by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | May 16, 2022 | Newsletter Column, Workforce Issues
The answer to staffing for reliability, availability, and maintenance (RAM) improvements may not be outside your plant but inside. Sure, sites are facing some mighty big headwinds these days. This staffing-related one, though, is the biggest I’ve seen in over four...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | May 9, 2022 | Newsletter Column, Workforce Issues
When I think about “reliability” of anything, I think of “consistency,” i.e., uniformity, stability, dependability, same way all the time. Likewise, equipment reliability is all about consistency. But establishing consistency among numerous variables isn’t...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | May 1, 2022 | Beyond RAM, Plant Operations
Last week was a working vacation for my wife and me. We traveled to my home state of Michigan, where I presented a short seminar on the “The Mysteries of History as Told by Our Country’s Flags.” Touring the area with my brother and sister in-law who live in Holland,...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Apr 25, 2022 | Newsletter Column, RAM Tools & Methods
Over time, many businesses have invested in a wide variety of equipment from multiple manufacturers. Such “investments” often have been made by engineering departments in concert with procurement under strict project budget limitations. Cost-conscious procurement of...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Apr 18, 2022 | Newsletter Column, Plant Operations
The seminar that I conducted at the April 2022 Oklahoma Predictive Maintenance User Group (OPMUG) meeting in Stillwater continues to provide keen insights on various obstacles confronting many equipment-intensive industries. When I asked the attendees (from a broad...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Apr 11, 2022 | Newsletter Column, Plant Operations
Meeting with groups of fellow reliability-minded practitioners, i.e., RAM Professionals, and sharing my four-plus decades of on-site and in-plant experiences is always a pleasure. The bonus comes from learning firsthand about the participants’ most...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Apr 4, 2022 | Asset Management, Plant Operations
We face challenging situations every day. In many cases, dealing with short-term challenges is basically a normal way of life for a maintenance organization. The real problems are our long-term challenges, the ones at our doorstep or looming just over the horizon that...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Mar 28, 2022 | Newsletter Column, RAM Tools & Methods
Manufacturing processes typically incorporate a flow, including equipment, conveyance, and manual-work processes, which are organized in ways that convert incoming materials/items into sub-assemblies and/or finished goods. Efficient processes achieve a smooth and...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Mar 21, 2022 | Newsletter Column, RAM Tools & Methods
Back in the day (the late 1970s and early 1980s, to be exact), we learned from Philip B. Crosby’s book that “Quality is Free.” Crosby’s basic concept was based on his “zero defects” quality-improvement approach. This landmark approach was initially...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Mar 7, 2022 | Newsletter Column, Plant Operations
Machine-downtime tracking is a fundamental, foundational, most basic component of any reliability-improvement effort. Yet in many plants, I’ve noticed that any form of machine-downtime tracking is the responsibility of the Maintenance Department. Contrary to...
