Things To Think About E Book

A corporation is a living organism; it has to continue to shed its skin. Methods have to change. Focus has to change. Values have to change. T he sum total of those changes is transformation. by Andrew Grove

Big thoughts and small actions make a difference. Here’s what we’re working on and thinking about. What about you? Feel free to share this… pass it along. T hings to think about (and do) this year.

Featuring…

14 points Rules for Reliability is by Terrence O’Hanlon, CMRP and is based on W. Edward Demings 14 Points from “Out of Crisis”. Terrence O’Hanlon is the Publisher of Uptime Magazine and Reliabilityweb.com. www.reliabilityweb.com

Assets 25 Years Ago: Assets typically referred to an individual’s or company’s financial portfolio. 20 Years Ago: When someone spoke of Assets it usually referred to the IT Group and their putting barcodes on all the computers. This was an accounting and IT Group responsibility, not a problem for the Maintenance Manager. 10 Years Ago: Maintenance Managers began hearing about Asset Productivity Improvement, Maintenance Optimization and/or new ERP, EAM or CMMS systems. The focus was definitely on reducing the rising cost of equipment maintenance and improving equipment reliability. Today: When we speak of Assets today in the US we are probably talking about the crumbling infrastructure and the need to invest TRILLIONS of dollars to repair or replace them, i.e. failing bridges, rails, highways, airports, distribution networks (oil, gas and electric) and water & sewer systems. The consensus of insurance, investment and consumer stakeholders and regulators is in. Equipment reliability just isn’t enough anymore. Tomorrow: Will your company be able to attract the investment dollars needed to rebuild your business? Will you even be able acquire insurance let alone be able to afford it? Your ability to demonstrate good governance through the development of policies, strategies and plans that address these concerns while satisfying your corporate business goals will differentiate you from others seeking their share of the pool of investment dollars. PAS 55: These are some of the drivers behind the development of PAS 55 and why I’m excited to be part of the vanguard introducing it to America. Boyd Beal, CMRP, Vilinc Solutions, Inc. Practice Leader for PAS 55, Asset Management & Maintenance Optimization and Organizational Change Management. http://www.vilinc.com

Auditing Training is an essential part of any maintenance and reliability program. When applied to a predictive technology, it is essential that a technician be properly trained in techniques when utilizing vibration or oil analysis. However, it is equally imperative that a technician be audited in their use of the technology’s methods. How often has a technician been sent to training and received their certification, only to return and not completely understand how to apply what they have learned. One can combat the issue of proper technique through auditing practices sourced by internal personnel or external consultation. The size of your maintenance team and available expertise will dictate how this is approached. Technique auditing can be a useful learning tool to increase tribal knowledge through the use of documented procedures. Improper technique can lead to inaccurate results. Inaccurate results can lead to a missed opportunity to prevent a failure and that can kill any maintenance program. In order to perform a technique audit, a proper procedure for performing the tasks must exist. These procedures must be readily available and easily understandable. (Remember: the average person reads at a 7th grade level, procedures should not be geared towards a rocket scientist). Personnel should have received previous hands-on training for performing the task properly. You do not want to subject someone to an evaluation if they have never seen a procedure or performed the task. When evaluating, look for deviations from the procedure for the task being performed. Having techniques in place that replicate what is outlined in a procedure leads to accurate results. Accurate results are a driving force with any maintenance program. Auditing personnel can lead to achievement of proper technique therefore accurate results. Utilizing expertise for the purposes of auditing enhances the program through the enhancement of personnel performance. Stacy Heston is the Field Services Manager with POLARIS Laboratories. She is a graduate of Texas A&M and has the CMRP, MLT, and MLA certifications. www.polarislabs1.com

AwAken To be asleep is to be unconscious or unaware. Some people live their entire lives and we often won’t do it unless we have no other choice. asleep; unaware of the effects of their actions. They simply follow the well worn Proactive maintenance, reliability and uptime are related to our interpersonal paths of a daily routine, blame others—and wait. relationships, physical and mental health and happiness. We improve them When we become aware we must act. We may ignore the issue or face it; either all by being awake, aware and personally responsible. Problems “outside” are way, awareness implies responsibility. We cannot pretend to have not seen what sometimes best solved by looking inside ourselves and being honest. Wake up we have seen. in 2010 and do good things for yourself and others! To be curious and to inquire is to begin to awaken. It is an attempt to understand Alan Friedman has worked in the field of vibration analysis / condition monitoring for 19 years. the things around us. Why did that machine fail? Why are we always stressed He is currently a senior instructor for the Mobius Institute, a provider of vibration analysis training courses, training materials and vibration certification. www.mobiusinstitute.com out and backlogged? How does this work? How can this be done better or more efficiently? Attend courses! Read books! Ask questions! The world opens up to the curious and becomes a rich and vibrant place. We become less bored, happier and more fulfilled. But we have to learn to listen and also to say: “I don’t know” Observe yourself. When you interact with you boss or coworkers what are you bringing to the table? Are you trying to help or are you trying to win? Is it about solving a problem or is it really about you; your status; your desire for reward or your fear of punishment? Seeing ourselves as we are is difficult but essential. We cannot do this effectively on our own,

beAring defect AnAlysis www.mobiusinstitute.com

reliAbility & precision mAintenAnce www.mobiusinstitute.com

spectrum AnAlysis process www.mobiusinstitute.com

successful condition monitoring www.mobiusinstitute.com

certified? Why Qualification/Certification Testing is Needed for Shaft Alignment: The need for qualification / certification testing in specialized tasks such as vibration analysis, thermography, and shaft alignment is justifiable. Establishing • Shaft misalignment continues to be one of the most prevalent root cause the requirements for qualification or certification can be accomplished by failures on rotating machinery. appraising the experience level of personnel through an evaluation form that • Most people who perform alignment have not received adequate training. addresses all of the aspects of the task. Skill requirements for each individual • The people who supervise employees responsible for alignment typically had can then be assessed and appropriate training can be administered. Written/ no training or alignment experience. oral exams and/or task simulation tests can then be conducted to determine the • Think that purchasing an expensive alignment measurement system will true proficiency of the individual. Certification examinations can be used as eliminate alignment problems. an effective tool in verifying an individuals level of proficiency in any specific task and a viable mechanism to let someone know where they need additional • Allow contractors to install rotating machinery who are not qualified to training. align the equipment. • The vast majority of people who are required to align machinery do not Prove you’re proficient, get certified now. know: John Piotrowski is the author of Shaft Alignment Handbook. • how to detect a misalignment condition when the machinery is operating. • how to find and correct soft foot conditions. • how to find and correct excessive runout and piping strain. • that there are five basic shaft alignment measurement methods. • that there are thirteen different techniques to measure off-line to running machinery movement. • that the Stationary - Movable alignment concept can significantly increase the amount of time needed to align machinery. • don’t know how to model off-line shaft positions.-think that rotating machinery stays aligned forever.

chAllenge Reliable Manufacturing is a constant challenge. Every day we have to strive to and RCM—all of which are eliminate waste, produce more with less and out pace our competition. Would represented in the Reliability it not be great if we could practice before the big game? Now we can. Check out Challenge—provide the the simulation at http://www.abb.com/reliabilitychallenge. Once you try the processes and tools for Reliability Challenge read on to learn some of the key points to improving your continuous improvement. score both online and within your plant. In Conclusion… We have grouped the elements into three areas: creating a reliable foundation, There is not one way to solve changing a plant’s culture, and ensuring sustain ability. reliability or plant issues, just like there is not one single Creating A Reliable Foundation path through the forest. To win the Reliability Challenge, you must start with a structured foundation of However, when you have core elements that are built in a specific order that’s not arbitrary or ad hoc. For a foundation built on best example, a company would not implement advanced Predictive Maintenance practices, a clear plan backed (PdM) techniques if they did not have proper work control processes, ensuring up by good change management, and established continuous improvement; you that the identified defects could be planned, scheduled, and eliminated or have the winning combination to conquer the challenge. mitigated. Simply put PdM without an effective work execution process is like helicopter without a propeller; it may look nice and shiny but it is not going to Now don’t forget the most fundamental rule of any game: practice makes get you off the ground. perfect! Enjoy the ABB Reliability Challenge and practice the game of change, so you can win our Reliability Challenge and yours! Changing The Culture Similar to the real world, taking short cuts in the Reliability Challenge is a Shon Isenhour is an International Business Consultant with ABB Reliability Services recipe for failure. The plant did not morph into its current state overnight, nor who specializes in the philosophy, tools, and processes that provide sustainable overall reliability improvement and increased profits. www.abb.com/reliabilitychallenge will it be fixed in a 24-hour period. Take the time to create a master plan that takes into account your project, risk, and communication plans. Don’t rush the change if the resources are not available and take the time to understand the dynamics of change. You do have to be reactive to get proactive, but reactive in a smart way. Ensuring Sustain ability In order to sustain improvements, you must ensure that the facility understands the goals. Once goals have been established, use metrics to insure focus. Once metrics have been established it is important to drive continuous improvement, as some elements naturally degrade over time. Lean, Six Sigma

chAnge Managing complex CHANGE within an organization can often times be very time consuming and often results in less than desirable results. Using the chart below as a guideline can help make sure you have all of the components to effect change. It can also be used to troubleshoot areas of deficiencies in your program, project or CHANGE efforts based upon the type of results you are achieving. So if you are missing any of the key components or these key components are not clearly defined, your results will be less than the desired CHANGE. Larry Covino is a Product Line Manager for GE Energy Bently Nevada responsible for 3rd party Strategic Relationships and has 30 years experience in the application or Condition Monitoring, Predictive Technologies and Reliability project and program management.

