by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Jul 12, 2020 | Newsletter Column, Training & Qualification
Since we’re well into the year under the cloud of COVID-19, many organizations have resorted to a variety of video-conferencing platforms to stay in touch and tokeep business-decision-making moving forward. Educators, too, have transitioned to online classes for...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Jul 4, 2020 | Plant Operations, RAM Tools & Methods
Consider the following remarks from the real world. Do they sound familiar or, more precisely, have you heard similar comments around your operations (or a client’s)? “Recently, our top executives announced that our cost of manufacturing still wasn’t what it...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Jun 26, 2020 | Plant Operations, RAM Tools & Methods
“Maintenance” alone cannot make equipment and processes reliable. Often, a maintenance department is reacting to problems caused by decisions and/or actions of other departments. Further, in high-reliability plants, the maintenance department is NOT a “supplier” of...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Jun 21, 2020 | Asset Management, Newsletter Column
We’re finding ourselves in a world of new-tech on the plant floor, including in areas related to the never-ending quest for improved worker productivity and reliable equipment. In other words, we’re looking at a lot of opportunities right now. But...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Jun 13, 2020 | RAM Tools & Methods, Workforce Issues
The world of reliability and maintenance is like most other professions with unique words, phrases, and terminology. Many of us grew up with this “language,” which makes some of the jargon and acronyms second-nature (“reliability-speak” and...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Jun 7, 2020 | Maintenance Management, Newsletter Column
I recently sat in a budget meeting where the maintenance manager was making a pitch for a new $150,000-piece of labor-saving equipment. He waxed eloquently about its many features and how it would make his department’s work so much easier. Another department...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | May 29, 2020 | Asset Management, Plant Operations
Taking care of your machinery, equipment systems, and facilities is more than good maintenance. It’s basically good medicine for better health and freedom from injury or illness. The physical assets in our businesses must be healthy to perform as intended. That’s what...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | May 22, 2020 | Plant Operations, Safety Matters
As manufacturing ramps up amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as manufacturers return from China, as we look toward the road ahead with new technologies, there are bound to be challenges along the way. Responding to the need for epic-proportion health and safety...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | May 15, 2020 | RAM Tools & Methods, Workforce Issues
Over the past few months, I’ve been modernizing my home office. In the course of my rigorous spring cleaning, sorting, and pitching, I couldn’t help but be amazed by the amount of “stuff” that had accumulated during my four decades of consulting and...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | May 2, 2020 | Plant Operations, Workforce Issues
Have COVID-19, the global economic downturn, self-quarantine measures, and shelter-in-place directives taken a bite out of your business? Few, if any sectors, have escaped the turmoil. Countless employees and contractors across the industrial landscape have been...
