by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Sep 20, 2021 | Newsletter Column, RAM's Human Factor
What members of our plant-floor workforces do and how they do it directly impacts equipment performance and reliability. Traditionally, machine operators operate; maintainers maintain; engineers engineer; planner/schedulers plan and schedule; supervisors supervise;...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Principal, T.A. Cook, Editor | Apr 25, 2021 | Asset Management, Newsletter Column, RAM's Human Factor
I suspect that a large majority of readers of The RAM Review’s columns and articles are reliability engineers like me. But I also suspect many may actually be functioning, albeit unknowingly, as “unreliability engineers.” Has unreliability become an...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Principal, T.A. Cook, Editor | Apr 18, 2021 | Plant Operations, RAM Tools & Methods, RAM's Human Factor
We’ve all heard it, again and again: “What gets measured gets done.” That’s not entirely true, however. In reality, what gets measured tends to get rewarded or punished, which, in turn, results in things getting done. In last week’s issue of The RAM Review, I...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Principal, T.A. Cook, Editor | Apr 9, 2021 | Plant Operations, RAM Tools & Methods, RAM's Human Factor
My last article for The RAM Review (April 4, 2021, see link below) explored the important role middle managers can play in achieving transformational change. In it, I discussed the concept of psychological inertia. In physics, we refer to a force that has both rate...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Principal, T.A. Cook, Editor | Apr 3, 2021 | Plant Operations, RAM Tools & Methods, RAM's Human Factor
As a consultant, I support my clients with a variety of initiatives to improve the performance, reliability, safety, and environmental sustainability of their plant equipment and manufacturing processes. Sometimes these initiatives are small, given the fact we’re...
by Bob Williamson, CMRP, CPMM, MIAM, Editor | Mar 7, 2021 | Asset Management, RAM's Human Factor
Making equipment reliable is more than an engineering project. More than precision maintenance. More than good data. And much more than many organizations consider at the onset. Reliability improvement requires many factors, elements, actions, and individual skill...
by Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Principal, T.A. Cook, 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 Drew Troyer, CRE, CMRP, Principal, T.A. Cook, Editor | Jan 3, 2021 | Newsletter Column, RAM's Human Factor
As maintenance and reliability professionals, we love rules of thumb and other easy-to-implement, tried-and-true solutions to problems. Experts who specialize in the human factors of failure refer to rules of thumb as “heuristics.” The reason we like...
by Randall Noon, P.E. | Dec 5, 2020 | Learning from Mistakes, RAM's Human Factor, Safety Matters
The following is an amalgam of several similar event investigations. Details that would otherwise allow a specific company or person to be identified have been generalized, combined, or removed. The purpose of this brief study is to illustrate specific principles and...
by Ken Bannister, MEch (UK), CMRP, MLE, Editor | Nov 8, 2020 | Newsletter Column, RAM's Human Factor, Workforce Issues
In North America, the primary written language used in maintenance and asset management is English. Unfortunately, the English language tolerates the use of many imprecise words that can cast doubt on their intended meaning and lead to poor interpretation and results....
