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 Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Feb 27, 2020 | Asset Management, The Sustainable Plant
This fourth and final “Fingerprint to Footprint” series installment focuses on the collaboration between the maintenance and operations groups to understand and map out how each equipment piece, manufacturing-process line, and vehicle is operated on a day-to-day basis...
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 Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Feb 14, 2020 | Asset Management, Plant Operations
We all face challenges in our day-to-day work—challenges that sometimes really test our skills. But we make it through fairly unscathed. OK, maybe a bit scratched up, bruised, worn out. That’s what we run into quite often in the world of industrial maintenance. Our...
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Feb 2, 2020 | Asset Management, The Sustainable Plant
In the first two parts of this series on sustainable-asset-management practices (see links below), we examined how maintenance departments can implement energy-control strategies while using environmentally acceptable/friendly lubrication products. Here in Part III,...
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Jan 18, 2020 | Asset Management, The Sustainable Plant
In Part I of this “Fingerprint to Footprint” series (published Jan. 3, 2020), we examined how a maintenance department can easily adopt an energy-control strategy as part of its proactive-maintenance program. Here, in Part II, we discuss a common example of that type...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Jan 5, 2020 | Asset Management, Plant Operations
Perfection? An impossible dream? Why or why not should we be pursuing 100% reliability? Think about it. Simply stated, 100% reliability means that equipment is doing what it is supposed to do. And yes, there is a price to pay for it. But, the cost of un-reliability...