choices Here are some thoughts to see you into 2010 and beyond, no matter whether starting a new project or a new role. Life is a journey of a series of roads filled with many options and blind curves. Your challenge is to leave behind a great legacy with all those you encounter even when reaching a crossroads, like a different employer. When it comes to your integrity and trust, even when some might suggest otherwise; always take the high road. Choose differently and it’s an easy slide into the ditch. When the path is not clear, choose the road that becomes an enabler, tactfully showing passion and conviction. Stick to your core values and beliefs. Look positively toward opportunities for change. Use the opportunities to re- invent yourself, to leave failures (baggage) behind, and to carry forward the successes. Be a continuous learner. With corporate downsizing, they can’t take away knowledge gained. Use it to build the wisdom that enhances your ability to navigate. Also, you don’t always have to map the road forward from a leadership perspective but if you don’t, the path traveled never changes. Along the journey, you will encounter many people. It’s you who must take responsibility for the relationships. Every turn on the journey equates to a decision that makes some happy and someone else sad. Keep your friends close and hopefully, your few enemies even closer. Recognize you are the shepherd of the flock. You must foster the growth and well being of those you lead, to mutually serve and respect. Guide your conscience by checking your reflection in the mirror frequently. Most importantly, ensure that your priorities are properly aligned. Strike a balance between work and your life. If you don’t have your health or your family, not much else will matter in the end. Jeff Shiver, CMRP, CPMM is a strategic Maintenance and Reliability professional for People and Processes, Inc. www.peopleandprocesses.com

communicAtion Communicating is something we do everyday with everyone we encounter, but The Sender is the originator of the message. The Receiver is the person the how well are we actually doing it? There are four common components in the message is sent to. The Message is the idea or information being sent. The communication process: the Sender, the Receiver, the Message, and Feedback. Feedback is the interpretation of the message the Receiver returns to the Sender. However, in order for these components to work together properly it is necessary To ensure that the message is understood the Sender should listen for Feedback to avoid ASSUMPTION. A key source of breakdown in the communication from the Receiver. process begins with the assumption that someone already knows the message, If the Sender assumes the Receiver knows the message, the message may never the message was properly understood, or the correct person received the message. be sent. This assumption has caused a breakdown in communication. If the Message was “remove x piece of equipment from service because of a severity 5 oil analysis result,” the Receiver may not be aware of the sample result and the equipment would remain in service. This may lead to catastrophic failure of the equipment. If the Sender conveys to the Receiver, “remove x piece of equipment from service because of a severity 5 oil analysis results,” the Sender is responsible to listen for feedback or a paraphrase of the Message from the Receiver. This will eliminate the assumption that the Receiver heard the Message, and avoids the possibility the Receiver heard “remove Y piece of equipment from service...” Feedback allows for verification of a properly received Message. A properly received Message is interpreted correctly and received by the right person. Stacy Heston is the Field Services Manager with POLARIS Laboratories. She is a graduate of Texas A&M and has the CMRP, MLT, and MLA certifications. www.polarislabs1.com

compAssion In my years of conducting root cause analysis investigations, I often get the sense is the absence of self righteousness. that leadership is most interested in finding a “guilty party” and punishing them. Instead, we must each look to how we contributed to the incident or injury. Leadership then feels satisfied because “something has been done to prevent Every member of the investigation team should assess what they could have recurrence.” It is extremely important to prevent recurrence when there has done differently in the months, weeks, and days preceding the incident that been an injury, a dangerous environmental release, or a major plant outage. But might have prevented it. Then blame is shared; then everyone has incentive to simply punishing an individual does not prevent others from taking the same prevent recurrence. This includes the extended team: Maintenance, Operations, course of action in the future. No amount of fear will prevent human mistakes. Procurement, HR, and Engineering leadership. We must ask ourselves these So we must go beyond the human mistakes (call them inappropriate choices questions: Did I lay out clear expectations? Did I enforce rules consistently? at critical times) to a place of understanding what encourages inappropriate How did I respond to requests for change or assistance? Did I ignore small choices, or discourages appropriate ones. This is the realm of systemic causes problems that led to this large incident? Is our training actually effective? (latency, managing systems, etc). We must find out what influenced the person In summary, effective root cause investigations will uncover the ‘why’ component to choose the action, or lack of action, s/he did. of human error and will include everyone acknowledging their share of the If we really, really understand how the workplace environment affects workers’ responsibility. behavior, AND if we imagine ourselves in their shoes, we will usually confess, Tom Walker is an Independent consultant and instructor with over 35 years experience “Given the same set of circumstances, I would have done the same thing.” in manufacturing, maintenance and reliability. Specialties are root cause analysis, Whenever this is the case, punishment is not appropriate because the situation shutdown/turnaround preparation, manufacturing best practices, and FMEA/RCM. could have happened to anyone. This is what I mean by compassion. Compassion

confidence Pursue improvements using cross-functional teams to release the magic of confidence. Winston Ledet is the author of “Don’t Just Fix It, Improve It” and creator of The Manufacturing Game®, ad is focused on industrial organizations interested in becoming learning organizations. www.manufacturinggame.com

costs The current economic climate dictates that cost management is a critical activity of the company also improves with less chaos and the ability to produce quality for many companies and their managers. Maintenance is very often seen as maintenance rather than a fix it quick / temporary repair approach. Our evidence an area where cost cutting targets can be easily and quickly achieved. Many strongly supports the notion that morale and motivation impact greatly on the maintenance managers take the view that this type of philosophy always ends productivity of companies and the unit cost of production. up with increased costs in the future. This is not true in many cases. In today’s current economic climate a company’s very survival could well Methods of Reducing Cost without Increasing Risk depend on its ability to reduce its maintenance costs while not sacrificing its viability in the long run. The important point is that cost reduction should Select a system or equipment item. Document the existing maintenance program be achieved through proven methods rather than methods based on knee jerk (formal and informal), including operator rounds List the maintenance tasks on reactions and management decisions based on a variety of assumptions that are a spreadsheet or PMO2000® software. Provide some conceptual training in the intuitively appealing but may prove to be wrong. From a maintenance manager’s RCM Decision Logic. Note that it is important to keep away from complex perspective, it would seem better to be in control of cost reduction than have statistical methods if you want people to believe in the results. Keep it simple. arbitrary targets imposed. Discuss operating context of the equipment being reviewed. Then establish the References: Nowlan F S and Heap H (1978) “Reliability – centered Maintenance”. failure mode(s) that each task is meant to find (in the case of hidden failures), National Technical Information Service, US Department of Commerce, Springfield, prevent or predict (for both hidden and evident). Virginia. Review the list to establish two important outcomes. The first is to find tasks Steve Turner founded OMCS International in 1996. OMCS International is a consulting that represent duplication of effort and the second is to establish what failure company specializing in asset reliability and maintenance management strategy. For the modes are missing from maintenance program. The latter is derived from a past 20 years, Steve has worked developing performance improvement and cost reduction programs for almost every form of physical asset. www.omcsinternational.com review of failure history (documented or in memory), and a detailed walk through the documentation associated with the machine. Analyze each unique failure mode individually and apply RCM decision logic to create a revised PM program. Then identify the most costly maintenance and think of ways to eliminate it through redesign. For evident failure modes that are random and sudden and cannot be treated with preventive or predictive maintenance seek ways to eliminate or minimize the consequences of them. Revise your data gathering system using the method described in another section. As the new program is deployed, reactive maintenance reduces and the total cost of maintenance reduce; very quickly in some cases. The cultural dimension

educAte Today’s economy is no reason to simply let down your guard. That is to say, now is not the time to not train your employees. Employees need to be kept abreast of the latest trends and/or practices within a certain filed or technology. There are Masters of Technologies, individuals that bring within a field of study or technology information or practices without the bias of a company or an individual paying for that information. Today’s technicians need the wisdom of those that came before them. Masters of a technology that have the experience and desire to continue to teach and/or instruct those individuals that are out their everyday trying to not only perform with excellence but to give it everything they have. I know of several technicians that are extremely proud after attending a class on ultrasound, vibration analysis, infrared thermography or oil analysis. Proud that their company used what might truly be called today a “limited” resource to train them. I have listened to these technicians talk about their companies in a positive attitude, an attitude that only exemplifies today’s modern technicians wanting more than ever to keep their jobs and keep their company competitive. When we look at the global world market and how we as Americans are suffering from the many companies that once made America great and how they have left our shores for foreign soil, foreign workers, and from restrictive conditions that hamper growth and competitiveness. We can only look at ourselves and the education of the American worker. A society exists today of individuals that believe in lowering the education standards of our children even further than they were just a year ago, particularly in mathematics. I for one know the bias of those that held others back in the 1950’s, so that others could catch up. That was wrong then, and it is wrong today. The education of your technicians will forever relate to our competitiveness in the world global market. Educate, and you will without fail, become more competitive and you will build a better relationship with your employees for a better tomorrow. Jim Hall

educAtion!! Educate yourself. Knowledge is power!! Second, there are a ton of good blogs on the web on this topic (set up your own web page to capture the important ones, so when you log on during the day When you have the knowledge, the skills and the experience you have the power there they are with the latest updates, this was pointed out to me and it works). to make the right decisions, if not the right decisions then at the least very educated ones. Third, attend webinars, they are usually free and are put on by vendors or are supported by vendors to promote their product, but there are kernels of It seems the Maintenance and Reliability world is driven by vendors or information in all of them, again you can stay at home, spend your hour or so consultants, touting how their way is the best way, sometimes the only way. listening, again cost effective rules the day. How do you overcome this bias, educate your self? Understand the terms. There are several ways. Four, attend a conference, there is nothing like the interaction with the practitioners who are so desperately looking for the magic that will make their First and foremost, in my belief, is to read. Read everything on the topic you program work, forgetting they are the magic. Meeting others struggling to can, this is the most cost effective route today, it doesn’t require the travel and make it happen is the most invigorating thing out there, many friendships will lodging required to get to a conference, it can be done in the comfort of your be struck and a ton of e-mail will follow. office or home couch, you can highlight the points that make the most impact on you in the book for future reference. Maintenance and Reliability Best Good luck with your program. Practices is the best I have read on the most complex of topics you will run Geoff Generalovic has been a maintenance electrician for 37 years. He has across in the maintenance world, with some very good points to be reckoned implemented and improved a PdM program in a major steel mill’s Hot Mill and now with. There are a multitude of magazines with many articles, with tons of links applies the techniques learned there all over the local plant’s business units. to supporting material.

