by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Editor | Oct 24, 2020 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
“Amnesia” is a partial or total loss of memory. “Corporate amnesia” is when a company suffers that type of “memory” loss. The impact can be significant. Our plants and facilities depend upon the knowledge and know-how of highly...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Oct 23, 2020 | Asset Management, Plant Operations, The Bloch Files
Since the mid-1980s, a fair number of compressor users have taken another look at piston rod wear. With sophisticated coatings finding widespread acceptance in aerospace and gas turbine applications, it was only a matter of time before a number of coating types...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Oct 19, 2020 | Asset Management, Newsletter Column
Data, metrics, measures, assessments, evaluations, scorecards, progress reports, etc. Many of us have been faced with a host of measurement opportunities. However, some performance measurements seem like moving targets that we seldom hit. With so many business,...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Oct 17, 2020 | Asset Management, Plant Operations, The Bloch Files
Equipment purchasers are always interested in meeting the cost and schedule targets for projects. There could, however, be conflicting goals when purchasing drivers and/or auxiliaries from vendors other than the primary fluid-machinery manufacturer. While cost targets...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Editor | Oct 17, 2020 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
The concept of stress vs. strength “interference” is important in the field of reliability engineering. This concept is so simple that one could almost call it naïve. However, minimizing interference between stress and strength in the plant often results in a clash...
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Oct 12, 2020 | Asset Management
As an asset-management consultant for the last 30+ plus years, I’ve never encountered the perfect asset-management system. Organizations can, and do, achieve perfection for a short while, but perfection is a moving target that’s often thwarted by...
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Sep 25, 2020 | Asset Management, Planning & Scheduling
As the American singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett observed, “Without geography, you are nowhere!” Making sense of any production or maintenance workflow, process or procedure requires a textual map in the form of a diagram, visual representation, or an ordered text list...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Editor | Sep 20, 2020 | Asset Management, Newsletter Column, Plant Operations
Those who have attended one of my workshops on various aspects of reliability engineering and management, or have seen me present at conferences, may have heard me say, “Data is the difference between deciding and guessing.” It’s a slogan I’ve used for at...
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Sep 18, 2020 | Asset Management, Planning & Scheduling
When a maintenance-work request reaches the desk of the planner, his or her first action item is to review the request and determine the priority of the work. This determination will influence whether the planner takes immediate action (Emergency Response) or queues...
by Tim Dunton, CMRP, CMRT | Sep 16, 2020 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
In a recent article (Aug. 28, 2020), we focused on the importance of correcting soft foot on the machines in our plants and facilities. Here, we focus on the proper ways to check for and eliminate it. As we discussed previously, soft foot is the condition that exists...
