by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | May 24, 2020 | Newsletter Column, The Sustainable Plant
Manufacturing plants, process plants, and other industrial facilities are natural economic drivers for the communities in which they operate. These businesses offer good jobs that, in turn, fuel economic activity. People move into the area, and homes, apartments,...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | May 15, 2020 | Asset Management, RAM's Human Factor
In 1963, the USS Thresher, the jewel in the crown of the U.S. Navy’s nuclear-submarine fleet, sank during a sea trial after its first shipyard overhaul. We lost 129 brave sailors in that accident. The investigation concluded that relying on “skill-of-the-craft” ...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | May 3, 2020 | Asset Management, Newsletter Column, Plant Operations
Is your organization implementing solutions that seem to be looking for problems? It’s a fair question. There’s plenty of talk in asset-management circles these days about Digital Transformation, Digital Manufacturing, the Internet of Things (IoT), Industry 4.0,...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Apr 26, 2020 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods, Workforce Issues
Over the past few months, I’ve devoted a great deal of my attention and energy to the topic of creating a “defect-avoidance culture” in the plant. Culture isn’t an easy thing to change. It’s even harder to sustain because of a phenomenon referred to as psychological...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Apr 17, 2020 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
We all love rules of thumb. They make life simpler. In the plant, we often use rules of thumb to quickly size up a problem based upon similar problems that we’ve seen before and apply a solution framework that’s been effective in the past. Unfortunately, these...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Apr 11, 2020 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
The goal of any reliability-focused asset management system is to avoid defects. Doing so requires a comprehensive management system that includes defect avoidance, defect detection and, finally, defect correction. Defect management for most organizations is oriented...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Mar 19, 2020 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
The bull market had a great 11-yr. run. However, COVID-19 has produced a precipitous drop in the stock market and a global recession seems inevitable. In just a matter of weeks, plants and factories that were capacity-constrained have found themselves...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Mar 15, 2020 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
Executing equipment maintenance is as much about behaviors as it is about skills. Think of a skill as knowledge about HOW to do something, while a behavior is related more to understanding WHY—basically having an appreciation for the motivation. Behaviors are very...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Mar 8, 2020 | Newsletter Column, Plant Operations, Workforce Issues
Famed management guru Peter Drucker was spot on years ago, when he coined the phrase “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” That statement is just as true today as it was back then. Make no mistake: Drucker was not discounting the importance of strategy. Rather, he...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Mar 1, 2020 | RAM Tools & Methods, Safety Matters, The Sustainable Plant
Fugitive emissions, are a concern across the industrial landscape. Although this article focuses on leveraging predictive maintenance (PdM) to combat the problem in the natural-gas arena, the suggested strategies and tactics can be adapted in any operation where...
