

Creating Strong Service-Provider Relationships In A Post-Pandemic World
COVID’s devastating impact on various aspects of business, has included industry’s maintenance staffing. Strategic partnerships can speed recovery and help drive efficiencies going forward.

Combining Turnaround Planning And Equipment Upgrading
Turnaround details merit reassessment in facilities that are “run hard.” Among them, deciding to do equipment upgrades during such events. This is also a good move for sites that anticipate elevated throughput.

In Perspective: USDOE’s Study Of Electric Motor Systems, 2021 Edition (Part IV)
The author is back with a review of a newly released report from a major USDOE study. The document presents a stark warning on potential supply-chains issues around electric machines and electrification.

Production Materials & Equipment Reliability Issues (Don’t Overlook The Connection)
Purchasing decisions affect equipment performance, and not always in a good way. It’s easy to see the connection when spare parts are substituted, less so when raw materials are.

Notes From Consulting Projects (Part 2 Of 2)
This article concludes a discussion based on the author’s many decades in the process industries. As he pointed out in Part 1, the cited problems are still found in too many of today’s operations.

Lagging Metrics For Asset Management: OEE’s First Element (Availability, Part 4)
The flip side of “availability” is “unavailability,” be it planned or unplanned. And there’s a variety of causes for the problem. Here, the author wraps up his discussion of the production-induced type.

Buddy, Can You Spare Some Time?
Time is the first currency by which all maintenance activity is controlled, managed, and measured to ensure first time quality work, on time, every time. It’s also fleeting. Wise use of it is a must.

New Levels Of Automation Should Drive Early Equipment Management
U.S. manufacturing reshoring and foreign direct investment have been at all-time highs and are projected to increase. That translates as lots of new equipment and technologies to embrace.

Part III: Electrical Signature Analysis & Transformers (Solar-Based Designs)
Like everything else, solar-based step-up transformers have issues. And, as with other transformers, sizing matters. This article focuses on concerns with utility-scale solar units.

Manufacturing: Independent Or Codependent?
Blame it on COVID or whatever. “Live or die” business decisions are now being made everywhere. While there’s no single cure for manufacturing’s ills, a good pain reliever is available. Right under our noses.