Accendo Reliability

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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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240 – Manage All Failures or Else with James Reyes-Picknell

240 – Manage All Failures or Else with James Reyes-Picknell

Manage All Failures or Else with James Reyes-Picknell

We’re excited to have James Reyes-Picknell, the author of Uptime, Strategies for Excellence in Maintenance Management, back with us. He’s also written Reliability Centered Maintenance – Re-engineered and Paying Your Way which is his latest book. James also trains and consults in maintenance, reliability and asset management areas across different sectors.

In this episode, we will be discussing:

  • What is a failure
  • Why do you need to manage failures
  • How do you forecast failures not yet experienced
  • Which strategies are available for managing failure states

…and so much more!

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239 – The Soft Side of Planning with Rick Clonan

239 – The Soft Side of Planning with Rick Clonan

The Soft Side of Planning with Rick Clonan

We’re excited to have Rick Clonan back with us to talk about planning. He currently serves as an Implementation and Training Manager at Eruditio and as the Best Practices Chair for the SMRP. He’s been in the industry for close to 30 years as a technician, planner/scheduler, maintenance supervisor, CMS administrator.

In this episode, we will be discussing:

  • What is maintenance planning
  • What is the soft side of planning
  • What is morale
  • What’s the connection between morale and productivity

…and so much more!

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238 – Marketing with Ashley Larrimore

238 – Marketing with Ashley Larrimore

Marketing with Ashley Larrimore

We’re excited to be joined by Ashley, a marketing expert at Eruditio. She has been there for 2 years and handles all the marketing e.g., emails, products, websites, conferences, etc. Overall, she has amassed a wealthy 8 years of experience in marketing.

She’ll be our guide on discussing the common themes around marketing including:

  • Marketing and its importance
  • How you can get started
  • Measuring the effectiveness of your marketing strategy
  • Some of the common hurdles and possible solutions

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237 – Bringing Ultrasound to iIoT with Blair Fraser

237 – Bringing Ultrasound to iIoT with Blair Fraser

Bringing Ultrasound to iIoT with Blair Fraser

We’re glad to have Blair Fraser, the Global Director for IIoT Solutions at UE Systems. He’s been our guest on topics like Artificial Intelligence, IIoT, and other areas relating to tech and maintenance and reliability. Blair previously worked at Quartic and Lakeside Process Controls, getting involved in the tech side of reliability. His earlier career influences got him involved in maintaining assets on the plant floor. Blair will be giving us more insight on bringing ultrasound in the iIoT space.

Blair Fraser of Quartic.ai shares some important insights as well as:

  • How do we bring Ultrasound to IIoT?
  • How is Ultrasound being brought into IIoT?
  • Is Ultrasound qualitative or quantitative?

…and so much more!

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236 – Machinery Installation: Planning with Roman Megela

236 – Machinery Installation: Planning with Roman Megela

Machinery Installation: Planning with Roman Megela

It’s a pleasure to have Roman Megela from Easy-Laser join us on this deep dive into Machinery Installation. He’s worked with rotating equipment for over 20 years, particularly in service, installation, assembly, and commissioning for gas compression, glass production, and stainless steel. So far, we’ve looked into how strategy and integrity fall into the Machinery Installation process. We’ll now get a look into the role Planning plays in Machinery Installation.

Roman will give us insights on:

  • What is Planning?
  • Are there technical specifications for planning?
  • How does Planning impact installation?

… and so much more!

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235 – Preparing for the CMRP with Bobby Lee

235 – Preparing for the CMRP with Bobby Lee

Preparing for the CMRP with Bobby Lee

We’re excited to welcome Bobby Lee on this episode. He started in the maintenance field in his early twenties. He got a two-year degree in Industrial Systems Technologies, after which he worked at Baxter Healthcare. He then proceeded to work for American Zinc Products as a reliability engineer for nearly one and a half years. From there, he joined Eruditio where he’s currently a reliability engineer. During those years, Bobby got involved with implementing reliability engineering programs, FMEAs, RCAs, among others. He’s also managed to get his CMRP, which is what we’d like to know more about.

In this episode, we covered:

  • What is the CMRP?
  • Why would you want a CMRP certification?
  • Other Benefits of having the CMRP
  • And much more!

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234 – In-House or Contracted Oil Analysis with Bryan Johnson

234 – In-House or Contracted Oil Analysis with Bryan Johnson

In-House or Contracted Oil Analysis with Bryan Johnson

We’re thrilled to have the chairman of ICML, Bryan Johnson, with us. He’s worked at the Palo Verde Generating Station for 30 nearly years as a lubrication engineer. Bryan’s also involved with ASTM, starting about three decades ago. That was due to the creation of an on-site oil testing lab. This became a subcommittee that deals only with the condition monitoring of lubricants.

In this episode, we covered:

  • What are the benefits of on-site oil analysis?
  • How do you know you’re getting consistent results from an analysis?
  • What are the standards to follow?
  • And much more!

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233 – Learning from Failure with Jim Fitch

233 – Learning from Failure with Jim Fitch

Learning from Failure with Jim Fitch

We’re excited to have Jim Fitch, the CEO of Noria Corporation and the director of ICML, back. He previously explored ICML 55, the standard around lubrication programs. ICML was founded about 18 years ago as a non-profit. It was to provide certification resources for organizations and individuals who needed certificates for completing their training. Noria Corporation is a for-profit services company that’s 22 years old. It provides training and consulting services globally, relating to oil analysis and lubrication. They also offer transformation services. These are for plants moving from their current state to something closer to the greatest reference state. Noria also publishes machine lubrication magazines among other e-publications. They’re also a conferencing company.

