by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Apr 25, 2021 | Asset Management, Newsletter Column, RAM's Human Factor
I suspect that a large majority of readers of The RAM Review’s columns and articles are reliability engineers like me. But I also suspect many may actually be functioning, albeit unknowingly, as “unreliability engineers.” Has unreliability become an...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Apr 18, 2021 | Plant Operations, RAM Tools & Methods, RAM's Human Factor
We’ve all heard it, again and again: “What gets measured gets done.” That’s not entirely true, however. In reality, what gets measured tends to get rewarded or punished, which, in turn, results in things getting done. In last week’s issue of The RAM Review, I...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Apr 9, 2021 | Plant Operations, RAM Tools & Methods, RAM's Human Factor
My last article for The RAM Review (April 4, 2021, see link below) explored the important role middle managers can play in achieving transformational change. In it, I discussed the concept of psychological inertia. In physics, we refer to a force that has both rate...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Apr 3, 2021 | Plant Operations, RAM Tools & Methods, RAM's Human Factor
As a consultant, I support my clients with a variety of initiatives to improve the performance, reliability, safety, and environmental sustainability of their plant equipment and manufacturing processes. Sometimes these initiatives are small, given the fact we’re...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Mar 28, 2021 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
The first article in this short series on precision parts (March 21, 2021) discussed the topic of designing for reliability (see link below). Here in Part II, the focus is on the rebuild process. Figure 1 illustrates the process flow I recommend for management...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Mar 21, 2021 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
Executing precision maintenance work requires a combination of skills, effective work instructions and methods, correct and properly calibrated tools, and, of course, the right parts that are in the right condition. Yet, when conducting failure investigations and...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Mar 6, 2021 | Maintenance Management, Newsletter Column, RAM Tools & Methods
Much attention is paid to the foundational elements that are necessary to ensure equipment and process reliability in plants. Still, in the end, reliability really comes down to people employing tools and materials to effectively execute maintenance plans. That is the...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Feb 27, 2021 | Safety Matters, The Sustainable Plant
While industrial facilities can have a very positive impact on the communities and economies where they are located, they can also create some risks for the people and ecosystems that are near them. In the past, I’ve written about the importance of creating...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Feb 6, 2021 | Asset Management, The Sustainable Plant
As noted in the first part of this short article series (Feb. 1, 2021, see link below), the idea of reducing cost and decreasing the environmental impact of a manufacturing or process plant by focusing on management of parasitic frictional losses is a very compelling...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Jan 30, 2021 | Asset Management, The Sustainable Plant
“Think Local, Act Global” is a phrase typically attributed to Patrick Geedes, an early 20th-century urban planner in Scotland. Geedes’ thinking seems quite applicable to the overall global climate-change challenge and, by extension, in today’s RAM...