effort—put in the hArd work!! Put in the hard work!! the hard work, they want quick fixes for everything that is not right in their program. Hard work and diligence is what gets it done, everything you put in There is nothing like hard work and hard knocks to teach you what works to your program today will reap rewards in the future that you cannot imagine, and what doesn’t.!! When you have a success or find or breakthrough there is there is a lot of money to be saved out there. Sure there will be mistakes made, nothing like it, you drop on to one knee and pump your fist and say “YES!!!!” something we seem to be averse to, in the long run your technicians are better with the biggest smile on your face ever, it was all worth it and you walk a little and more confident for their mistakes, look at the winners of the program of taller that day. the year or other awards, everyday people getting it done, making the magic In the maintenance and reliability world, there is no silver bullet!! Everyone is happen. looking for it, everyone hopes it is at the next conference or webinar or with the Be the magic your program needs!! Good luck with your program. next consultant or with the new CMMS system. When it doesn’t happen, interest is lost, everyone hangs their head, walking away form the best thing that could Geoff Generalovic has been a maintenance electrician for 37 years. He has happen to their maintenance program, reliability. Reliability in the process of implemented and improved a PdM program in a major steel mill’s Hot Mill and now applies the techniques learned there all over the local plant’s business units. work order planning and implementing, reliability in the process where diligent execution makes a find which saves downtime and a lot of money, reliability in the equipment operations relies on every day while they are running and most importantly reliably saving money. Everyone looks for the magic of that silver bullet. Everyone thinks, if only we could find the silver bullet the world will be all right. Well I have news for you, you are the magic, you are the silver bullet. Your determination to do things in a better way will drive a program to places you would never have dreamed of. Granted you need support for equipment and permission to go to some training courses. There is one component everyone seems to want to avoid, that’s

execution Success in improving asset performance is not in the blinding brilliance of your This year focus on your execution more than your strategy, once you are strategy, but rather it is in it’s execution. It is important to work efficiently and executing well, refine your strategy. make sure you are squeezing every ounce of productivity from your team. It is Paul Marshall is the Chief Executive Officer of Ivara Corporation, the leading asset equally important and oft not focused on as much, to ensure YOU have your performance management software solution provider. www.ivara.com team DOING THE RIGHT WORK. Make sure you understand not only what is on the check sheets your folks are using to do their work, but WHY it is on there. There is so much great predictive technology in our space now that generates data that was never before available. I encourage you to make sure that the data that is being generated by the technology investments you have made, is integrated to your work management system. Technology that is not integrated to work management and planning and scheduling will not be executed on. Technology is being deployed in support of very well thought out and articulated strategy. Make sure you close the Strategy/Execution gap. Build strategy: • Identify technology/methodology gaps • Develop tactical work plan • Introduce analytic and sustaining technology • Execute the right work at the right time • Iterate

expectAtions How many of us think we clearly define our expectations? I am sure most of us think that we are very clear in telling people what we want them to do. Rebuild that pump. Fix that mechanical seal. Eliminate that failure mechanism. Define the root cause. All of these are very concise, simple directives. They should all be easy to understand and execute in a reasonable timeframe. Ah, but have we clearly defined our expectations? When we make the assignment to rebuild the pump, did we define our expected results? Did we ask that they document the disassembly, clearly noting any exceptions? Did we identify how we wanted them to handle the exceptions? Is there a mechanism to document failure comments? Do they understand how it should be used? What content should be entered and in what format? Did we define the timeframe when we expect the job to be completed? When we ask to eliminate the failure mechanism do we provide a clear understanding of the parameters the employee must work within (e.g. budget and schedule)? Can the failure mechanism be eliminated by replacing the entire component regardless of cost or impact to schedule? That’s doubtful and is why expectations must be clearly defined. The examples could go on but hopefully the point is made that without clearly defined expectations, we will rarely get the results we desire from those that report to us. Make it a priority to define what you expect. With clearly defined expectations you will begin to instill a sense of accountability and ownership. Shayne Jones is the Maintenance Manager at Navajo Generating Station, Arizona Public Service.

fAilures Avoid failures by creating careful work habits. Winston Ledet is the author of “Don’t Just Fix It, Improve It” and creator of The Manufacturing Game®, ad is focused on industrial organizations interested in becoming learning organizations. www.manufacturinggame.com

frett It would be fair to assume that the readers are reliability professionals. In that cost-justified for all job functions. If with $500 worth of targeted training one case I’m boldly proposing that they resolve, in the space of six months, to make avoids a $12,000 repair, there is absolutely no rationale for not implementing an absolutely verifiable contribution to greater profitability of the enterprise targeted training. with which they are associated. Claiming that one cannot afford the required training because the economy They can make this contribution if they unreservedly accept the fact that the is bad is preposterous, foolhardy, and unworthy of further debate. It is true, basic agents of component failures are always Force, a Reactive Environment, however, that all cogs in the reliability improvement wheel must be engaged; Time and Temperature. Putting it in other words, whether the mechanical part which is to say that all job functions have to buy into the simple FRETT concept is found in a gas turbine, a home sewing machine, or a reciprocating compressor if progress is to be made. is of no importance at all. What’s important is that failure of the mechanical Heinz P. Bloch holds BSME and MSME degrees from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. As a part is brought on by one or more of the failure agents we express with the professional engineer with close to 50 years of experience he has authored 17 books and over 470 acronym FRETT. articles on machinery reliability improvement and cost avoidance matters. www.heinzbloch.com To then achieve failure reductions and to eradicate repeat failures, a mechanist- maintenance technician must not just replace failed parts, but must authoritatively determine the contributing agent(s) of FRETT. The mid-level maintenance manager must actively support the endeavor by allocating the extra time needed to go beyond mere replacement of parts, and even the ranking top members of the organization must understand that beneficial change cannot result from business-as-usual attitudes, or without comprehending that targeted training is

fundAmentAls One of the most important and most often overlooked areas of maintenance and reliability improvement lies in the fundamentals. Many of the facilities that I visit are caught in a game of chase, following whatever new philosophy or acronym has become vogue (I like to call it “chasing the shiny stuff.”). But fighting the urge and putting the “shiny stuff ” on the back burner is the basis of good maintenance. You must first take a look at basic maintenance practices and see where you stack up. Does your facility have a good partnership between maintenance and operations? Do you practice precision maintenance techniques? Are you capturing and using your maintenance history? Are your preventive maintenance tasks failure mode based and are they in use by your crafts? Do you truly plan your work? These and many other basic questions need to be addressed in order to build the foundation that will support true manufacturing excellence. Once these elements are shored up and strong, then the advanced tools and shiny processes will work more effectively to provide the most fundamental reason for manufacturing… profits. Shon Isenhour is an International Business Consultant with ABB Reliability Services who specializes in the philosophy, tools, and processes that provide sustainable overall reliability improvement and increased profits. shon.isenhour@us.abb.com; www.abb.com/reliabilitychallenge

