and required for manufacturers to become and remain profitable. [Read more…]

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Shaft Alignment on Pumps

Shaft Alignment on Pumps

Shaft alignment on pumps. Shaft misalignment is one of the most common reasons for bearing and mechanical seal failures. Rotating misaligned shafts produce vibration and complex fluctuating radial and axial loads that lead to breakdowns. Shaft alignment is a precision maintenance requirement that requires exacting care and detail and if not performed will cause much production down time.

Keywords: axial alignment, laser alignment, dial indicator, soft foot, shaft coupling. [Read more…]

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The 6 Things Every Maintenance & Reliability Program Needs To Achieve Sustained Results

insanityquoteI want my customers to be successful, every one of them. Yet there are times I can see the writing on the wall and I know as hard as I might try to show them a clear path to what it takes to be successful they have their own plan. Some of them are so complex that people become confused just trying to make sense of them, and others get so hung up in the minutiae of even the simplest of steps like listing a 3 part failure mode they will word-smith themselves to a point where folks just give up. I find myself asking “why do people have to make what is really so simple into something that appears to be complex?” [Read more…]