by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Sep 27, 2021 | Newsletter Column, Plant Operations
While always important, equipment performance and reliability have become even more so as businesses deal with the onslaught of post-pandemic challenges. Is your equipment doing what it’s supposed to do, first time, every time? What causes poor performance?...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Sep 19, 2021 | Plant Operations, The Bloch Files
Whatever the project may be at a site, reliability and, by extension, the meeting of uptime goals don’t just happen. As the title of this article implies, in the plant-equipment area, owner-contractor interfacing activities typically will occur during several...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Sep 13, 2021 | Plant Operations, Workforce Issues
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) conducted its “Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey” for the third quarter of 2021 from Aug. 19 to 30. (www.nam.org/manufacturers-outlook-survey). The report published on Sept. 9, 2021, paints a picture of “healthy...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Sep 12, 2021 | Plant Operations, The Bloch Files
In my Sept. 6, 2021, article for The RAM Review (see article link below), I explained how truly world-class petrochemical and refining companies invested roughly 5% of the cost of equipment in pre-purchase reviews and reliability audits. This week, I am discussing a...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Sep 6, 2021 | Plant Operations, The Bloch Files
Placing review engineers at a design contractor’s office should be part of the budgeted cost of plant projects. Compared to the incredibly shortsighted, yet popular, “as cheap as possible” approach still taken by many operations, the incremental cost for such MQA...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Aug 30, 2021 | Newsletter Column, Plant Operations, The Bloch Files, Workforce Issues
This week’s newsletter column is a follow-up to my previous column on “How To FIND A Job” (see link below). My argument in that discussion emphasized the importance of communicating effectively. To be clear, strong communication skills (oral and...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Aug 30, 2021 | Plant Operations, Workforce Issues
Imagine if your operations could recruit entry-level technicians and apprentices who 1) had four intensive seasons of hands-on team experience in tightly controlled design-build procedures; 2) had adhered to strict schedules in learning how to solve mechanical,...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Aug 22, 2021 | Newsletter Column, Plant Operations, The Bloch Files, Workforce Issues
This column’s title is similar to that of an article in a periodical I enjoy reading. The author made the point that “many people lose their jobs, not because of lack of technical skill, but because they lack the ability to communicate effectively.” Well...
by Randall Noon, P.E. | Aug 21, 2021 | Learning from Mistakes, Plant Operations
Author’s Note: As with a number of my past articles for The RAM Review, this one also is an amalgam of several similar event investigations. Any details that would otherwise allow a specific company or person to be identified have been generalized, combined, or...
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Aug 21, 2021 | Asset Management, Plant Operations
In my social circle, the topic of conversation will, at some point, invariably turn to any and all things with engines, motors, and wheels. In a recent small gathering of conversation-starved friends (due to COVID lockdowns), this interesting question was posed: “How...
