If you have been in maintenance or reliability for a period time, there is little doubt that you haven’t heard about the SMRP Body of Knowledge yet. The SMRP body of knowledge is more than just a document that outline of topics related to maintenance & reliability. It is a framework in which the CMRP exam is based on and can be used as a framework to improve your facility’s performance.
The Maintenance & Reliability Series
Short articles on maintenance and reliability engineering subjects.
James Kovacevic is the primary author writing articles for the series.
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Let us know your reaction and thought, plus any questions. Please use the comments section below each article.
Taking Lubrication to The Next Level with Acoustic Lubrication
Using Acoustic Lubrication Techniques to Provide the Right Amount of Grease at The Right Time
Every Thursday a mechanic grabs the grease gun and proceeds perform a lube route. Throughout the route, the mechanic pushes the grease gun onto the zerk and pumps grease into the bearing housing. Below the housing, there is a trail of grease leading to a small pile of old grease. The mechanic proceeds to the next machine and attempts to lubricate a bearing. However, no matter how hard he tries to pump the grease gun, the bearing will not take any grease. After a while, he moves on to the next bearing. This last bearing accepts the grease, but the machine has not run in the past 3 months. Does this lube route sound familiar?
Utilizing Ultrasound in Condition Monitoring
Understanding the various applications of ultrasound
When a maintenance person hears the word ultrasound, they immediately think of air leaks. While ultrasound is good at finding leaks involving compressed gases (air, steam, nitrogen, CO2, etc.), it can do much more. If you look at a typical P-F curve, you will that ultrasound enables organizations to find defects further up the curve, even more so than vibration analysis. How many maintenance staff knows that? Combine the ease of use, cost effective and the early detection ability of ultrasound and any organization has a winning combination to improve their uptime.
To reap the full benefits of using ultrasound in condition monitoring, it is important to understand all of the potential applications for it. [Read more…]
Listening to Assets: Understanding Ultrasound
What Is Ultrasound And How Can It Help With Your Condition Monitoring Program
Imagine being able to listen to assets. I don’t mean the old trick of holding a screwdriver to a bearing housing, but actually being able to hear the rolling elements of a bearing. What about being able to record the audio sample, analyze and trend the information? All of this is now possible with the Ultrasound technology currently available.
Most of us have heard of using Ultrasound to find compressed air leaks, but Ultrasound condition monitoring has so much more to offer and has the ability to detect issues before Vibration Analysis and Thermal Imaging. But before we dive into the various applications of ultrasound, it is important to understand what ultrasound is and how it works.
[Read more…]
Taking Reliability Block Diagrams to the Next Level
Using RBDs to model different systems and circumstances
In the previous post, the basics of a Reliability Block Diagram were covered using simple Series or Parallel paths. In real life, most systems or processes are not that simple and require a different level or type of models, often used in combination with other types.
So in our continued exploration of RBDs, let’s explore a few different models that may be used. [Read more…]
Understanding Reliability Block Diagrams
How To Evaluate The Reliability Of A System Or Process
60% of failures and safety issues can be prevented by ensuring there is a robust equipment design and that Maintenance & Reliability is taken into account during the design phase. Equipment should be designed with the following in mind:
- Designed for Fault Tolerance
- Designed to Fail Safely
- Designed with early warning of the failure to the user
- Designed with a built-in diagnostic system to identify fault location
- Designed to eliminate all or critical failure modes cost effectively, if possible.
The Role of Software In Reliability Engineering
Deciding if Software is Right For Your Program
Let’s face it, the field of reliability engineering is diverse and full of statistics, models and detailed analysis. The detailed calculations, the building of models and analysis, have been performed with great success in the past and currently. The models built through manual calculation have been successful and demonstrated the importance of reliability engineering.
Focus on the Important Issues, Not the Many Issues
Utilizing the Pareto Method to Prioritize Improvement Activities
There is limited time, money or resources in every maintenance department. Sometimes you have 2 of the 3, sometimes just 1. So how do you prioritize the items or issues that will have the biggest impact on your facility? There is a simple, yet vital principle that can be used in your facility to determine which issues to focus on. This principle started in a garden in Italy while studying peas… This principle which started with an observation of peas can have an important impact on your operation.
How to Deliver Sustainable Gains in Maintenance Planning
Utilizing the PDCA Methodology in Work Planning
It is well known that maintenance planning & scheduling can deliver significant improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of the maintenance department. Maintenance planning & scheduling seems simple enough, plan the work and schedule it to be done at the most opportune time. However, why is it that the organization seem to struggle with realizing the benefits of maintenance planning & scheduling? In my experience, I have seen organizations that focus on the scheduling portion of work management, while not fully planning the work. Doc Palmer (an authority on Maintenance Planning & Scheduling) has said that you cannot schedule without proper planning. So how is it that they are scheduling work without knowing what needs to be done and what materials are required?
Insights into Preventive Maintenance Made Simple with Doug Stangier
I recently had the pleasure to interview Doug Stangier, co-author of Preventive Maintenance Made Simple. This is another excellent book in the Made Simple series, published by ReliabilityWeb. During the interview, Doug not only provides insights into his book but also into what world class Preventive Maintenance looks like. Anyone new to maintenance and reliability, or seasoned experts can benefit from this great book. Without further delay, here is the interview with Doug.
Taking a Lean Approach to PM Optimization
How You Have Your PMs Addressing The Right Issues, Make The Effective
In the previous articles, we looked at what type of analysis to use to evaluate the effectiveness of the PMs and if they are cost effective. Once the PMs have been optimized to ensure they are addressing the right failure modes, then they need to be made efficient. Below is an excerpt from a recent article in SMRP’s Solutions Magazine on how to make PM efficient using the lean tools.
Is Your PM Worth Doing? Use a PM Cost Benefit Analysis to Find Out
How To Determine If The PM Activity Being Performed Is Worth Doing
Would you spend $100 every week to prevent a possible issue that will result in a loss of $10? Probably not, so why is that we do that with our maintenance programs every single day? Often, PM and PdM activities are put into place without any thought to the economic impact of the activity. While in theory the PM or PdM activities will prevent or mitigate the consequences of the failure, is implementing one of these activities the right thing to do?
Linking Failure Codes To A Proactive Maintenance Strategy
Using Failure Data to Drive Sustainable Improvements
If you are lucky enough to have good failure data history in your CMMS, you are one of the few. But even if you have the data, can you use it to make a difference to your organization? Obviously, the data can be used to perform certain reliability engineering analyses, but what can those without reliability engineering experience do with the data?
The P-F Curve Revisited
Understanding The Importance of Proper Equipment Installation
There has been much discussion (and often debate) around the P-F curve. The P-F curve illustrates the relationship between the warning signs that are detectable by various technology or methods and the progression of the failure. What is often not discussed and overlooked, is what happens before the equipment starts to deteriorate.
If the ultimate goal of an organization is to be proactive and ensure equipment uptime, wouldn’t the organization want to prevent the equipment from failing in the first place and not catch it after it has already started to fail? [Read more…]
Standardize Your Maintenance and Reliability Program
Utilizing Recognized Standards in Your Maintenance & Reliability Program
Imagine being able to easily share information across sites or even organizations. Or how about utilizing a risk management framework that is recognized and agreed upon by all in the organization. Benchmarking made easy? Standards enable this. [Read more…]