James Kovacevic — Thought Leader

Author of Maintenance and Reliability articles, ebooks, and host of Rooted in Reliability, co-host on Speaking of Reliability.

This author's archive lists contributions of articles and episodes.

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225-Maintenance is a Marathon, Not a Sprint with Michael Mazur

Maintenance is a Marathon, Not a Sprint with Michael Mazur

We’re glad to have Michael Mazur from Schwan’s Global Supply Chain. With 10 years at that plant, he currently holds the role of a maintenance technician. He’s previously worked as a trainer and supervisor at Schwan’s. Michael started as an electronics maintenance technician in the navy. He was there for 21 years before moving on to Kone Elevators as a customer service analyst. He then became a vocational trainer at Lincoln Technical Institute.

His knowledge will help us get more insight into:

How easy is it to develop a maintenance program?
Why is maintenance a marathon and not a sprint?
How do you prepare for this marathon?

… and so much more!

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The Moving Target of Excellence

Why the End of the Maintenance & Reliability Journey Is Never Over

dartboard target aim goal achievement concept

I am often asked, what is the benchmark for a particular KPI. At first, I would quickly answer the target from the SMRP Best Practices Guide. Depending on the organization and the maturity, I would either see their faces light up or see them shut down. If they shut down, what momentum was present, quickly vanished. If they were meeting the target (and the KPI and supporting data checked out), the momentum would fade a bit, as they were hitting the target.

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224-Crossing the Chasm with Patrick Parker

Crossing the Chasm with Patrick Parker

Patrick Parker works for Rockwell and prior to that he worked with the US Navy. In the Navy he started as a technician and climbed all the way up. His experience is well rounded in that he touches base with everything. He has been involved in maintenance and reliability for 13 years. Right now he is focused on Industry 4.0 which is the connective enterprise. It is basically leveraging technology and the digital world to be able to connect to get more insight of your business or operation. You integrate it all together to better understand what is happening in your business so as to make better decisions.

His knowledge will help us get more insight into:

Why are companies not realizing benefits?
How does crossing the Chasm relate to Industry 4.0?
How do Organizations Cross the Chasm?
Is the technology applied in IOT?
How do we know what Data we need to make this successfully?

… and so much more!

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SOR 577 Value of Being Proactive

Value of Being Proactive

Abstract

James and Fred discussing the benefits and some constraints of shifting your maintenance program to a proactive stance.
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223-Asset Investment Planning with Paul Daoust

Asset Investment Planning with Paul Daoust

Back with us is Paul Daoust, the founder of Scio Asset Management. He’s also a member of the PEMAC board of directors. Paul’s helped us tackle different topics on several previous shows. That’s due to his extensive experience in the oil, gas, and energy sectors. He’s also gotten life cycle and investment planning experience. That’s while assembling capital and operating projects on various operations.

His knowledge will help us get more insight into:

What asset investment planning is
How it works
Why your organization needs it
How proposed regulatory requirements affect it
Where to get the necessary data

… and so much more!

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Operating at Peak Inherent Capability

Why You Cannot Operate Above the Inherent Capability Sustainably

I recently had the opportunity to teach a Body of Knowledge course, which was full of great questions from the students. One of the questions was about inherent vs. actual availability. This had me thinking about the choice that organizations make on how they choose to run their business and more importantly, their resources.

There are many times when a resource is operated at Peak Inherent capability, with the intention of getting the most out of the resource. while this is a good practice, many organizations try to operate the resource at greater than the inherent capability of the resource. So, what does this do to the resource? Well, it could mean short-term financial gains, achieving the schedule, or if done for a sustained period of time, it could be detrimental to the resource.

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Understanding the SMRP Body of Knowledge

If you have been in maintenance or reliability for a period time, there is little doubt that you haven’t heard about the SMRP Body of Knowledge yet. The SMRP body of knowledge is more than just a document that outline of topics related to maintenance & reliability. It is a framework in which the CMRP exam is based on and can be used as a framework to improve your facility’s performance.

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222-Spare Parts Optimization with Rob Kalwarowsky

Spare Parts Optimization with Rob Kalwarowsky

Today, we’re welcoming Rob Kalwarowsky from Rob’s Reliability project. He’s currently an asset manager at Enbridge, handling their mechanical assets. Rob was previously a reliability consultant for five years, as well as a reliability engineer at Teck Resources. He’s been on a few of our previous podcasts.

