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The Maintenance & Reliability Series

Short articles on maintenance and reliability engineering subjects.

James Kovacevic is the primary author writing articles for the series.

Never miss an article by signing up for the Maintenance & Reliability Series list to the right. Receive an update weekly highlighting the lastest article.

Let us know your reaction and thought, plus any questions. Please use the comments section below each article.

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

Establishing Fixed Time Maintenance Intervals

How to Select The Optimum Fixed Time Maintenance Intervals

Think about your maintenance program. How often are your PMs scheduled?  How were those frequencies established?   If you are in the majority, the chances are that the frequencies were either established from the OEM manual, or by someone in the department without data.

Establishing the correct frequency of maintenance activities is critical to the success of any maintenance program.   Too infrequently and the organization is subjected to failures, resulting in poor operational performance.  Too frequently, and the organization is subjected to excess planned downtime and an increased probability of maintenance induced failures.  So how do you establish the correct maintenance frequencies for your organization?   There are three different approached to use, based on the type of maintenance being performed;

  • Time-Based Maintenance
  • On-Condition Maintenance
  • Failure Finding Maintenance

This article will focus on Time Based Maintenance Tasks.

Time-Based Maintenance Tasks

“The frequency of a scheduled task is governed by the age at which the item of or component shows a rapid increase in the conditional probability of failure” (RCM2).  When establishing frequencies for Time Based Maintenance, it is required that the life be identified for the component based on data.

With time-based failures, a safe life and useful life exists.  The safe life is when no failures occur before that date or time.  Unless the failure consequence is environmental, or safety related, the safe life would not normally be used.   The useful life (economic life limit), is when the cost of consequences of a failure starts to exceed the cost of the time-based maintenance activity.   There is a trade-off at this point between the potential lost production and the cost of planned downtime, labour, and materials.

So how is the safe life or useful life established?  It is established using failure data and history.  This history can be reviewed using a Weibull Analysis, Mean Cumulative Failure Analysis or even a Crow-AMSAA Analysis to statistically determine the life of the component.   Once that life is determined using a statistical analysis, the optimum cost effective frequency must be established.

Establishing the Optimum Economic Frequency

This formula is used to establish the economic life of the component, balancing the cost of the downtime vs. the cost of the replacement.

 

 

Where;

  • CT= The total cost per unit of time
  • Cf= The cost of a failure
  • CP= The cost of the PM
  • T = The time between PM activities

The formula will provide the total cost based on the maintenance frequency. Since the calculation can be time-consuming, Dodson developed a table which can be used if;

  • The time to fail follows a Weibull Distribution
  • PM is performed on an item at time T, at the cost of CP
  • If the item fails before time = T, a failure cost of Cf is incurred
  • Each time a PM is performed, the item is returned to its initial state “as good as new”

Therefore when using the table, use formula; T=mѲ+δ.  Where;

  • m is a function of the ratio of the failure cost to PM cost and the value of the shape
  • Ѳ is the scale parameter of the Weibull distribution
  • δ is the location parameter of the Weibull distribution

In the example below, you can see how the table can be used with the formula;

The cost for a PM activity $60.  The cost of a failure for the same item is $1800.  Given the Weibull parameter of B=3.0, O=120 days, and δ =3 how often should the PM be performed?

  • Cf/ CP = x
  • 1800/60 = 30

The table value of m given a shape parameter B of 3.0 is 0.258.  Therefore;

  • T=mѲ+δ
  • T = (0.258)(120)+3 = 33.96
  • T = 34 days for each PM

As you can see, determining the frequency of Fixed Time Maintenance tasks is not as simple as picking a number out of a manual or based on intuition.  Armed with this information, a cost effective PM frequency based on data can be developed for your Fixed Time Maintenance tasks.   This will ensure the right maintenance is done at the right time, driving your plant performance further.

Does you Fixed Time Maintenance Tasks have this level of rigor behind them?  Why, not?  After all, your plant performance (operational and financial) depends on it.   Stay tuned for next week’s post on establishing frequencies for On-Condition tasks.

Remember, to find success; you must first solve the problem, then achieve the implementation of the solution, and finally sustain winning results.