greAse We all know about oil analysis and the many benefits that this important is ongoing and has demonstrate the capabilities of rheometry in looking for technology has brought to operators of all manner of oil lubricated machinery. changes in flow characteristics of grease, that can lead to thickening or thinning When combined with other key diagnostic technologies like vibration, infrared of greases in service, including conditions that lead to “tunneling”, or softening and ultrasound, the insight into the operating condition of an oil lubricated and loss of base oil from grease, resulting in ineffective lubrication. Sampling component can allow us to make the optimal decisions for operations and advances have opened the doors for trendable analysis of grease lubricated motors, maintenance. pillow block bearings, gearboxes and other critical components. And other streamlined analysis methods like Die Extrusion can quickly and effectively But what happens when the critical component is grease lubricated? More often trend changes in in-service grease condition to address Wear, Consistency, than not, we end up with a machine that has one fewer diagnostic tool at our Contamination and Oxidation Conditions. disposal. In some cases, this isn’t that big of a deal, but in others, the missing lubricant info can result in recurring failures as we fail to identify root-causes. Rich Wurzbach has over 20 years of experience in the development of Predictive In other cases, we are forced to allow the degradation of the machine to progress Maintenance programs and the applications of diagnostic technologies for industrial equipment. His expertise lies in the applications of Infrared Thermography and Oil and to the point where irreversible damage has occurred, before the signs of that Grease Analysis, and the integration of various diagnostic technologies for equipment damage are seen by ultrasound, vibration, or other indications. assessment. He has worked in the maintenance departments at Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station and the National Institutes of Health. www.mrgcorp.com How much more effective could our diagnostic programs be if we could identify lubricant conditions prior to damage, and correct them pro actively. It happens all the time in oil analysis. For example, when we see high particulate count in an oil reservoir, we may employ supplemental filtration or more effective reservoir breathers to eliminate the abrasive contaminants before they can cause bearing or valve damage. The same type of concerns exist with greases, not only including the presence of particulate contaminants, but also mixing of incompatible greases, changes in grease consistency and other conditions that lead to later machine damage. By focusing on identifying these conditions as they develop, we can reduce or eliminate the component damage and improve equipment reliability. Also, when we know what caused the failure or the condition that could potentially lead to failure, we can address systemic issues such as grease mixing, contaminated bulk grease supplies, or equipment specific operating conditions that require re-evaluating grease types, additives or re lubrication methods or frequencies and quantities. The time is right to consider some of the recent advances in grease sampling and analysis that will allow us to include lubricant analysis for all our critical machinery, not just the ones that happen to be oil lubricated. Excellent research

interrelAtionships Maintenance excellence is achieved by understanding and balancing the This would signify the requirement for commissioning and startup procedures interrelationships between multiple facets of asset management. If a single ether from the quality assurance perspective or if it was compliance issue, dimension is omitted risk will be introduced, it may not be risk of equipment quality control. The facts supporting this conclusion are that abnormal failures failure it may be financial (ROI) or process related. Reliability improvements should not happen and by happing in the Infant stage they should have been tend to focus on equipment failures which lead to partial success of a single considered and mitigated though commissioning practices. Optimal loading dimension of asset management. and normal operation negate any operational issues. The key relationships are identified by understanding: Example 2: During a major shutdown work information is lost for several contractor 1. Failure group: Equipment, Process or Business process. jobs. 2. Failure Type: Normal, Abnormal, or Random. Business process, Normal, Constant, Overloading, Shutdown. 3. Life Cycle Stage: Infant, Constant or End of life. 4. Operational loading: Under loading, Optimal loading or Overloading. The fact that this is a situation outside of normal business process (high volume 5. Operational Stage: Startup, Operating, or Shutdown. of work, shutdown) and normal (work information is normally lost during shutdowns) would drive the creation of shutdown business process mapping. By clearly understanding and identifying each item of a failure the correct mitigating action will become evident. There are individual solutions for each This concept has been developed by Reliability Laboratory and is incorporated sequence if identifying words. All five items may not be applicable, but should within a logic driven rule set. www.reliabilitylaboratory.com be considered in all cases. Example 1: A hydraulic unit fails by contamination jamming servo spools on initial startup. Equipment Failure, Abnormal Type, Infant, Optimal loading and Operating.

i–p–f The installation to potential failure to functional failure (i–p–f) curve shows the value of precision maintenance. Most reliability experts agree that the first best chance to have reliable systems occurs during the design and installation phase of equipment’s life. Many organizations have been successful at managing failures using condition monitoring methods and managing to the ‘p’ of the ‘p–f ’ interval. At the end of the day, condition monitoring is still a form of reactive maintenance. We are detecting potential failures and reacting to them so that we can reduce the number of functional failures. What if we pro actively eliminate failures by ensuring that well-designed equipment is installed, commissioned, and operated so that the ‘p’ point is pushed as far to the right as possible? Bill Keeter, CMRP, GPAllied www.gpallied.com

intervene Your greatest opportunities to influence spare parts inventory holdings are at the beginning and the end of the spare parts life cycle. Yet, most companies put most effort into the middle of the cycle. To make a real difference to your spare parts holdings this year intervene at the beginning of the cycle—act early—and ensure that you manage the end. Phillip Slater is an engineering material and spare parts management specialist, engineer, management consultant, and author of the book Smart Inventory Solutions. To learn more about improving your spares management visit www.PhillipSlater.com

journey Leadership acknowledges defect elimination is the key to reliability. Everyone is needed to eliminate 70 to 80% of the defects. Defect elimination through the use of cross functional Action Teams. Continuous Improvement Forums to acknowledge successes and bestow accolades. Empowerment of employees to continue to work cross functionally as they see fit to accomplish their tasks. Leadership is passed on to the workers who now own the process. Reliability is a journey powered by the innovations and diligence of the workers. Winston Ledet is the author of “Don’t Just Fix It, Improve It” and creator of The Manufacturing Game®, ad is focused on industrial organizations interested in becoming learning organizations. www.manufacturinggame.com

leAdership Leadership is needed to make our systems more flexible, to support root cause elimination, to clarify our goals, and to execute our plans. Winston Ledet is the author of “Don’t Just Fix It, Improve It” and creator of The Manufacturing Game®, ad is focused on industrial organizations interested in becoming learning organizations. www.manufacturinggame.com

light bulb I have fond remembrances, early in my career as a Reliability Professional, of when I made my first “call” (diagnosis) on a particular piece of rotating equipment that was in early stage failure mode. It doesn’t matter now who the Client was… but I realized then the power that I held in my hands. It was a little exhilarating to know that I was so empowered to help resolve productivity loss issues, help maintain my assigned assets and to help my organization manage and save money which conversely would help everyone within the Company. Later that year, while participating in a brainstorming activity to help resolve another tough equipment failure issue, I told one of my superiors that it was my job function to “ help make you look good !” Facing these tough economic times and the problems and challenges that surround each inherently complex and diverse organization, I have always remembered that feeling and have tried to use that energy in all my efforts helping clients and customers solve their Maintenance and Reliability challenges. While researching a particular topic, I found the following Latin translation. “Condemnant quod non intellegunt.” Translated into modern English this phrase means “Those who do not understand… condemn.” In all my travels, I have always tried to teach, share, educate, learn, participate and generally foster a positive and proactive learning environment that surrounds the Maintenance and Reliability philosophy and how it can help you in your personal and professional life. Jim Disney has been a practitioner of Inspection, Maintenance and Reliability for over 25 years. He has held positions such as technician, analyst, field services engineer, program manager and consultant in numerous plants across several industries. His company web page can be found: jimslubricationservices.com

lubricAnts In December 2009, the maintenance manager of a small process plant made a Anyway, while the full conversion of one’s lubrication strategy from mineral rather strange statement regarding synthetic lubricants. He stated there’s not oil to synthetic lubricants might be difficult to cost-justify in every case, we enough difference between mineral oils and synthetics to warrant his going know of instances where the use of expertly formulated synthetic lubes was with anyone other than the lowest cost supplier. Chances are, if his silly opinion easily justified. Two such instances are cooling tower fan gears and the bearing prevails, he can soon take credit for the demise of his place of employment. housings of centrifugal pumps where repeat bearings have occurred, or pumps where rising vibration and/or temperatures mandated countermeasures without shutting down the process. A tenacious synthetic oil film with improved film strength (compared to mineral oil) will cause gears to operate substantially cooler. In pump bearings on the verge of failure, a tenacious high-strength synthetic oil film will greatly reduce the risk of metal-to-metal contact of bearing components. There have been numerous instances of bearing vibrations and temperatures being substantially reduced, when compared to continued operation with mineral oils. In these “bad actor” pump bearings, an appropriate synthetic is thought to fill the micro- cracks in a manner that cannot be matched by mineral oils. Of course, it will make even more economic sense to keep the synthetic oil clean. Moisture and dirt can largely be excluded with good bearing protector seals; moreover, oil change or oil replacement frequencies can typically be extended four to six-fold with synthetics. It will be worth noting the various generic styles of rotating labyrinth seals being marketed today (see figure on left). Figure: Generic bearing housing protector seals with configurations that risk O-ring degradation (top left) due to contact with sharp grooves; a configuration that uses a V-contoured ring (top right) tending to increase frictional drag; and a modern design (bottom) with optimally placed O-ring locations. Heinz P. Bloch holds BSME and MSME degrees from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. As a professional engineer with close to 50 years of experience he has authored 17 books and over 470 articles on machinery reliability improvement and cost avoidance matters. Process Machinery Consulting. www.heinzbloch.com

get connected! Maintenance and reliability professionals can feel isolated, particularly if working in asset management in a site remote from contact with like-minded people. This can also happen in a small workplace without the contact with fellow professionals that is so important in sharing ideas and talking through proposals. Such isolation can also mean that continuing education opportunities are harder to find. Ray’s solution? I have thought on this over my 45 years as an engineer. First… join whatever professional organisation is available and take advantage of its networking opportunities. SMRP, PEMAC, AMC, AMP are examples. Attend their meetings and conferences (heck, even offer to speak) and use their on-line forums. Second… widen your views by regular reading of available journals. Many are available online. Third… undertake formal studies. Some universities offer distance learning programs that lead to a formal qualification, up to Master’s degree. (Conditional entry is often available for those who do not hold a bachelor’s degree). Many students well-experienced in asset management have told me that their studies have widened their views and helped their work performance, Ray Beebe joined Monash University at its rural campus in Australia in 1992. He has led its off-campus postgraduate programs in maintenance and reliability engineering since 1996, with students around the world. Ray’s first 28 years were in thermal power generation in non-metropolitan locations in Australia and the UK. He developed condition monitoring by vibration and performance analysis, and has written two books. He has presented at many conferences and his papers have also appeared in magazines world-wide. He is active In the Asset Management Council, and in Engineers Australia. www.gippsland.monash.edu.au/science/mre

