Much Ado About Infant Mortality

I have recently been diving into work orders and using Weibull analysis to determine optimal replacement times.  During one of the analyses, we discovered a significant infant mortality problem where the equipment was failing under 1 year of operation.  I’m not stopping there.

A common misconception with infant mortality is that there’s nothing we can do.  I’ve heard people say that we can’t plan for infant mortality or we can’t reduce these types of failures without switching manufacturers.

That’s not the case [Read more…]

3 Best Practices for Lubricant Storage

The golden rule for lubricant storage is keeping the lubricant “clean, cool and dry”.  Let’s discuss 3 ways to improve your lubricant storage.

What are some best practices for lubricant storage at your plant?
[Read more…]

A Few Best Practices for Lubrication Cleanliness

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my thought processes for choosing an oil sampling location.  To continue on the lubrication theme, I wanted to give you a few ideas for contamination control.  Next week, I’ll take on lubricant storage. [Read more…]

How To Break the Vicious Circle of Reactive Maintenance?

I created and posted this meme a few weeks ago and it went viral through the LinkedIn reliability community.  It was a tongue-in-cheek look at the vicious circle that keeps most plants in a fire-fighting mode.  One of the people who shared the post asked ‘what comes first the chicken or the egg?’  In our case, reliability work comes first. [Read more…]

Where to Take an Oil Sample

A few weeks ago, I got a question about the best place to take an oil sample for oil analysis.  Instead of generic answers like, “after the pump before the filter” or “never on the drain”, I like to take a more practical approach. [Read more…]