I’m James Kovacevic
Eruditio, LLC
Where Education Meets Application
Follow @EruditioLLC

References;

  • RCM2 by John Moubray
  • CRE Primer – Quality Council of Indiana

 

Filed Under: Maintenance and Reliability

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

Living With The 6 Failure Patterns

How To Manage Each Failure Pattern With An Effective Maintenance Strategy

Most maintenance and reliability professionals have seen the six failure patterns (or failure hazard plots), described by Nowlan and Heap.  In case you are unfamiliar with them, you can learn more about them in a previous article on them.   Here is a quick summary to jog the memory, just in case.

  • A. Bathtub Curve – accounts for approximately 4% of failures
  • B. Wear Out – accounts for approximately 2% of failures
  • C. Fatigue – accounts for approximately 5% of failures
  • D. Initial Break-In – accounts for approximately 7% of failures
  • E. Random – accounts for appoximately 14% of failures
  • F. Infant Mortality – accounts for approximately 68% of failures

From the above, you can see that the majority of failures experenced are not directly related to age, but are the result of random or induced failures.   So how does this help when establishing a maintenance program?   First, we must understand what the patterns tell us.

What Types of Failure Modes Do The Failure Patterns Relate to?

Looking at the different failure patterns, we can group the types of failures into three unique groups;

  • Age-Related failures – The term “life” is used to describe the point at which there is a rapid increase in the likelihood of failure.     This is the point on the failure pattern before it curves up.  Typically these types of failures can be contributed to wear, erosion, or corrosion and involve simple components that are in contact with the product.
  • Random failures  – The term “life” cannot be used to describe the point of rapid increase in the likelihood of failure, as there is no specific point.  These are the flat parts of the failure curve.  These types of failures occur due to some introduced defect
  • Infant Mortality – The term “life” cannot be used here either.  Instead, there is a distinct point at which the likelihood of failure drops dramatically and transitions to a random level.

Understanding these unique differences, an effective maintenance strategy can be developed.

What Maintenance Needs to Be Done for Each Failure Pattern?

The maintenance activity selected has to be right for the specific failure pattern.   When looking at the failure patterns, there are three unique types of activities that can be put in place to address all points in the failure curve.

  • Age-Related – These types of failures can be addressed through fixed time maintenance.  Fixed time maintenance includes replacements, overhauls, and basic cleaning and lubrication.  While cleaning and lubrication will not prevent the wear out or corrosion, it can extend the “life” of the equipment.
  • Random – These types of failures need to be detected, as they are not predictable, or based on a defined “life.”   The equipment must be monitored for specific indicators.  These indicators may be changes in vibration, temperature, flow rates, etc.   These types of failures must be monitored using Predictive or Condition monitoring equipment.    Cleaning and basic lubrication can prevent the defects from occurring in the first place if done properly.
  • Infant Mortality – These types of failures cannot necessarily be addressed through fixed time, predictive or condition-based maintenance programs.  Instead, the failures must be prevented through proper design & installation, repeatable work procedures, proper specifications and quality assurance of parts.

Only when a maintenance program encompasses all of the above activities, can plant performance improve.

Determining the Right Frequency of Maintenance Activities for Each Failure Pattern

So with all of the activities taking place, how is it possible to know when each fixed time activity or condition monitoring inspection take place?   The approach to determining the frequency of activities for fixed time and condition monitoring inspections are different.  However, before the approaches are discussed, it should be noted that MTBF should NOT be used to determine the approach… EVER (sorry, the rant is over).

  • Fixed Time Maintenance – The frequency for fixed time maintenance activities should be determined using a Weibull analysis.   Also, there may be regulatory requirements which specify the frequency of these activities. This will provide an ideal frequency to perform these types of activities
  • Condition Monitoring – The frequency for condition monitoring activities should be determined by using the P-F Curve and P-F Interval.   This approach requires an understanding of the ability of monitoring technology, the defect being monitored, degradation rates, and the ability of the organization to react to the information gathered during the monitoring program.   This will be furthered discussed in next weeks post.

I hope this has provided some clarity around how you should be using the six failure patterns in your maintenance strategy.   Do you have specific activities in your program to address age-related, random and infant mortality failures?  If you only have fixed time maintenance activities in your program, what are leaving on the table?

Remember, to find success; you must first solve the problem, then achieve the implementation of the solution, and finally sustain winning results.