But today, he’s helping us look into aspects of spare parts optimization such as:

What spare parts optimization is
The data necessary to help with optimization
The available approaches and formulas to calculate it
How often should you review your optimization process

… and so much more!

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221-Should I Hire or Build an RE with Bill Leahy

Should I Hire or Build an RE with Bill Leahy

I’m excited to have Bill Leahy with us for a deep dive into whether organizations should build an RE internally, or they should hire externally to fill those roles. Bill has worked at Eruditio for the past three years and is currently a senior instructor there.

Today, we’re tackling important points such as:

What an RE is
The educational and professional qualifications that an RE needs to have
The pros and cons of internal versus external hires
How to train candidates for the role

… and so much more!

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220-How to Sell Reliability with George Williams and Joe Anderson

How to Sell Reliability with George Williams and Joe Anderson

Joe Anderson and George Williams started Reliability X. Joe Anderson is the COO and George is the CEO. Reliability X is a consulting organization that offers the implementation of holistic reliability for manufacturing sites. They also offer coaching, mentoring and teaching in a variety of mechanisms. They have partnered with the University of Wisconsin. Both of them have a vast amount of experiencing totaling 55 years. Here, they share with us some of their nuggets.

In this episode:

What is Reliability
Why should we sell Reliability yet it is the right thing to do
How do you sell to The Upper Management
How do you sell to the Plant Floor

… and so much more!

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219-How Detailed Should a Job Plan Be with Jeff Shiver

How Detailed Should a Job Plan Be with Jeff Shiver

Jeff Shiver works with People and Processes. He is heavily involved with maintenance and reliability. He has made presentations for years. He started out in Procter and Gamble doing controls and engineering. He has also worked with Mars in four different plants and also held cooperate roles. He was a maintenance and production manager. He left in 2006 and started People and Processes.

When it comes to planning and practitioning, he has 25 years of experience. Many people suffer with planning in an organization yet it is the hub of everything. So Jeff tells us more.

Jeff will help us get a look at:

Why do Organizations need to Plan their Work
How Detailed should Job Plans be
How do we know if we are going too deep or not deep at all
How do you deal with a Planner with a strong background in another Trade

… and so much more!

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218-OEE Modeling with Brad McCully

OEE Modeling with Brad McCully

We’re delighted to have Brad McCully joining us. He’s a business development executive at Advanced Technology Services and has been a part of the company since its founding in 1985. But, he got involved in the manufacturing field much earlier in his career, working at various levels for Caterpillar.

Brad will help us get a look at:

What asset performance is
What OEE is and how it relates to asset performance
The importance of OEE in organizations
What OEE modeling is and how organizations use it
How to get started and the possible risks

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217-Life Cycle Costing with Paul Daoust

Life Cycle Costing with Paul Daoust

It’s a pleasure for me to have Paul Daoust back again to talk about life cycle costing. Paul is the founder of Scio Asset Management, with over 25 years of experience in the asset management field. He also sits on the board of directors at PEMAC.

Together, we’ll be taking a closer look at:

What life cycle costing is and why it’s necessary
Formulas for calculating it
Who’s in charge of the process
How to get management to approve the initial investment necessary

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216-Proper Greasing with Wesley Cash

Proper Greasing with Wesley Cash

We’re excited to have Wesley Cash to shed light on proper greasing techniques. He’s been at Noria Corporation for nine years now and is currently their director of technical services. However, his professional experience in fields relating to reliability, lubrication, and maintenance spans over 16 years, enabling him to acquire numerous ICML and CLS certifications.

He’ll help us learn more on what’s necessary for proper greasing practices, such as:

Why lubrication is important
The type of failures it could cause
Common issues with lubricating
Proper use of a grease gun
Factors to enhance proper lubrication

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215-Remote Working with Patrick Parker

Remote Working with Patrick Parker

Patrick has been with Rockwell Automation 7 years now but previously served in the US Navy. He started out as an electronics technician then moved on to dealing with nuclear systems in aircraft. He is now a reliability professional and has 13 years work experience in his field. Patrick works from home. This is not new to him since working on a ship is similar to working from home.

In this episode: