by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Oct 24, 2021 | Asset Management, Lubrication Corner
The lowliest and most ubiquitous device in the world of lubrication recently celebrated its centennial anniversary. Designed as a simple, yet efficient mechanical gateway device, the grease nipple has only one job: to connect to a manual grease-delivery gun and...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Oct 24, 2021 | Asset Management, Plant Operations, The Bloch Files
A disastrous fire in a U.S. methanol plant reminded me of the findings and recommendations published in a 2006 book on the topic of “Maximizing Machinery Uptime.” In it, Fred Geitner, my respected colleague and co-author of nine books on...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Oct 23, 2021 | Asset Management, Electrical Reliability
As explained in Part II of this series (see links to all parts below), Electrical Signature Analysis (ESA) is used in a manner similar to vibration analysis for defects in transformers, while the electrical data provides information on other conditions surrounding the...
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Oct 17, 2021 | Asset Management, Workforce Issues
Today’s maintenance departments cannot, and do not, function autonomously. To be successful they must first recognize that success is based upon a series of integral partner relationships, set up and managed to provide mutual benefit for all partners. For many...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Oct 17, 2021 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
Traditionally, the industrial Purchasing function focuses on procuring needed parts, materials, and services. At times, those decisions made in Purchasing have direct negative impact on equipment performance and reliability. It’s easy to connect the dots when parts...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Oct 11, 2021 | Asset Management, Plant Operations, The Bloch Files
“Machine failed; how do we fix it?” A Consulting Engineer often gets this type of request. Unfortunately, clients sometimes may have neither the time nor the interest in eliciting a Consulting Engineer’s input on anything but the obvious. In too many...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Oct 11, 2021 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
Let’s re-cap previous parts of this series. When I initially addressed Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), I challenged the conventional approach for describing the metric and even challenged the its name (see link below). I much prefer the term...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Oct 10, 2021 | Asset Management, Electrical Reliability
Popular topics around the renewable-energy community include interaction of inverter-connected power sources to the grid and the impact on components such as transformers (in particular, step-up transformers). One of the concerns with wind and solar-based step-up...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Oct 3, 2021 | Asset Management, Plant Operations, The Bloch Files
To date, I’ve worked as a Consulting Engineer in roughly 300 different locations. Over the years, I sometimes thought about what I should have done differently in those engagements. Honestly, I couldn’t (and still can’t) think of anything. However,...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Oct 3, 2021 | Asset Management, Electrical Reliability
Among the challenges of aging electrical-transmission and -distribution infrastructure in the United States is the shortage of all transformer types. In addition, the use of traditional, complex monitoring methods for trending and prognostics in existing equipment...
