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Rooted in Reliability: The Plant Performance Podcast

A weekly Maintenance and Reliability podcast covering common industry challenges and what you can learn from them. Each episode dives deeper into critical issues and explains how you can begin correcting theses maintenance flaws today. Sharing new tips and techniques to help you achieve industry best practice and shining a light on widely debated maintenance topics with special guest experts.


Your host and founder of Rooted in Reliability James Kovacevic, will take you on a weekly tour of his 13+ years of shop floor experience, along with special guest that lend an expert look inside your maintenance departments problems and concerns.


Plane, train, or automobile, however you’re traveling to work Rooted In Reliability is compatible for listening on the go.

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175-Cyber Security with Howard Penrose

175-Cyber Security with Howard Penrose

Cyber Security with Howard Penrose

Cyber security can be a significant issue why your assets are not working as they are supposed to and you face more downtime than expected. When you use network enabled systems, there are a lot of things on the internet that can cause damage to your system. Viruses such as malwares, ad-wares, and other harmful software leave your asset vulnerable to all sorts of attacks. If you are a leading organization in the industry, your systems can be exposed to hackers as well. So, there are a lot of aspects that an organization needs to look at when installing an industrial system in the facility.

In this episode, we covered:

  • Why is cyber security a significant issue?
  • What are some security risks that organizations must look out for?
  • Why does an organization need to understand the risks involved when installing a new system or remote device?
  • And much more!

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174-What is the CMRT with Terry Torrence

174-What is the CMRT with Terry Torrence

What is the CMRT with Terry Torrence

As a Reliability Engineer, you are always keen to learn something new and practice it to add to your professional experience. There are a lot of ways to get the kind of knowledge that you need to be good at your job. Online certifications are a trendy way to get skills these days. These certifications are especially beneficial for engineers who don’t have the time to register to a university and take classes there. There are many good platforms that provide such certifications to help you shine in your career. One of such certifications is Certified Maintenance and Reliability Technician.

In this episode, we covered:

  • What is the CMRT?
  • What are the four main pillars of this body of knowledge?
  • What is the goal of CMRT?
  • And much more!

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173-What is ICML55 with Jim Fitch

173-What is ICML55 with Jim Fitch

What is ICML55 with Jim Fitch

Lubrication is one of the fundamental things that needs to be taken care of if you want your machines healthy. There’s a lot to learn from the leading organizations in order to have good lubrication programs. The organizations looking to get started in the field can take information from different platforms and online media. One of such resources is International Council of Machine Lubrication. ICML55 is a standard that originated from the concept of asset management standard ISO55000. There was a need to have a standard lubrication guide that will allow you to have a sustainable lubrication program with best practices incorporated in it.

In this episode, we covered:

  • What is ICML55?
  • Why is lubrication an important factor in machine maintenance?
  • What are the basics that you need to have sustainable lubrication?
  • And much more!

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172-Key Performance Influencer with Bill Leahy

172-Key Performance Influencer with Bill Leahy

Key Performance Influencer with Bill Leahy

What does a KPI mean to you? Is it just a performance measurement tool to you? Is it a metrics that you have developed to see how your systems are doing? A KPI is all of these things but much more than that. A KPI is an organizational goal that you have to achieve. When you have smaller key performance Influencer in place to drive people’s behavior towards achieving a larger organizational goal, that’s when a KPI becomes effective. So, we are using our key performance influencers—any incentives or benefits that would keep the employees motivated—to achieve our performance goals on a day to day basis which ultimately leads to achieving all the KPIs an organizations might have set in.

In this episode, we covered:

  • What exactly is KPI?
  • How can you utilize KPI efficiently?
  • What is the purpose of KPI and how can it help your organization?
  • And much more!

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171-Decision Making with Rob

171-Decision Making with Rob

Decision Making with Rob

Decision making is a major part of maintenance and reliability. The engineers have to make decisions all the time regarding assets, budgets, and risk analysis. There are some decisions that don’t really have serious consequences but when it comes to asset management, every decision is important. They need to be economical and there should be a good balance between cost, risk, and asset performance. Most of the time, the managers are making all the decisions and they either do it based on their experience or they just go with their gut feeling.

In this episode, we covered:

  • Find out why every decision is important
  • How can you make a sound decision?
  • Why should organizations need to always be thinking long-term?
  • And much more!

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170-PMO with Rick Clonan

170-PMO with Rick Clonan

PMO with Rick Clonan

PMO is a process where you make efficient use of your PMs to understand the operating context of your assets in a better way. Once you have identified your critical assets, you can plan your PMs accordingly. These routine PMs should be designed in a way that they serve the purpose that you want from your assets. It is not just about reducing number of PMs, it is about finding failures and mitigating them. Our primary focus should be to make the PMs, more effective and then we can focus on the efficiency as well.

In this episode, we covered:

  • What is PMO?
  • Learn how you can define your critical assets so you can eliminate the bad factors!
  • Why should there be a team dedicated to carry out PMO activities?
  • And much more!

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169-RCA Trends with Chris Eckert

169-RCA Trends with Chris Eckert

RCA Trends with Chris Eckert

RCA is a process where you get to the root cause of the problem and then solve it by using a systemic approach. To get started with RCA, you need to gather your data first. Once you set your data points to gather meaningful and useful data, then, you can perform RCA to prevent a failure or find a solution to fix it. There are four basic steps for a good RCA. In the first step, you should be able to gather fresh data the minute a failure occurs. In the second step, you have to determine the impact of that incident. You should know what you are looking for?

In this episode, we covered:

  • What is RCA?
  • Learn the four basic steps for a good RCA!
  • How have Millennials improved how RCA is done?
  • And much more!