In this episode, we covered:

  • What has Noria learned about failures related to lubrication?
  • How many failures can be attributed to a lubrication-related issue?
  • Do the employees’ skillsets and training levels contribute to failures?
  • And much more!

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232 – Machinery Installation: Strategy with Roman Megela

232 – Machinery Installation: Strategy with Roman Megela

Machinery Installation: Strategy with Roman Megela

We’re glad to have Roman Megela, a reliability engineer with Easy-Laser. With over 20 years of experience, he’s been a service manager, assembly manager, and commissioner for gas compression systems. Roman’s also worked in steel and glass production, as well as oil and gas. He’s joined us before, shedding light on different elements involved in machinery installation. We started with Integrity and will look at strategy in machinery installation.

To recap, integrity is the practice of being honest. It’s showing consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral, ethical values and principles. It means you are doing what you say you’re doing.

Roman will give us insights on:

  • What is the Strategy element
  • What does a strategy have to do with machine installation
  • What should you include in a strategy

… and so much more!

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231 – Process Safety Management with Paul Daoust

231 – Process Safety Management with Paul Daoust

231 – Process Safety Management with Paul Daoust

We’re proud to have the Scio Asset Management founder and MD, Paul Daoust with us. He has extensive experience in the energy, oil, and gas sectors. Paul’s also on the Board of Directors at PEMAC. His more than 25 years of experience have helped in the development of Process Safety Management Systems. The approach for those was practical and pragmatic. He took it from ScottishPower’s reconsideration of their facility’s management. These were based on Process Safety practices from the North Seas.

Together we’ll take an in-depth look at:

  • What is Process Safety
  • Which industries or assets does Process Safety apply to more
  • Are preventative and predictive programs a part of Process Safety
  • Is Process Safety related to Process Safety Management (PSM)

… and so much more!

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230 – Ensuring Effective Remote Training with Chris Christenson

230 – Ensuring Effective Remote Training with Chris Christenson

Ensuring Effective Remote Training with Chris Christenson

We’re excited to have Chris Christenson, the director of education at Noria. He’s been there for seven years and has been in the adult learning and education field for about 16 years. That involved building curriculum courses and programs. He also did training in classrooms for adult learners. Chris became a performance coach which helped him focus on individual performance. That’s helped him at Noria with building more courses for adult learning. It’s also enabled them to upgrade their trainers’ skills.

Together we’ll take an in-depth look at:

  • What remote training is
  • When to use it
  • Its challenges over traditional face to face training

… and so much more!

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229 – Building Support for FMEA with Fred Schenkelberg

229 – Building Support for FMEA with Fred Schenkelberg

Building Support for FMEA with Fred Schenkelberg

We’re glad to have Fred Schenkelberg from the Accendo Reliability website joining us. He hosts the Speaking of Reliability podcast and even does reliability webinars. Fred also has articles and helps create online courses on Accendo. He’s well versed in the product development space of reliability engineering. But among the tools used, he’ll give us an in-depth look into gaining support for FMEAs.

Fred will give us insight on:

  • Are organizations willing to give up their resources?
  • What can you do to gain support for FMEAs?
  • Top points for building support for FMEAs

… and so much more!

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228 – Reliability Career with Tim Holmes

228 – Reliability Career with Tim Holmes

Reliability Career with Tim Holmes

We’re excited to have Tim Holmes joining us. Tim’s presented at conferences and worked with SMRPs. He’s also DuPont Operations’ principal internal corporate consultant for reliability and maintenance engineering. Before that, he was involved in maintenance and reliability as well as Six Sigma. He’s actively involved in SMRP since 2011. Tim’s a Carnegie Mellon mechanical engineer and engineering in public policy graduate with a total experience of 33 years in the field.

Tim will give us insight on:

  • How did he get pulled into maintenance and reliability?
  • Roles that influenced Tim’s view on maintenance and reliability
  • What is the difference between maintenance and reliability engineering?
  • Which roles allowed him to better understand maintenance and reliability?

… and so much more!

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227 – Machinery Installation: Integrity with Roman Megela

227 – Machinery Installation: Integrity with Roman Megela

Machinery Installation: Integrity with Roman Megela

We’re excited to have Roman Megela joining us. He’s a senior reliability engineer with Easy-Laser. Before that, he was a service manager, and he also worked in the service engineering field. Roman’s primarily worked with rotating equipment for over 20 years. He’s dealt with glass production and stainless-steel production.

He’s also been involved in oil and gas, mainly dealing with oxygen gas compression systems. He dealt with blowers, compressors, fans, and pumps for oxygen production, among others. Roman’s career specialty, however, lies in machinery installation, assembly, and their placement. He’s also been a commissioner for oil and gas, commissioning these globally in areas such as the US, Asia, Singapore, and Europe.

Roman will give us insight on:

  • What machinery installation is
  • Why proper machine installation is important
  • What integrity is and how it can apply during machine installation procedures

… and so much more!

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226 – Easy RCA with Bob Latino

226 – Easy RCA with Bob Latino

Easy RCA with Bob Latino

Bob Latino, an expert on root cause analysis with 36 years of experience, joined us on this episode to discuss Root Cause Analysis and the Easy Root Cause Analysis program that he and his team have developed.

We’ll go into the nuances of:

  • Defining RCA
  • Features of the programme
  • Hurdles and possible solutions in making the programme a success

… and so much more!

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