mAnufActuring The loss of US manufacturing has been staggering in recent years with some industries all but disappearing. Let us turn the tides in 2010 using the “American ingenuity” that first sent the US to the forefront of the manufacturing revolution. It is what separates us from our competitors. What can we do differently? How can we create products that are better than any competitors? What challenges can we overcome? What waste can we remove? We can produce goods competitively but it will not be the way our predecessors did it. What changes will you start today? Shon Isenhour is an International Business Consultant with ABB Reliability Services who specializes in the philosophy, tools, and processes that provide sustainable overall reliability improvement and increased profits. www.abb.com/reliabilitychallenge

networking, not working Here are a couple of questions and ideas about networking: being selfish or are you simply afraid that you could seem foolish when others read your contributions? If you have a couple of minutes to be honest with • What do you want from your network? yourself you might see things a little differently (or not). • What are you prepared to put in so that others can benefit from your The second question is all about what you are prepared to put in to give a little contributions? more freely without the expectation that ‘there’s something in it for me’. What’s If either of those questions was easy to answer maybe you might want to stop, go in it for you is knowledge that you’re freely and openly helping others, sharing back and take another look! It may be that when you think of your professional your ideas and knowledge. network that it seems to be simply a place where you can try to find an answer So, my thoughts for 2010 revolve around moving forward, making just a little to a technical work issue that you’re stuck on. OK, there’s nothing wrong with more time to actively contribute to the reliability / asset management community, that and most of us do it from time to time. Try thinking about it from a discovering new friends to share ideas with. My hope for 2010 is that some of different angle when you simply take from a network a couple of things happen. you might join me in this effort. The first is that it is essentially selfish to do that and second is that it deprives others from the chance to benefit from you. So, the real question here is are you Derek Burley, CMRP is an RCM Practitioner with almost 30 years experience in reliability and currently works for Rio Tinto as Principal Advisor (Reliability).

operAtion-ility Facility Reliability (FR) is the reliability of equipment throughout its entire life- IR, PR, and InstR are related and can be viewed as the Initial reliability (InR). cycle. It can be thought of as cradle to grave reliability. InR is a constant after start up. The combination of OR and MR is the ongoing reliability (OgR). OgR changes day-to-day. The simplest definition of reliability is “The probability that an item will perform its intended function for a specific interval under stated conditions.” What Therefore: FR=InR x OgR makes this definition context sensitive is the word “operating”. Plant managers Where: IntR= PRxIR x InstR want to operate is such a way to meet their quota. Operations managers want to use the equipment as much as possible. Design Engineers want equipment And OgR= OR x MR that operates to required capacity. In today’s manufacturing and production One metrics commonly used to measure a facilities performance is Overall environment there are different perceptions of reliability. Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). This is the product of availability, process rate, FOR is the ability to produce the required amount of product over a specified and quality. OEE can be viewed as a measure of FOR but the relationships period of time. FR is influenced by design (or inherent) reliability (IR), between the two must be clearly understood. Of the three parts of OEE only procurement reliability (PR), installation reliability (InstR), operations reliability availability is impacted by IntR. OgR has an impact on all three parts of OEE. (OR), and maintenance reliability (MR). In the past these have been treated Therefore, if a company wants to change OEE, they can change IntR, OgR, or individually but not necessarily from a reliability perspective. both. Our industry must begin to think in terms of Facility Reliability as a whole entity. Richard Overman is President of Core Principles and has 25 years experience in maintenance and reliability engineering. His experience includes aircraft, nuclear power plants, mining, petrochemical and pharmaceutical. www.coreprinciplesllc.com

operAtors Operator maintenance is often one of the largest missed opportunities in capital Here is one way to go about this: intensive industries. Become a believer that maintenance is a process and not a department. This Our research shows that progressive companies use operators for between 50% means that all inspections, tests and programmed component change outs, and 75% of their predictive and preventive work by man-hours. The large whether they be operator executed or not should be derived from the one number of man-hours accumulates because operator maintenance is frequent process and method. Engage the production people in this concept. Ensure (every hour or every shift) compared to mechanical or electrical maintenance. the production people see this as a benefit to them by explaining that you Can you afford not to take advantage of operators and increase your effective could use your scarce technical resources to add greater value if the operators resources by 30% or more? were provided good instructions and were completing a many of the frequent maintenance tasks. Select a machine or system and sit down with the mechanical and electrical people and the operators and work through the current maintenance program and failure modes on the equipment to develop firstly, a new operator maintenance check sheet, and secondly a target operator maintenance check sheet. The target is used because it is likely that there will be some tasks that operators could do with the benefit of some training. The “ready to go” changes should be implemented immediately. The “need some training” changes can be introduced as the training is completed. Steve Turner founded OMCS International in 1996. OMCS International is a consulting company specializing in asset reliability and maintenance management strategy. For the past 20 years, Steve has worked developing performance improvement and cost reduction programs for almost every form of physical asset. www.omcsinternational.com

pArticipAte Participants in the 2009 Materials and Spares Management Survey discovered and then understood the strengths and weaknesses in their company’s approach to materials and spare parts management. This FREE survey covers six key areas of materials and spare parts management, reviewing 25 separate elements of execution. Each element has four levels of response, each equating to a different level of performance. The matrix of good practice builds a profile of current performance. The first step to improve your materials and spare parts management this year is to participate in the 2010 survey. As a participant you will receive a report showing where you stand against each level of performance and identifying where you need to act to improve performance. When the full survey is complete you will also get a copy of the final report identifying trends and issues across all participants. Please note that your information will be completely confidential—at no time will we use your company name in conjunction with the information, except in the individual report sent back to you. The survey takes about 45 minutes to complete. For more information on how you can participate in the 2010 Materials and Spare Parts Management Survey visit www.PhillipSlater.com. Phillip Slater is an engineering materials and spare parts management specialist, engineer, management consultant, and author of the book Smart Inventory Solutions. To learn more about improving your spares management visit www.PhillipSlater.com

performAnce On the subject of machines, “Performance” is the most important single word The machine is identified at birth and is managed through to its death. to the reliability, maintenance, engineering or operations professional. The machine meets its quality requirements. A machine’s performance goal is to maximize its productivity while minimizing Globally we lack statistics that would accurately verify that these characteristics its cost of operating and ownership over its life cycle. contribute to the productive performance of machines… but we know that they Machines that perform well share common characteristics while machines that do. routinely fail share a different list of characteristics. Achieving the performance expectation of machines is simple. If it seems Machines that perform to their expectation are: complicated within your operation, then take a close look at your activities • Well lubricated and ask a basic question... “does this activity contribute to the productive • Clean performance of my machine”.... and if the answer is no, then reconsider why • Well lit when required you are doing the activity. • Safe to work on and around Mike Bonga is well known in the Canadian Machinery Reliability industry and has been • Inspected routinely leading change by promoting innovative reliability concepts for 20 years. www.maxi.com • Installed accurately and correctly • Productive In addition, these machines have a management program which includes: • Measurement and reporting of their productive performance • Regular inspection using appropriate technologies • The criticality of the machine within its process is well understood • Easily accessible maintenance information • Query-ability of maintenance and performance data The machine can be compared with other machines of a similar nature within a common data management software. The machine might have been evaluated by RAM, RCM, FMEA or FMECA study during its lifetime.

plAnning Planning is normally thought of as the preparatory work before crafts persons start work. Such advance planning should save time later during execution of the work. Yet, in actual practice, new planners at first do not plan future work. They spend most of their time “chasing parts,” i.e., helping crafts persons find parts for jobs already in-progress. Curve A shows this initial planning effect as first a dip as the plant takes good crafts persons from the workforce to become planners. The curve then rises as the planners become “Go-To” persons for quickly using the CMMS, equipment manuals, inventory systems, and purchasing processes. This interference with planning sufficiently keeps planners from planning enough unassigned work. Curve A finally plateaus or falls as chasing parts can only improve overall maintenance effectiveness so far. Curve B shows management actively redirecting the workforce not to interfere with planners and shutting down the parts chasing. Planners now plan enough work not yet assigned so that the weekly scheduling can select jobs with estimated skill and labor hours. The weekly goal setting against available crew hours greatly improves productivity enough to raise overall maintenance effectiveness. Curve C shows advance preparatory work finally increasing maintenance effectiveness. Yet, this increase is mostly possible because planners (still being protected from chasing parts) use a Deming cycle of improvement. They use feedback from previous work and avoid planning each job from scratch. Curve D finally shows the final frontier for maintenance planners and effectiveness improvement. The planners collect and file work orders with appropriate codes and information. So equipped, plant engineers make better informed decisions about equipment refurbishments and focus on the proper plant improvement areas. Doc Palmer, PE, MBA, CMRP is author of McGraw-Hill’s Maintenance Planning and Scheduling Handbook, Managing Partner of Richard Palmer and Associates. www.palmerplanning.com