I’m James Kovacevic
Eruditio, LLC
Where Education Meets Application
Follow @EruditioLLC

References;

  • RCM2
  • Understanding the 6 Failure Patterns
  • Weibull Analysis
  • www.NoMTBF.com

 

Filed Under: Maintenance and Reliability

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

The Importance of a Learning Culture

Ensuring Performance and Long Term Sustainability of Your Maintenance & Reliability Program

Imagine working in an organization that does not provide training or has zero tolerance to taking a risk, trying something new and failing.   Or it is expected that you have all of the answers and do not need any assistance ever.   Sound familiar?  If it does, how is the performance of your plant?   Chances are it is not as good as it could be.   This example is great at illustrating what a learning culture does not look like.

“A learning culture is a set of organizational values, conventions, processes, and practices that encourage individuals—and the organization as a whole—to increase knowledge, competence, and performance.”   A learning culture is vital to the long-term sustainability of any maintenance & reliability program and improving plant performance.

If you don’t have an organization that believes in training, or risk taking or learning from failure, what do you do?  You can take steps to build a learning culture.  The first step is to recognize the concern.  The concern could be around cost, past returns on training, or experience that says the employee will leave after receiving the training.  Whichever it is, it must be addressed.

Also, any organization can start to develop a learning culture by doing the following;

  • Formalize training and development plans for each individual.   These plans should include all mandatory training as well as specific training that will allow each person to grow in their current and future positions
  • Give recognition to learning by promoting and celebrating those that learn new skills and gain new knowledge.  As recognition is given to those with new skills, other will want to participate.
  • Get feedback on the type, quality, and applicability of the training.  This will ensure that relevant and effective training is being provided.
  • Promote from within.  This creates a willingness and desire to learn as the staff knows they have an opportunity to grow within the organization.
  • Develop a knowledge management process.  It should be a formal process with participation required by all.

I recently had the opportunity to work with two great organizations.  Both organizations had recognized the need for assistance.  They were looking to make improvements in areas in which they had no experience, but they had a willingness to learn.  They did not want a “turn key” solution but instead wanted to build the capability of their internal team, let them develop the solution and implement the solution.

There was and will be some follow-up support, but here are two organizations that are not only investing in their people with training but allowing them to take the risk, learn and grow.  Talk about ownership; these were some of the most passionate people that I have had the pleasure to work with.  It is always a pleasure to work with organizations such as this, and I am truly enjoying watching the team come together and grow.

People are the heart of any improvement, so make sure you invest in them and create a learning culture.   In closing, I ask you to think about the following, “What if we train the staff and leave?”, but the better question is “What if we don’t train them and they stay?”

Remember, to find success; you must first solve the problem, then achieve the implementation of the solution, and finally sustain winning results.

I’m James Kovacevic
Eruditio, LLC
Where Education Meets Application
Follow @EruditioLLC

References

  • www.oracle.com/us/chro-docs/june-2013-chro-deck4-1961622.pdf
  • https://www.trainingindustry.com/workforce-development/articles/creating-a-learning-culture-for-the-improvement-of-your-organization.aspx

Filed Under: Maintenance and Reliability

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

Top 10 Reasons Your Planning & Scheduling Program Is Failing

How to see if your Planning & Scheduling program is failing to return value to the organization

Maintenance Planning & Scheduling is one of the most important processes in the maintenance function.  Without it, work will not be completed on time, nor will it be efficient.   So why, is the maintenance planning & scheduling process often ignored, or not implemented successfully?

I feel that it is not implemented successfully for a few reasons.  The first is the assumption that everyone can plan and you can rely exclusively on the skill of the trade performing the work.  All mechanics know how to inspect a v-belt right?

The second and probably the largest reason planning & scheduling is not successful is that many people believe they know what best practice is and that it is simple.   While the concepts may be simple, implementing them is another story.  As a result of this improper implementation, I have listed out the top reasons your maintenance planning & scheduling process is failing.   Failure is part of the learning process, so if you are experiencing any of the issues below, do not worry.  Use them as a learning opportunity;

