Older readers of The RAM Review may remember inventor Ron Popeil’s entertaining infomercials for his rotisserie oven and his mantra “set it and forget it.” You could load the meat for cooking, set the cooking details, and go on about your business because the machine would take it from there. That’s a great feature when cooking a chicken, but the “set it and forget it” approach can be a dangerous when it comes to managing the reliability of your plant’s machines.
In the age of digital manufacturing, we’re seeing more self-monitoring, self-adjusting, and self-maintaining equipment. Sensors, instruments, and controls are increasingly enabling machines to run themselves. In some instances, these devices monitor and adjust various operating parameters, including flow, pressure, and temperature, among other things. In other situations, machines are equipped to routinely monitor condition and respond accordingly with alarms, automated maintenance notifications, and, sometimes, automated shutdowns. Machines are equipped with automatic lubrication systems to apply grease or oil base upon time intervals or, in some cases, in response to a change in vibration, ultrasonic emissions, temperature, etc.
Our machines are getting smarter and smarter as technology becomes more sophisticated and more cost effective. The ability to transmit data digitally has really facilitated the breakthroughs. In the past, the cost of laying copper wires was the biggest obstacle that prevented us from “sensoring up” our equipment assets. Those limitations are fading as the digital age continues to rapidly evolve. For the most part, this is a good-news story for asset managers and reliability engineers. These advancements improve our knowledge about the condition of the equipment and enable better decisions.
THE FLIP SIDE
To be clear, big machine problems are usually a byproduct of small problems that we failed to address when we could have and should have. Self-adjusting and self-maintaining machines combined with more timely notifications to adjust operations or schedule maintenance reduces the likelihood that small problems will evolve into big problems. However, we can’t simply “set it and forget it” when it comes to asset-reliability management.
Sensors, controls, self-adjustment, and self-maintenance devices increase the complexity of asset and introduce new potential new failure modes that must be addressed. Call me old fashioned, but as I’ve written in previous articles (including the one in the following link), I’m still a big fan of management by walking/wandering around (MBWA).
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“Walk Around Your Plant, Find Asset Management Gold”
Well-trained and observant operators and maintainers purposefully and diligently executing their daily, weekly, and monthly rounds still yields “asset management gold.” With increasing numbers of highly-automated systems, we need to focus the eyes and ears of our operators and maintainers to observe the automation systems and their specified functions to make sure they’re working.
For example, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve observed single-point lubricators in the plant that are empty, have dead batteries, or have sprung leaks and shoot grease on the ground. At a conceptual level, automatic grease systems are great. After all, a bearing is more reliable when it receives a little bit of grease every few hours or days than when it receives a large volume of grease every few months. But the value proposition topples when the automated device doesn’t work.
Lastly, because sensors, automation and controls add complexity to your system and new failure modes and mechanisms to worry about, incorporate and apply them judiciously. Integrate these elements into your assets because you should, not just because you can. It’s easy to fall victim to “shiny-object-itis” in the digital-manufacturing age (see my article “Industry 4.0: Get a ‘Shiny-Object-Itis’ Vaccination”).
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“Industry 4:0: Get a Shiny-Object-Itis Vaccination”
BOTTOM LINE
Make prudent decisions to incorporate technology. These decisions should be driven by your Failure Modes & Effects analysis (FMEA). If the technology doesn’t substantively reduce the likelihood, magnitude, and/or the detectability of a potential failure mode, think twice before adding the complexity. Technology is enabling asset-management practices that were beyond our reach just a decade ago. Be sure to apply these types of advancements judiciously and don’t simply “set it and forget it!”TRR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Drew Troyer has 30 years of experience in the RAM arena. Currently a Principal with T.A. Cook Consultants, he was a Co-founder and former CEO of Noria Corporation. A trusted advisor to a global blue chip client base, this industry veteran has authored or co-authored more than 250 books, chapters, course books, articles, and technical papers and is popular keynote and technical speaker at conferences around the world. Drew is a Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE), Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional (CMRP), holds B.S. and M.B.A. degrees, and is Master’s degree candidate in Environmental Sustainability at Harvard University. Contact him directly at 512-800-6031 or dtroyer@theramreview.com.
Tags: reliability, availability, maintenance, RAM, condition monitoring, sensors, smart machines, automation, Industry 4.0, digital transformation, digital manufacturing