pm review Our research shows that most maintenance programs have holes in them and If it has not [N], then it should be put through an RCM / PMO analysis [Apply often there is no effort made to change the situation. Sometimes, the opposite RCM / PMO]. If it has been reviewed [Y], then the validity of the previous is the case. Every time a failure occurs, the maintenance manager creates a review needs to be assessed against the fact that the failure has now occurred new task. Best practice organisations understand that it is not practical nor unexpectedly [Failure Prevented?]. The previous analysis may have recommended economical to try and prevent or predict every failure. The flow chart helps a “No Scheduled Maintenance” policy in which case, the outcome was expected organizations deal with failures caused by lack of maintenance. and no further action need be taken except if the failure has now become more of a problem than originally thought [Increasing problem?]. Then modifications Warning! Most organizations are already trying to do too much maintenance. and a revision of the RCM / PMO should be undertaken based on the decreased The application of this flow chart will only add to the problem if there are reliability. If, however, the recommendation was for PM and the PM has failed insufficient resources to complete the current one. Before this flow chart is [System Downfall], then the source of the problem needs to be identified and implemented, we recommend you run a PM Optimisation or Review program rectification action taken. on the assets to reduce the PM requirement first and upfront, eliminate maintenance that is not cost effective or duplicated. Note that when organisations commence this type of process, they document the failure modes of the system or equipment that maintenance is covering. The starting point [F] is any unplanned failure that has occurred in the plant. This lists makes the flow chart easy to complete. Trying to implement this The first step is to define the failure mode or mechanism of failure. Following system without the failure mode list requires a lot of searching through PMs this [Failure Analysed?], it needs to be determined if this failure mode has been and work instructions. analysed previously using RCM / PMO logic or is supposed to be covered by the existing maintenance program (don’t forget to consider operator maintenance). Steve Turner founded OMCS International in 1996. OMCS International is a consulting company specializing in asset reliability and maintenance management strategy. For the past 20 years, Steve has worked developing performance improvement and cost reduction programs for almost every form of physical asset.

regreAsing High quality machine re lubrication is a vital component of machine health The operational factors (F values) are: and productivity. There are many areas to consider when making a quality Condition Average Operating Range Correction Factor improvement plan, including lubricant selection, storage and handling, re Temperature Housing below 150 F 1.0 lubrication intervals, contamination control, lubricant analysis for effective Ft 150 to 175 F 0.5 planning. While grease purchases comprise only about 5% of the lubricant 175 to 200 F 0.2 budget, grease re lubrication occupies the majority of the lubrication technician’s Above 200 F 0.1 time. Most plant grease application intervals are based on speculation rather Contamination Light, non-abrasive dust 1.0 than facts and operating conditions. Fc Heavy, non-abrasive dust 0.7 Light, abrasive dust 0.4 Grease intervals can, and should, be calculated. Influences include bearing Heavy, abrasive dust 0.2 type and size, shaft speed, operating conditions (vibration, heat, moisture, Moisture Humidity mostly below 80% 1.0 atmospheric debris, shaft orientation). AMRRI provides a formula that is a Fm Humidity between 80 and 90% 0.7 modified version of a FAG bearings company formula, as follows: Occasional condensation 0.4 Occasional water on housing 0.1 t = K * [[(14*10^6) / (n*(d^1/2))] – 4*d] Vibration Less than 0.2 ips velocity, peak 1.0 Fv 0.2 to 0.4 ips 0.6 Where: Above 0.4 0.3 t = time in hours until next re lubrication event Position Horizontal bore centerline 1.0 K = product of all correction factors (Ft*Fc*Fm*Fv*Fp*Fd) Fp 45 degree bore centerline 0.5 n = RPM Vertical centerline 0.3 d = bore diameter (mm) Bearing Design Ball Bearings 10 F = correction factors (see table) Fd Cylindrical and needle roller bearings 5.0 Tapered and spherical roller bearings 1.0 An example of the product of this approach is displayed to the side for ball bearings at 3.5 and 4.5 inches bore diameter, and several speeds. These results are in DAYS between re lubrication events. A pinwheel interval selector for common bearing types is available from AMRRI at www.precisionlubrication. com/tools. Mike Johnson is the owner and principal consultant at AMRRI. AMRRI provides a reliability centered approach to operations and maintenance basic care practices for Process Industries, specifically focusing on application of technology and knowledge to improve machine lubrication, condition control and assessment through sampling and analysis, either in small increments or a turnkey approach. PrecisionLubrication.com

review From a PdM standpoint whether you have a well established program or just starting one, they are always in need of review. If you have an established oil analysis program when were the slates of analysis parameters set up for your equipment. Have there been new tests established, or are there additional tests you learned about over the year that might be helpful in catching information about the lubricant or the equipment. Are you utilizing the analysis report information to the fullest extent to allow extended oil changes, changing filters only when needed, upgrading filters and breathers? All of the information you need is right there in your analysis report, you just need to review it and utilize it! When was the last time you looked at your vibration spectrum parameters, or reviewed or set up fault frequencies for the components of the equipment? Do your spectrums have enough range to include everything that is going on in that equipment train, or are you collecting more information than you need? Has the equipment been replaced by something similar but different when it comes to meaningful vibration data collection. Does it provide you with specific information on the internals of the equipment or just overall vibration amplitudes? When was the last time that alarm settings were modified or changed? If there is a lot of equipment in alarm condition, is it really a problem or just incorrectly set alarm limits. Maybe it’s not within industry standards but it is the best it can be for what it is and the conditions it is running in. You have several years of data and no unexpected failures on this equipment so why not adjust your alarms to reflect your equipment history. So why not take a few minutes and make some adjustments. Tweak some alarms, add some new or different tests, and make sure you are getting the correct and needed information to keep your program alive and growing. Why not make it a point to review and update as needed! Brian Thorp is a 35 year plus veteran to maintenance. His last 25 years have been in power generation with the last 10 years as a lubrication specialist. He holds the CLS and MLA II certifications among many others in the predictive maintenance field.

sAfety A reliable plant is a safe plant, is an environmentally sound plant, is a cost effective plant. Consider the following data: Engage your people in eliminating the defects in all your processes. Your plant will be safe, cost effective, and environmentally sound. Ron Moore is Managing Partner of The RM Group, Inc., and the author of Making Common Sense Common Practice: Models for Manufacturing Excellence (now in its 3rd edition) from Elsevier Books, Butterworth-Heinemann imprints; and of Selecting the Right Manufacturing Improvement Tools—What Tool? When? from the MRO-Zone.com; as well as over 40 journal articles. He can be reached at 865-675-7647, or RonsRMGp@aol.com

six The figure shows the six key blocks of information you need to know when aligning rotating machinery. Do you know how to handle the details in each of these blocks when aligning your machinery? If not, you probably have some major issues with your alignment program. John Piotrowski is the author of Shaft Alignment Handbook.

stAtus quo Short for “status quo ante bellum” meaning “the state before the war.” Used to taking the helm of the Green Bay Packers legendary and hall-of-famer coach, reinstate property boundaries, ownership, etc after a nation is defeated. As we Vince Lombardi, said to his players “men we will strive for perfection fully move into 2010, many of us have been defeated by moving from one initiative knowing we will never attain it, because nothing in life is perfect, but along the to another without fully ever reaching our potential in the previous initiative. way we will find perfection and perfection we will have”. All too often we are caught up in the day-to-day fight within our organizational Nothing is ever going to perfect, challenge the status quo! culture to keep the operation moving in the right direction. Many times that comes at the expense of our maintenance and reliability efforts. Paul Dufresne is the Field Service Manager for Predict Inc. (A wholly-owned subsidiary of Trico Corporation). www.tricocorp.com; www.predictinc.com As we look forward to the New Year, I offer you this challenge to identify the pockets of excellence within your organizations whatever they may be and to build upon them. Before attempting to take these areas to a new level, first identify where you want them to be at the end of the year. Develop your plan, set your milestones and measure your performance along the way. This will assist you in attaining your goals. If you do stumble along the way, learn from it and apply what you’ve learn to improve the processes. In great attempts, it is even glorious to fail. When you start building on the pockets of excellence in your organization you can start to link them together. By doing this, you now move from pockets to sustainable areas of excellence within organizational culture. Shortly after

steel “As steel sharpens steel, so one man sharpens another” With every passing year, more and more good steel retires from the workforce. The best way to address the gap in skilled labor is to ensure knowledge wrought from years of experience is captured and used to improve the work force that will be left in place. Mentoring colleagues, developing procedures and processes, capturing work order history, refining preventive maintenance documentation, and participating in Reliability Centered Maintenance efforts can help us sharpen our steel with steel in 2010. Steel that’s not used rusts, and rusted steel benefits no one. Shon Isenhour is an International Business Consultant with ABB Reliability Services who specializes in the philosophy, tools, and processes that provide sustainable overall reliability improvement and increased profits. www.abb.com/reliabilitychallenge