    1. Your planner is assisting with emergency work.  Planners need to be focused on future work, and if they are chasing parts or supporting breakdowns, how are they suppose to plan work for the rest of the technicians?
    2. Your planner(s) have never been formally trained in planning & scheduling techniques.  Imagine never being trained in your job?  How do they know what is expected of them?
    3. When you ask a planner to see their job plan library, you get a blank stare.  The key to sustainable maintenance planning is to utilize feedback and build a robust job plan library.  This reduces the amount of time required to plan work, as well as move to Procedure Based Maintenance.
    4. Your planner(s) can routinely be found “wrenching.”  If your planners are wrenching… enough said.
    5. The work order backlog has work orders dating back ten years.  How do you manage work and priorities with ten years of backlog?  Take some time and clean up the black hole of maintenance, the backlog.
    6. Your job plans consist of “replace a pump” or “inspect for damage.”  Every technician will perform a job differently and to a different standard.  Have a repeatable procedure to ensure accuracy and consistency in the work.
    7. Closed work orders have no time or feedback on them.  So were the work orders completed or just closed?  Feedback is critical to building a job plan library and to cost the work properly.
    8. The kitting area looks like a war zone.  Kitting is all about improving the efficiency of the technicians.  If it is unorganized, chances are so is the communication between the storeroom and your planning team.
    9. The maintenance schedule does not “see” past two days.  I do not mean specific work orders assigned to specific individuals, but you should have a coordinated plan with operations with a list of work orders that will be completed this week and next.
    10. There are no performance measures readily available for planning & scheduling.  You cannot manage what you cannot control.  You can’t control what you can’t measure.  If you do not have performance measures in place, how do you know how well your planning & scheduling process is performing.

If you have any other top reasons that you have experienced or seen in a failing maintenance planning & scheduling process,  please send to info@eruditio.com or leave a comment below.

If you see any of these issues in your planning & scheduling process, stop, and think about what must done to make an improvement.  Failing is ok if you learn from it and improve.  I know I have failed a few times…

Remember, to find success; you must first solve the problem, then achieve the implementation of the solution, and finally sustain winning results.

I’m James Kovacevic
Eruditio, LLC
Where Education Meets Application
Follow @EruditioLLC

References;

  • A Smarter Way of Preventative Maintenance – Free eBook
  • Maintenance Planning & Scheduling: Planning for Profitability Video Course

Filed Under: Maintenance and Reliability

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

The Moving Target of Excellence

Why the End of the Maintenance & Reliability Journey Is Never Over

dartboard target aim goal achievement concept

I am often asked, what is the benchmark for a particular KPI.  At first, I would quickly answer the target from the SMRP Best Practices Guide.   Depending on the organization and the maturity, I would either see their faces light up or see them shut down.   If they shut down, what momentum was present, quickly vanished.  If they were meeting the target (and the KPI and supporting data checked out), the momentum would fade a bit, as they were hitting the target.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Maintenance and Reliability, on Maintenance Reliability

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

Operating at Peak Inherent Capability

Why You Cannot Operate Above the Inherent Capability Sustainably

I recently had the opportunity to teach a Body of Knowledge course, which was full of great questions from the students. One of the questions was about inherent vs. actual availability. This had me thinking about the choice that organizations make on how they choose to run their business and more importantly, their resources.

There are many times when a resource is operated at Peak Inherent capability, with the intention of getting the most out of the resource. while this is a good practice, many organizations try to operate the resource at greater than the inherent capability of the resource. So, what does this do to the resource? Well, it could mean short-term financial gains, achieving the schedule, or if done for a sustained period of time, it could be detrimental to the resource.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Maintenance and Reliability, on Maintenance Reliability

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

Understanding the SMRP Body of Knowledge

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.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Maintenance and Reliability, on Maintenance Reliability

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

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?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Maintenance and Reliability, on Maintenance Reliability Tagged With: lubrication

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

Utilizing Ultrasound in Condition Monitoring

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…]

Filed Under: Articles, Maintenance and Reliability, on Maintenance Reliability

by James Kovacevic 1 Comment

Listening to Assets: Understanding Ultrasound

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…]

Filed Under: Articles, Maintenance and Reliability, on Maintenance Reliability

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

Taking Reliability Block Diagrams to the Next Level

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…]

Filed Under: Articles, Maintenance and Reliability, on Maintenance Reliability

by James Kovacevic 1 Comment

Understanding Reliability Block Diagrams

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.

[Read more…]

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by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

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.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Maintenance and Reliability, on Maintenance Reliability Tagged With: reliability engineering

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

Focus on the Important Issues, Not the Many Issues

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.

[Read more…]

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by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

How to Deliver Sustainable Gains in Maintenance Planning

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?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Articles, Maintenance and Reliability, on Maintenance Reliability

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