by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Feb 21, 2020 | Asset Management, Plant Operations, RAM's Human Factor
Many “programs” intended to improve the reliability of plant assets provide only fleeting value before the organization drifts back into its old “business as usual” mode. The situation is easy to spot: Simply ask people why they execute a process in a particular way,...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Feb 14, 2020 | Cut the FLAB, RAM Tools & Methods
We’ve all heard that “what gets measured gets done.” That’s because metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) drive behaviors. Unfortunately, most of our maintenance and reliability KPIs are lagging in nature. While they reveal where we’ve been—which is...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Feb 8, 2020 | Plant Operations, The Sustainable Plant
The manufacturing, mining and metals, and process industries have always had a tenuous relationship with the subject of environmental sustainability. These industries, by definition, use enormous amounts of natural resources, energy, and water and tend to directly and...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Feb 1, 2020 | Cut the FLAB, Maintenance Management
Several of the optimum reference states (ORS) that I defined for precision maintenance in a Dec. 22, 2019, article relate to getting threaded fasteners, i.e., nuts and bolts, tight without stripping them. Proper tensioning of threaded fasteners is critical to our...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Jan 27, 2020 | Newsletter Column, Plant Reliability in Dollars and $ense
You’ve no doubt heard the old saying, “What gets measured gets done.” The statement is partially true. In reality, what gets rewarded gets done. As it happens, in the real world, what gets measured is usually what gets rewarded. So, we must be very careful about what...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Jan 18, 2020 | Maintenance Management, The Sustainable Plant
Continuing with my “Reliability Resolution 2020” theme on TheRAMReview.com, this final installment of a three-part series brings together the machine-life-extension benefits described in the first series installment (Jan. 4, 2020) with the energy-savings...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Jan 11, 2020 | Maintenance Management, Plant Reliability in Dollars and $ense, RAM Tools & Methods, The Sustainable Plant
Continuing with this “Reliability Resolution 2020” series focusing on precision maintenance, I am expanding upon the theme developed in the first installment (posted on TheRamReview.com, Jan. 4, 2020). In that article, I challenged readers to evaluate the measurable...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Jan 4, 2020 | Cut the FLAB, Maintenance Management, Plant Reliability in Dollars and $ense, RAM Tools & Methods, The Sustainable Plant
Happy New Year! It’s the time when we tend to reflect on the past year and resolve to make changes that will make this year even better. It’s particularly beguiling that this is the year “2020”—which is the term that optometrists and ophthalmologists use...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Dec 22, 2019 | Cut the FLAB, Maintenance Management, RAM Tools & Methods
Of all the various strategies associated with the maintenance and reliability of production equipment in the manufacturing and process industries, none is more salient than precision maintenance when it comes to increasing production availability and reducing...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Dec 14, 2019 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
There’s been considerable chatter in the RAM community about the demise of root-cause analysis: That it’s obsolete. That it’s been replaced by so-called “learning teams” as a part of the human-performance-investigation/analysis (HPI/HPA) process. I don’t buy it. Any...
