One of the most common issues observed in the field of Reliability encountered by numerous practitioners is how to convince people around them commit to and support their initiatives. This barrier is not only a hindrance to seek the executive support within their organizations but also at other levels across the hierarchy. Similarly, many consultants and service providers also fail to essentially convey their message in a persuasive and effective manner. [Read more…]
The Aasan Asset Management article series
‘Aasan’ (آسان) in the Urdu language means Simplified. And the aim of this series of articles is to simplify the core concepts of Asset Management and its related fields of Reliability and Maintenance.
Albert Einstein once said ‘Most of the fundamental ideas of science are simple, and may, as a rule, be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone.’
Is your ‘Failure Data’ failing you?
Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) is a tool that can not only help an organization in effectively & efficiently meeting its Maintenance Works Management requirements but is also a vital source of equipment Reliability & Maintenance (RM) data. [Read more…]
Mind your language, Reliability Professionals
The limits of my language means the limits of my world. Ludwig Wittgenstein (Austrian-British Philosopher)
As an Engineer & a Reliability Professional I believe the biggest hurdle to success of my fraternity’s ideas, initiatives, programs, suggestions; is our collective inability to properly communicate their benefits to our different audiences. Instead of pointing any blame to the other side, we need to do a little self-assessment of ourselves to see what may be our own failings. [Read more…]
Why a CMMS May Fail
CMMS: Computerized Maintenance Management System
Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) is an integral part of today’s industrial & commercial maintenance operations. During the last many years there have been a lot of advances made on improving CMMS & many products are now available in the market. Evolution of CMMS functionalities have now made it a vital component of Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems employed by many medium & large organizations around the globe. EAM as a whole is not the scope of this article; rather the focus is only on the CMMS. [Read more…]
Where to Draw the Line Between Maintenance & Physical Asset Management
Physical Asset Management has received a lot of attention in recent years within the asset intensive industries e.g. oil/gas, energy, utilities, process & manufacturing. On one hand, the release of PAS 55 & its subsequent follow-up by ISO 55000 has brought Physical Asset Management within limelight & on the other hand it has created an ambiguity for many Maintenance practitioners. [Read more…]
New Technologies but Old Operating Context
With the growing trend of Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science in Industrial Asset Management domain; I just wonder whether the Plant Engineers will still be keeping tab on the ‘Operating Context’ of their assets to extract real value from these revolutionary technologies or will just rush like lemmings to adopt them. [Read more…]
How Leaders Should Act in Times of Uncertainty
Let’s accept this with no uncertainty. We are living in times of extreme uncertainty. Be it the global politics or economics; our lives are clouded with a lot of uncertainty. Many economies & businesses around the world are stunned as to how to predict & plan for the future. Just see at the different predictions on oil prices made by renowned traders & analysts during last two years. Everyone seems to be so off-target. [Read more…]
How Do You Measure the Effectiveness of a Maintenance Task?
I am a firm believer in the notion of doing everything with the end-goal in mind. That is the only way we can gauge the effectiveness of our efforts. The same is true for all our efforts related to Maintenance & Reliability.
If & when you want to measure a certain maintenance task for its effectiveness (you should be doing it quite often); the best way is to identify whether the desired outcomes associated with that specific task are being realized or not. [Read more…]
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) System Data – Cleansing the Augean Stables
Let’s agree that the EAM Data is our organizations’ “Augean Stables”. And, we the Maintenance & Reliability professionals are “the Hercules”. It’s dirty, smelly & massive. But it is only we who can dare to cleanse it. We are the Hercules of today’s organizations. [Read more…]