by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Jan 24, 2021 | Asset Management, Newsletter Column, RAM's Human Factor
I routinely teach courses and workshops on various aspects of equipment-asset management, reliability engineering, and precision and proactive maintenance. During those sessions, I frequently refer metaphorically to parts of the human body and what causes it to be...
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Jan 23, 2021 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
In the maintenance world, there are two types of inventory that must be managed. The first, which most people know as Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO), consists of spare or replacement parts. These items can be held on site in specialized physical inventory...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Jan 23, 2021 | Asset Management, The Bloch Files
The preface to one of my books (Pump User’s Handbook) alluded to the area of pump-failure statistics. Such statistics are often translated into MTBF (mean time between failure). For what it’s worth, and so as to not become enmeshed in arguments, in the early 2000s,...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Jan 16, 2021 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
The ultimate goal of the maintenance work management process is to ensure that the highest priorty jobs are executed effectively and on time to prevent functional failure of plant equipment. Achieving this goal requires that each of the serially connected...
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Jan 3, 2021 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
A little over a year ago (Nov. 18, 2019), I wrote a newsletter column titled, “The Most Wonderful Time of Year” (see link below). In it, I highlighted how maintenance departments often go on shopping sprees with unspent budget dollars at the end of the...
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Dec 19, 2020 | Asset Management, Lubrication Corner
In my Dec. 12, 2020, article, “ Improve Hydraulic System Reliability For Just Pennies A Day” (see link below), I used the term “creep to failure.” It describes mechanical systems that continue to work, albeit inefficiently, for long periods of time,...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Dec 5, 2020 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
At its core, reliability engineering is an analytical process. We’re the actuaries for the manufacturing-process industries. We analyze data to determine failure rates and mean times between/to failure (MTBF/MTTF) or mean time to repair (MTTR). We employ Weibull...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Dec 5, 2020 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods, The Bloch Files
The above title doesn’t really disclose what I wanted to capture here: If your company is still repair-focused in late 2020, it will be no match for competitors whose conversion to being fully reliability-focused began over a decade ago, and is now complete....
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Nov 28, 2020 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
Once a piece of equipment or a building has been built, installed, and commissioned, it is customary to hand over the caretaker keys to the maintenance department. Regrettably, in many organizations, this ends up being the first opportunity that maintenance team...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Nov 28, 2020 | Asset Management, Plant Operations, The Bloch Files
Vertical pumps are available in numerous different configurations, and excel in such areas as ease of multi-staging, virtually unlimited installation depth below grade, and small footprint, i.e. not taking up much real estate. If you have to make a...
