Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
A listing in reverse chronological order of these article series:
Chemical corrosion can destroy the containment materials in contact with a process.
Means exist to mitigate and even prevent chemical corrosion. This article focuses on several such methods.
At times chemical corrosion is acceptable and one need only allow for it by using thicker materials. An example is the storage of sulphuric acid in mild steel tanks at ambient conditions and concentrations [Read more…]
Imagine being able to predict the next time a failure will occur for a piece of equipment without a huge amount of work. Wouldn’t it be nice to know the approximate point in time that a failure will occur on a critical piece of equipment? It is possible, but I am not talking about using MTBF, as it is not a good measure (if you need to understand why, please visit http://www.NoMTBF.com). What I am talking about is a Crow-AMSAA analysis. [Read more…]
Do you replace your car headlights at regular intervals of six months? Do you wait to replace your tires until they wear through? Do you check your car engine oil with some sort of oil analysis before replacing it? Each component and system in your car has a function that is prone to failure. Each of those has consequences – some with little importance and others with great importance. [Read more…]
What you will learn from this article.
Every failure is part of a puzzle. The equipment we are maintaining is trying to communicate with the use of each and every failure.
Often the message is not obvious.
There is the immediate failure. And, if we’re paying attention we can sort out the root cause of the failure along with replacing or repairing the damaged parts. Sometimes though the damage is caused by another issue with the system. [Read more…]
What you will learn from this article:
Let’s face it, your technicians have been entering data into the CMMS for years, but you haven’t been able to use it to make improvements. Is it because the data isn’t codified or it doesn’t have the right data points? Generally, this is how most maintenance managers will view their data, but it is incorrect. The CMMS does have data that you can use almost immediately. [Read more…]
The cost of maintenance destroys your capital investment returns.
When equipment is first selected the buyer has the choice to buy for quality and long trouble-free operating life or to buy based on least cost. The least cost choice will result in high maintenance and operating expense for the life of the equipment.
When net present value cost of maintenance for cheap equipment is calculated in today’s dollars investors will discover that a large part of their capital will never earn them income but will be spent on maintenance and repair.
Keywords: replacement asset value, internal rate of return, opportunity cost [Read more…]
What readers will learn in this article:
What readers will learn in this article.
Dusty surroundings are one of the most difficult environments for bearings.
In equipment handling powders or in processes generating dust the protection of bearings against contamination by fine particles requires special consideration. [Read more…]
What readers will learn in this article.
For the effective flow of a cohesive (sticks to itself) product, a chute must be designed to maintain momentum & velocity. [Read more…]
What readers will learn in this article.
When there is a need to determine a new service duty for a centrifugal pump, and no performance curves are available, the recommended method is to use the Similarity Laws. These laws are derived by the use of [Read more…]
A Question & Answer Period with Fred Schenkelberg on the what can be done to improve the reliability of your operation.
So far in this series, we have had the opportunity to discuss the role of reliability engineering in today’s maintenance environments. In this final post of the series, I (James) had the opportunity to ask Fred Schenkelberg some questions related to this very topic. Fred, with his years of experience, was able to provide some great insights to the role of reliability engineering, and what those in the maintenance department can do to improve reliability. [Read more…]
Does your team procure, setup and put into operation equipment with a single focus on reducing the initial capital expenditure?
Do you work with your equipment suppliers to fully specify the equipment’s functions, performance, and reliability? Maybe not the reliability? [Read more…]
With the design FMEA complete, the equipment should have high inherent reliability. The equipment can then be installed in the plant, and provide a high level of performance to the business, at least initially. This is where Maintenance comes in. Maintenance can enable a low Life Cycle Cost, by preserving the reliability of the equipment. [Read more…]