Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
A listing in reverse chronological order of these article series:
Doing an RCM analysis is only half the battle for successful RCM Implementation. From the beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, I share what you can do to get the results you want.
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Resilience has been lost – and it’s our fault. We need to get it back.
As the Covid pandemic transitions to endemic (I am optimistic) we will get back to a “new normal”. No one really knows what the “new normal” will be like (yet), but it’s safe to say that it won’t be the same as the “old normal”.
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Companies end rat-race problems fast and get world class reliability by using the simple Plant Wellness Way EAM methodology to slash operational risk and make your plant and equipment world class reliable
How to get a Plant Wellness Way EAM system-of-reliability that ends your Production and Maintenance rat race is shown in the image below. It’s a simple strategy and plan for building a truly effective life cycle asset management system that purposely replaces old production and maintenance rat-race causing systems.
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Want to achieve a worthwhile return-on-investment (ROI) from your software? Then it’s important to learn about some of the most commonly underused computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) functions. Many organizations do not use all of the features their preventive maintenance software provides, or don’t use the functions to their full capacity. According to a national CMMS survey conducted by Reliable Plant magazine, a majority of plant maintenance managers feel they aren’t using their preventive maintenance software to its maximum capability.
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As noted in other articles, performance measures are used to drive behaviors to make positive organizational changes in support of the organizational strategy and goals. However how well the performance measures may be developed and defined, if they are not effectively communicated to those individuals whose behavior is important to achieve the strategy and goals, then the performance measures have little value.
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When it comes to our machines, we can do Condition-Based Maintenance and Preventive Maintenance in addition to other actions such as No Scheduled Maintenance or equipment redesigns. With those options available to us, how do we choose what to do and when to do them? This is a great strength of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). RCM helps us to identify the right maintenance to do and how often to do the maintenance tasks. For example, should a Scheduled Replacement task or a Condition Based Maintenance be implemented? Join me as I share how RCM can help us develop the right Proactive Maintenance so we can achieve the Reliability we need.
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Physical assets require continuous maintenance throughout their useful lives. That makes allocating and tracking maintenance expenses a necessity for companies. Maintenance cost is any expense that facilities incur while keeping assets in good working conditions. Typical maintenance costs include:
Another conspiracy theory debunked. Your business has various insurance coverages including business continuity. You pay quite a hefty premium for that coverage so you believe you are covered. But are you really?
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When calculating the replacement asset value fo items brought overseas, factor the effect of the difference in exchange rate into the calculation.
[Read more…]Ahmed asks:
How can we calculate replacement asset value (RAV) of a plant? We have 100’s of equipment in our three plants and we cannot contact 100’s of Vendors to tell us today’s equipment value. We have only the Capitalization Cost or installed historic value of assets.
The oldest plant was installed 6 yrs back (Aug 2015) for a total plant or asset value in our accounting record of 10 MMPKR. When the plant was installed 1 USD = 100 PKR and now after 6 yrs the exchange rate is 1 USD = 172 PKR. We took the capitalization cost of 10 MMPKR and calculated replacement asset value at today’s worth as 10 * 172/100 MMPKR.
British engineer Robert Whitehead began his career producing textile weaving machinery in France. In 1856 he moved to the Adriatic coast to manufacture marine steam engines. He met Giovanni Luppis, an Austro-Hungarian navy officer, who had been developing a self-propelled coastal defense weapon that could be floated into an enemy fleet. Together, they failed to develop a practical weapon. Whitehead remained fixed on the idea of a submerged, self-propelled weapon. Working on his own for two years, Whitehead developed the modern torpedo. He sold his first units to the Austro-Hugarian Navy in 1867.
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There is always a degree of uncertainty in selecting instrumentation for difficult or corrosive environments. Material selection for chemical compatibility involves a strained decision between cost and equipment reliability and longevity. The other major uncertainty is whether the instrument is appropriate for the application – will it repeatedly give truly representative readings all it’s operating life? This article presents a list of instrumentation successfully used in a range of difficult and chemically demanding environments.
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Like Surfside, are you “inspecting to failure”?
In June 2021, we learned about the partial collapse of a condominium in Surfside Florida, with devastating results – only a few survivors, and many fatalities. The building had actually been inspected in 2018 by a qualified engineer, and parts of it were deemed to be “structurally unsound”. In plain English, that means the building’s structure was no longer in good condition and possibly dangerous. It was unsafe to use. The report was submitted to a local authority who raised no red flags, and the building owners chose to do nothing about it. Roughly 3 years later – disaster. It’s a sad example of “inspecting to failure”.
[Read more…]Competency is defined as the capability to apply or use the set of related knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform a task or work safely and consistently to a required standard. Simply stated, Competency is a critical skill set needed to do a job successfully. On the other hand, Certifications are designated credentials earned by an individual or organization to verify their legitimacy and competence to perform a job or produce something in a stated environment.
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Reactive Maintenance can be costly and frustrating. Avoid chronic breakdowns by moving towards Proactive Maintenance. In this video I share how Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) can help you move from Reactive Maintenance to Proactive Maintenance.
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