by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Dec 20, 2019 | RAM Tools & Methods, The Bloch Files, Workforce Issues
It was a regular routine. In the few decades from 1960 until 2000, during my daily drives in to work, I would make it a point to spend time deciding what to tackle once I arrived. Then, on my drives home, I would mull over what I had (or had not) accomplished on a...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, T.A. Cook/Accenture, Editor | Dec 14, 2019 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods
There’s been considerable chatter in the RAM community about the demise of root-cause analysis: That it’s obsolete. That it’s been replaced by so-called “learning teams” as a part of the human-performance-investigation/analysis (HPI/HPA) process. I don’t buy it. Any...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Dec 14, 2019 | RAM Tools & Methods, The Bloch Files, Workforce Issues
This article is the final installment of a two-part discussion on networking and adult education that I began in my Dec. 2019, 2019, newsletter column for The RAM Review. It provides closure to the cliff-hanger at the end of Part I: how a single networking contact...
by Jim Seffrin, CMRP | Dec 13, 2019 | IR Thermography, RAM Tools & Methods
A common question among thermographers is, “How much temperature differential is needed to obtain good data?” In this article (a combination of two previously published shorter ones), we discuss required temperature differentials for building inspections. Proper...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Dec 9, 2019 | Newsletter Column, RAM Tools & Methods, The Bloch Files
Although I have written about the following conversation before, there’s another angle to it, and a very quantifiable one at that. I believe this angle is worth highlighting. It was exactly 20 years ago, in 1999, when I had a very productive discussion with the...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Dec 7, 2019 | RAM Tools & Methods, Safety Matters, Workforce Issues
“D’ya think I’m stupid? Checklists are for dummies.” “I know what I’m doing. I’ve done it for years.” “Why would I ever need a checklist?” These types of remarks sum up what, even now, is a widely held view among maintenance and reliability teams on many plant floors....
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Dec 7, 2019 | Maintenance Management, RAM Tools & Methods
Power transfer from electric motors or engine-drive pulleys to driven shafts by way of chains and sprockets or v-belts is an application of legacy systems that are still very relevant in today’s plant. While these types of driver-driven transmission systems are...
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Nov 30, 2019 | Maintenance Management, RAM Tools & Methods
In my Nov. 24, 2019 article for The RAM Review, I focused on the “relationship” factor with regard to what a maintenance department actually controls and what it merely manages. That’s an important distinction when it comes to understanding the...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Nov 30, 2019 | Maintenance Management, RAM Tools & Methods, Workforce Issues
There are huge, and growing, opportunities to improve what we do in the workplace, including, among other things, safety, productivity, quality, efficiency, effectiveness, equipment performance, and reliability. But the desire to improve and the words “improve it” by...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Nov 30, 2019 | RAM Tools & Methods, The Bloch Files, Workforce Issues
To recap, in a recent article, “Workforce Appreciation and Achieving Plant Goals” (Nov. 23, 2019), I discussed how, in early 2000, the Canadian consulting company Systems Approach Strategies (SAS) developed a training course that brought W. Edwards Deming’s “14...