survivAl To remain competitive and economically viable within today’s industrial and re-align the organization into one unified goal of improving the plant’s world of cost cutting, downsizing and global competition, many anxious equipment reliability and performance while effectively reducing operational and distressed companies are searching “again” at improvements within the costs. maintenance departments. Whether implementing a new CMMS, investing in Operational Excellence (OE) is keyed term for a philosophy of unified leadership, new Predictive (PdM) technologies or the latest buzz trend, these all remain unified team work and unified problem solving resulting in continuous nothing more than a fine tuning of the status quo! improvement throughout the organization. By having “only” company wide Most North America’s industrialized production facilities still struggle to goals and budgets, empowering employees and optimizing existing activities effectively change from the continuous fire fighting maintenance, unacceptable in the process, every individual in the organization is made accountable. equipment reliability and the associated ballooning operating costs. This is after Accountable to not only improving equipment reliability but also the entire decades of promoting and implementing continuous changes in the maintenance business effectiveness including improving risk-safety, environmental integrity, programs, advanced diagnostic technologies, and huge investments in both energy efficiency, product quality, and customer service to mention a few. manpower and financial support. OE stresses the need to continually improve by promoting a stronger teamwork One constant over the decades atmosphere, common goals and plant wide accountability. is the departmental structure Kevan Slater has spent the last 2 decades as a senior technical consultant for of Production/Operations, Maximum RPM developing, advocating and implementing technical, business Engineering, Maintenance, and operating strategies for improving the reliability of industrial equipment to numerous companies throughout North America. www.maximumrpm.ca Procurement, Health and Safety, and Environmental departments within most of these facilities. These departmental silos inherently protect the expertise of the people working within each silo while also isolating the people working inside the other silos. The end result is empowered departments with individual goals, objectives and budgets. History has taught us that true change requires a revolution or transformation of complex systems or organizations by a radical change or complete replacement of the former way of thinking. With the present global recession, competitive markets, mergers and/or looming plant foreclosures, it is time for change. Time for a paradigm shift to breakdown traditional departmental fiefdoms or silos

sustAin One of the key markers of success in 2010 will be an organization’s ability to sustain beneficial change. When we deconstruct sustainable change we are left with five key areas: • Leadership: know what to change and when to change (your leadership style and your processes). • Communication: understand what medias to use, how to use them and at what frequency. • Change Dynamics: know what to expect when those affected by the change start the process. • Risk Identification: understand what could go wrong and what you are going to do about it pro actively. • Project Management: know who is going to do which step and when, during the implementation of the change. The battle to insure that your organization understands and applies each of these is the challenge you face. When these areas have been addressed with your change strategies, you’ll be well on your way to a successful 2010. Shon Isenhour is an International Business Consultant with ABB Reliability Services who specializes in the philosophy, tools, and processes that provide sustainable overall reliability improvement and increased profits. www.abb.com/reliabilitychallenge

swApping A maintenance practices manual segment on “proven best practices for spare pump operation” notes that the more frequently a pump is started, the lower its anticipated Mean Time Between Repairs (MTBR). It correctly explains start-stop transients as stressing pump seals and bearings. Accordingly, the manual advocates a criticality ranking of all pumps into four categories and then alternating operation (swapping) on the following schedule: Emergency: Every 4 weeks Normal: Every 52 weeks Vital: Every 12 weeks Low: Never This approach does not follow logic; for the most critical equipment the owners apply the strategy that, in their words, will give them the shortest MTBR. Indeed, the manual seems to have overlooked that few pumps will run flawlessly after sitting idle for 52 weeks. After a year its bearings will have degraded for two reasons: One is micro-vibration transmitted from adjacent running equipment; that vibratory motion causes the oil film to be wiped off. The result is metal-to-metal contact and false brinelling, usually at the lowermost bearing balls. The second typical result is corrosive damage unless dry sump oil mist is used. Swapping every 6 to 8 weeks makes the most sense; it will protect the bearings and will keep the product in piping and seal regions from partially vaporizing. Swapping will also serve as a training exercise to keep operators sharp and alert. Keep it up. Heinz P. Bloch holds BSME and MSME degrees from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. As a professional engineer with close to 50 years of experience he has authored 17 books and over 470 articles on machinery reliability improvement and cost avoidance matters.

systems Why is it that great ideas improve your maintenance, but reliability processes fall apart not long after implementation? Often you will see excellent compliance while the situation is being monitored, but after that things slowly move back to the old ways. The answer is that the system, process or practice has never become part of the culture. So how do you embed changes into your culture? Ultimately for people to accept change they need to value it. I call this the “What’s in it for me” syndrome. To value a change, people affected have to have a very clear understanding of the reasons behind the change and the outcomes expected. They also need to have a robust system put in place so there is no ambiguity as to what the change entails. When people value the change and have a robust system in place, the process can be embedded into the culture. A good example of this would be building PM’s into your CMMS. Most people will understand the benefit, it will provide them meaning full work, and because it is systemized via the CMMS is likely to still be operating for many years to come. What do you do if people still don’t see “What’s in it for them”, but the changes have to be implemented for other reasons? In this case where you have not won people over, you still must build a robust system and ensure people follow it. In time, the benefits may become more obvious, but ultimately continued compliance will eventually lead to a cultural change. The common denominator here is that you must have Robust Systems and then ensure compliance to ensure cultural change. Mark Brunner is a Reliability and Maintenance Systems Superintendent for Onesteel Wire of Newcastle, Australia.

ten thoughts for 2010 If 50 years of Engineering of which 20 dealing with Reliability, gave me any 7. A CHAMPION valuable insight, here go ten thoughts. While not new ideas, it may be a useful For success and sustain ability you must appoint a “Champion”. summary update for successful action… They are in no priority sequence and 8. ALIGNMENT of course there may be more… Goals must be aligned. Each specific goal must address 1. SIMPLE vs. COMPLEX the Company Business Goals and values. Keep it simple! 9. MEASUREMENT “Simple is beautiful” (quote from Story Musgrave, astronaut) “If it can’t be measured, it can’t be managed” 2. THEORY + PRAXIS Make sure your KPIs are FEW, correct, valid, understood. Don’t attempt practical implementation if it is not based on a sound and 10.PERSEVERANCE FOR SUSTAIN ABILITY proven theory. If problems strike, face them and solve them. Never give up. You must introduce theory. Without theory it will never work. BUT: theory alone will not get you there ! Henry Ellmann is Founder and Chairman of Ellmann, Sueiro y Asociados, Management You MUST turn theory into practical implementation. and Industrial Engineering Consultants, Europe and America, since 1958. Born in Vienna, Austria, 1933. Engineering graduate, Buenos Aires University. RCM2 (Reliability Centered Maintenance) Practitioner, certified by late John Moubray. Conducted hundreds 3. RELIABILITY BEYOND MAINTENANCE of profit improvement projects and lectures internationally. www.ellmann.net Reliability is no more RCM alone. Just as “quality” had turned into “TOTAL QUALITY”, now RELIABILITY has expanded to also cover Operations and more… OVERALL RELIABILITY. 4. NOT ONLY PHYSICAL ASSETS Precisely because we need to concentrate on Physical Assets, we must explicitly consider the LINKS these assets have with the other assets: HUMAN Assets, FINANCIAL Assets, INTANGIBLE Assets and INFORMATION Assets. PAS 55 clearly explains these links. 5. CULTURAL CHANGE No implementation can succeed without the accompanying Change Management. This has to be built into the implementation, not as an “add-on” but as an integral part of it. 6. MANAGEMENT SUPPORT A requisite, without further comment…

the rules There are some things that are consistent throughout any industry. Let’s call if you can come up with mitigation for whatever it might be. Being proactive is them ‘the rules’. They are almost universal in their application, with only slight great, but you still have to look at all sides of the equation. variations from place to place. You can try, but I don’t think there is any way to Rule Four: Never challenge worse. avoid them entirely. Never, ever, utter the words ”It can’t get any worse than this”. If you tell a Rule One: Stuff that hits the fan is not distributed evenly. mechanic “It can’t be done”, it will be accepted as a personal challenge. If you When the stuff hits the fan, it tends to affect everybody in the room, not just say “It can’t get any worse than this”, “Worse” will take it as a personal challenge those who caused the stuff or turned on the fan in the first place. If you are in and SHOW you that yes, it can get worse. the room, you will be hit by some stuff, and by no means will it be in proportion Rule Five: Just because you’re different, doesn’t mean you are useful. to your personal level of involvement. Fair? Of course it isn’t fair. Check your job description. I doubt you will find the word ‘fair’ in it anywhere. I worked for a manager once that would not—could not—admit he was wrong. Ever. It was like the word ‘wrong’ wasn’t even in his vocabulary in relation to The real tragedy here is that in a lot of cases—I would almost go so far as to say himself, but somehow he managed to say it frequently to others around him. most cases—the innocent are punished and the guilty go virtually unscathed. If he got pushed to the limit on something that he was clearly wrong about, he The ‘fan’ is more like a shotgun than a sniper rifle. If you had nothing to do would resort to his favorite saying, “It’s not wrong, it’s just different.” ‘Different’ with the event but are in the room and got hit by the stuff anyway, it is just and ‘wrong’ are not mutually exclusive terms. You can be either, neither, or the price you pay for being in the room. The real rule here is don’t even be in both. building – let alone in the room – when the stuff hits the fan. Rule Six: All things—either good or bad—will get worse if left unattended. Rule Two: Eagles soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jets. This is a basic concept that any technical minded person understands. It is also If you absolutely must be in the building when the stuff hits the fan, being the entire reason that your preventive maintenance programs and reliability a small target is a good thing. Being a small target hiding behind a bigger programs exist. Yes, you can get away with not changing the oil… for a while. target is even better. Logic dictates, though, that a large target hiding behind a Maybe even for a long while, but eventually it will catch up to you. This concept smaller target not only isn’t very effective, but it casts some serious doubt on the applies to programs, processes, people, and systems as well as to mechanical intelligence of the large target. Although being an eagle is cool, but there are things. also advantages to being a weasel. Rule Seven: Two out of three ain’t bad. Rule Three: If you can’t stand the heat, don’t tickle the dragon. Cheap. Fast. Good. Pick any two. Yes, this applies to your plan. You can have Consider the consequences of your action before you take the action. This is cheap and fast, but it won’t be good. You can have fast and good, but it won’t be especially true in a ‘management by crisis’ environment. Sometimes the medicine cheap. You can have cheap and good, but it won’t be fast. You can occasionally is worse than the cure. Sometimes that ‘knee jerk’ gets a little extreme and ends get ‘kinda cheap, kinda fast, and kinda good’, but that is just a compromise, up kicking someone in the teeth. and all three parts of the triangle suffer. All you can really do is decide which Think before acting. Try to determine what could possibly go wrong, and see two you want and go for them.