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168-What are Functions with Nancy Regan

168-What are Functions with Nancy Regan

What are Functions with Nancy Regan

Reliability Centered Maintenance or RCM is a philosophy that is rooted in the fundamentals of the reliability and maintenance. There are seven steps or principles of RCM that can really help you do RCM correctly. The first four steps of RCM make up FMEA and when you combine the next two with these, it gives you a FMECA baseline. With these seven steps, you can do all the wonderful things that make up a successful reliability program. In RCM, functions are where you start your journey. A function can be defined as what you need from a piece of equipment.

In this episode, we covered:

  • What is Reliability Centered Maintenance?
  • Learn the 7 principles of RCM!
  • How can you apply RCM effectively?
  • And much more!

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167-Greatest Manufacturing Challenges with Calvin Williams

167-Greatest Manufacturing Challenges with Calvin Williams

Greatest Manufacturing Challenges with Calvin Williams

Every organization’s end goal is to have continuous improvement. There are tools out there that can help you with it. One of such tools is the Impruver. It helps you keep your performance up-to-date and notifies you when you miss something and gets you on your way towards what need to be done. Another tool that helps you make continuous improvement is digital action board. It places an accountability process in place where you can see the results for yourself, improve the area that needs it, and keep tracking individual and overall performance. Having those checks brings a sense of responsibility in everyone that directly impacts manufacturing of your facility.

In this episode, we covered:

  • How can you achieve continuous improvement?
  • Find out which organizational tool is right for you!
  • Why is it getting more difficult for big companies to stay current with market trends?
  • And much more!

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166-2nd Habit with Peter Horsburgh

166-2nd Habit with Peter Horsburgh

2nd Habit with Peter Horsburgh

Whenever there’s a problem in the plant, it always comes to finding the root cause if you are looking to solve it and stop it from reappearing later on. To successfully do that, you need to have what’s going on with your plant. You should have the complete understanding of the processes and the events that might have led to that issue in the first place. It isn’t always a single root causes that results into a failure. It can be a number of small things that contribute to that problem and result in a failure. So, there can be multiple causes for a single problem.

In this episode, we covered:

  • What is Root Cause Analysis?
  • Learn about 5Y!
  • How can you apply RCA effectively?
  • And much more!

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165-Reliability Catch Up with Fred

165-Reliability Catch Up with Fred

Reliability Catch Up with Fred

Reliability and Maintenance industry changes very fast. The organization always enlist the help of consultants when their assets are failing. The reason why it doesn’t work sometimes is because the companies don’t know what they are looking for. Before you go about hiring some consulting firm, you need to have some certain information for them to begin with. Once you know what the problem is and what is it that you are trying to accomplish, it becomes easier for consultants to help you with overcoming failures and stopping them in the first place. You have to understand where you are at? What kind of problems are you facing?

In this episode, we covered:

  • Reliability and Maintenance industry
  • How do you select the right tools?
  • Do you need a consultant?
  • And much more!

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164 Unsung Heros with Ryan

164 Unsung Heros with Ryan

Unsung Heros with Ryan

With the kind of data that technicians collect in the field on a daily basis, it is very hard to note down everything. What they usually do is they go into the shop, perform some routine repairs and then come back to their desks to note everything they have encountered. Even if they manage to note down every single thing into their notebook or whatever paperwork they have available to them, they have to move around a lot and hassle through data every time they leave their position to go into the shop and then, come back.

In this episode, we covered:

  • Reliability and Maintenance industry
  • How do you select the right tools?
  • Do you need a consultant?
  • And much more!

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163-FRACAS with Brandon Weil

163-FRACAS with Brandon Weil

FRACAS with Brandon Weil

With changing technology in the reliability and maintenance industry, the best practices are always changing in order to improve the overall reliability for the long term. Failure reporting analysis and corrective action system or FRACAS is one of the best tools towards just achieving that goal. It is a process for collecting failure history, analyzing it for patterns, getting to root causes, implementing the corrective actions and then, monitoring the results of those actions. So, it is basically the collection of all the other reliability processes merged into one. In order for this to work, you can’t just rely on the PMs.

In this episode, we covered:

  • What is FRACAS?
  • How can you use FRACAS effectively?
  • How do you start with a FRACAS process?
  • And much more!

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162-Bearing Isolators with Chris and Woody

162-Bearing Isolators with Chris and Woody

Bearing Isolators with Chris and Woody

One of the major reasons of bearing failure is the operating conditions of the machine. That’s why bearing isolators are used to keep the bearing separate from the external environment. It is a type of seal that helps keep bearing and the oil free from contamination. There are several different types of bearing isolators. The major categories are contacting or mechanical—which have been used for rotating equipment for a long time—and non-contacting seals that are used for dynamic purposes and consistent performance. The latter type has a long life because those are not making contact with the equipment.

In this episode, we covered:

  • An overview of Bearing Isolators
  • The types of bearing isolators
  • Other factors you need to focus on aside from analysis
  • And much more!

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161-PdM Survey with Tom Wilk

161-PdM Survey with Tom Wilk

PdM Survey with Tom Wilk

Predictive maintenance is a continuous activity and it is really hard to drive PdM program success without having a clear set of goals and a vision that everyone understands. The industry trends for reliability and maintenance are changing fast and so are the organizations that want to keep up with the new technology. The results of PdM Survey from 2017 to 2018 show that the type of technology that a company uses effects its reliability program on a larger scale. In this survey, the participants were asked questions about the type of technology being used in their organizations and how satisfied they were with them.

In this episode, we covered:

  • Why you need goals and a vision in your PdM program!
  • The obstacles that get in the way!
  • What departments should be involved?
  • And much more!

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