the rules (cont.) Rule Eight: Stuff rolls downhill. Stuff rolls downhill. It is a natural law of physics that stuff starts at the top and goes to the bottom. This is one of the many reasons why being at the bottom is not really great. You catch all the stuff coming down from above. But being in the middle isn’t so great, either, because while you catch all the stuff on the way down and pass it on, some portion of the stuff that hits bottom bounces right back up to you, so, in reality, you catch stuff from both directions. In that sense, it is almost better to be on the bottom, because you are only hit from one direction. Rule Nine: What you get done is more important than what you do. There is an old saying that goes “If you can’t produce results, show furious activity’. It is possible to be busy – or to look like you’re busy – all day and accomplish nothing, or at best, accomplish nothing of value. Results count more than effort. Bill Brinkley holds an FAA Airframe and Power plant certification, an FAA Inspection Authorization, FCC ratings, and an Aviation Maintenance Engineer certification, and is a nationally published columnist in various maintenance magazines. www.brinkleyandassociates.aero

unAcceptAble Nearly everyone agrees that failure is unacceptable. What we can’t seem to agree on is what a failure is. The best definition of failure I have read was developed by the Nowlan and Heap led team that made up Maintenance Steering Group 1 (MSG1) over thirty years ago. The seminal work they did eventually became the backbone for reliability-centered maintenance. The team came up with the following definitions for failure and the two primary failure types. 1. Failure – “The presence of an unacceptable condition” 2. Potential Failure – “An identifiable physical condition which indicates a functional failure is imminent.” 3. Functional Failure – “The inability of an item, or equipment containing the item to perform to a specified performance standard.” The definitions of potential failure and functional failure led to the development of what we commonly call the ‘p’ to ‘f ’ or ‘p-f ’ interval. Defining failure as the presence of an unacceptable condition makes it possible for an organization to define failure in its own terms. Reactive organizations are willing to accept any condition up to functional failure as an acceptable condition. Highly proactive organizations are successful because their definition of an unacceptable condition is when a potential failure has been detected. We like to call it managing to the p of the ‘i-p-f ’ curve where ‘i’ is installation, ‘p’ is potential failure, and ‘f ’ is functional failure. Accepting Potential Failure as the actual point of failure changes the entire way we manage maintenance activities, and makes it much more likely that we will try to find the root causes of the potential failures, eliminate them, and create a more reliable operation. Potential Failure = Failure a More Reliable Operation Bill Keeter is Principal Technical Advisor at GPAllied, Inc. Bill has 25 years experience in maintenance and has spent the past fifteen years using Reliability Engineering methods to create reliable operations in a wide variety of industries including chemicals, petroleum, metals mining and production, and heavy manufacturing. www.gpallied.com

upgrAde So how long have you been pulling oil samples by sticking a piece of tubing into a reservoir or snaking it down into a motor bearing cavity. You may be getting a sample for analysis but is it a truly representative sample. Sample fittings are the way to go for a consistent, representative, sample when installed correctly. There are several manufacturers such as Checkfluid, Donaldson, Minimess, and Trico, to mention a few, that supply these fittings in various configurations to meet just about any application. These companies usually have proper installation information on their web sites to help you to get them in the right place. There are also several articles written on the proper placement of sample fittings. Another major added benefit to utilizing sample fittings is saving time when collecting your routes. On average you can cut your collection time by 50% or more. When collecting your vibration routes, are you still hunting a flat, smooth, surface to put the accelerometer magnet on? On some equipment finding a good spot can be challenging to say the least and if you don’t have a good surface your readings can be incorrect. Installing a target or pad can provide a good consistent surface for the accelerometer magnet to mount. These are commercially available or can consist of magnetic stainless flat bar. They are either glued with a special epoxy or threaded to the surface of the equipment in the correct axis and provide a trouble free surface to stick your accelerometer on. This not only reduces your collection time, but increases your collection quality by providing a predetermined proper surface for your collection points. The last and most costly upgrade would be the installation of IR windows. These allow you to look into your energized cabinets while reducing the exposure to flash created when a cabinet is opened for inspection. They also reduce the need to wear the cumbersome PPE required when opening an energized cabinet. The IR windows are available in different sizes, styles, and provide a membrane between you and the energized equipment that does not interfere with the IR camera. Brian Thorp is a 35 year plus veteran to maintenance. His last 25 years have been in power generation with the last 10 years as a lubrication specialist. He holds the CLS and MLA II certifications among many others in the predictive maintenance field.

visuAlizAtion Many organizations have pieced together their functional programs; A glossary of terms and manner of looking at challenges and opportunities can maintenance, engineering, procurement, marketing, etc. Over the years be developed. This allows organizations to develop a culture of Organizational maintenance departments may have initiated a PM program, later they dabbled Reliability; avoiding the ebb and flow of personality driven programs. with predictive maintenance, RCM and LEAN in an ebb and flow manner. Tom Moriarty, PE, CMRP, MBA is president of Alidade MER; a professional Success was mostly based on the personality of the person driving the initiative. services firm providing insight, advice and support for maintenance, When the driver moves on the program languishes, or evaporates. engineering and reliability clients. www.alidade-mer.com More often than not, organizations don’t take the time to think about and institute a structure for how the various elements of organization fit together. When leaders and the workforce have a common understanding they can categorize where the activity fits in the big picture and can take appropriate action. Visualization of a model helps people to know where day-to-day activities (Control & Stability Realm) and continuous improvement (Proactive Reliability Realm) activities fit in the big picture. The Control & Stability Realm contains Foundation, Processes and Focus & Execution elements. Foundation elements refer to having the resources needed to carry out responsibilities; adequate budget, software, organizational structure, tools, facilities, etc. Processes are the organized activities that allow people to perform their functions consistently; work management, inventory management, etc. Focus & execution is correlated with leadership and management; providing guidance and support to people and processes. The Proactive Reliability Realm includes Reliability Improvement Prioritization (RIP), Reliability in Design (RID) and Reliability in Operation (RIO). RIP takes data generated from the Control & Stability Realm, organizes it and prioritizes improvement opportunities. RID is the application of tools to exploit opportunities (RCM, LEAN, Root Cause Analysis, etc.). RIO contains standards on how to perform activities; such as lubrication programs, predictive maintenance guidelines, operator performed maintenance standards, etc. Visualization of an Organizational Reliability structure should work for all functions in the organization. In this way, common approaches can be established.

wAste The single biggest barrier to identifying waste is called “the normalization of with the new top ten. It is okay to skip a part that does not yield a solution in deviance.” This is a fancy way of saying that if you look at a pile of junk long 30 minutes. Simply go to the next one. Don’t forget to have some fun with this enough, you’ll stop noticing it. The pile begins to seem normal. This tendency method. is the bane of PM inspection (when people stop seeing deterioration) and lean Joel Levitt is a consultant, trainer for 25 years to 15,000 people from 20 maintenance efforts (when people stop recognizing waste). countries. His experience includes electrician, merchant seaman, manufacturing and property manager, process control designer/ installer/servicer and CMMS Sometimes we have to shake up our normal methods of seeing. A great way designer. www.maintrainer.com/Lean-Maintenance-Toolbox.audio.asp is to visit other plants, even in other fields. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to identify other organization’s waste. This ability lasts a few days—then you will normalize their deviance. Other eye-openers: going on vacation, taking a seminar or class, enjoying a book or an audio. But make quick use of your altered sight. In a day or two, most go back to being blind to the waste. Another good approach is to start a new list. Example: list the top ten parts used by part number and usage. The waste is right there and can be seen by asking the five whys. Why do we use this part? When you get the answer to that question, ask why that happens. Repeat asking “why” another three times. In a few minutes you’ll get answers which can help reduce usage of many parts. Remember, for every part whose usage is reduced, you also reduce the labor and inventory costs associated with that part. This little trick can be repeated

credits All author contributions generously given by their creators. Conceived by Terrence O’Hanlon, CMRP, Publisher, Reliabilityweb.com. Produced by Reliabilityweb.com and Uptime Magazine. Layout and design by Patricia Serio. Make something happen. We need your help. (Post this, e-mail it, tweet it—share it anyway you can.) Spread it freely. Add your own idea. But please don’t sell this content or change any of the entries. Do work that matters. Join many of the contributors at an upcoming conference. Visit www.maintenanceconference.com for details. © 2010 Reliabilityweb.com. This document may be freely distributed by e-mail (no spamming, please) or posted on the web with NO registration required. Must be presented in its entirety. Direct special permission requests to tohanlon@reliabilityweb.com.

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