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on Maintenance Reliability

A listing in reverse chronological order of these article series:


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Exemplary Maintenance Leadership

Exemplary Maintenance Leadership

The Backbone of High-Quality Operations

In the world of industrial and manufacturing enterprises, where precision and reliability are paramount, maintenance leadership stands as the unsung hero. Behind the scenes, these individuals and teams are the custodians of high-quality operations, ensuring that machinery hums with efficiency, downtime is minimized, and standards are not just met but exceeded. Let’s take a closer look at the essence of exemplary maintenance leadership and why it’s the cornerstone of a well-oiled operation.

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Ten Books About One Failure Mode

Ten Books About One Failure Mode

Failure of Ship Hulls Due to Rot

British oak forests provided the wood to build the fleets that fought the Seven Years’ War, American Revolutionary War, French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars. New trees had to mature for 80-120 years for shipbuilding. By the early 1800s, three-quarters of British oak forests had been harvested to fight a half century of naval wars. Additionally, a scourge of dry rot reduced the service life of Britain’s main battle ships from the historical 25 years to less than 7 years. Britain had a severe national security problem – the Timber Crisis.

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When Will my Equipment Reach its End-of-Life State? – It Depends…

When Will my Equipment Reach its End-of-Life State? – It Depends…

End-of-life definition

Operators need to estimate when in the future their equipment will attain their end-of-life state. Obsolescence is another word for equipment end-of life. Once they reach this stage, equipment replacement often leads to significant budgetary expenditures. In addition, if the operation has a large number of a particular equipment types, they could all reach their end-of life at the same time leading to even greater financial impact. In industry jargon, this is known as the “Tsunami” effect. Operators need to aware and prepared in order to avoid this “wave” of consequences. Managing future cash inflow and outflows happens to be crucial financial exercise in any organization. Therefore, end-of-life management in an important financial accounting exercise. However, estimating end of life this is not always as straightforward as it seems.

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What is Conscious Reliability® all about?

What is Conscious Reliability® all about?

Article first posted at Conscious Reliability by James Reyes-Picknell, Jesus Sifonte, and team.

How it all got started

About two years ago Jesus Sifonte, CMMI, invited James Reyes-Picknell to be a speaker at a congress that he was holding in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They did not know each other, nor did they even know much about each other. They were recommended to each other by a mutual friend. At the congress, they presented their respective topics and in the evenings shared a few drinks and spoke about maintenance, reliability and asset management. They realized that they both had a shared passion for excellence and we learned about each-others’ experience.

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 How Your Condition Monitoring Program Will Fail 

 How Your Condition Monitoring Program Will Fail 

 and Probably Already Has 

 Predictive Maintenance strategy uses condition monitoring techniques to observe plant and equipment health. Based on the equipment’s condition you plan, schedule and perform any necessary maintenance before the breakdown. To use Predictive Maintenance most successfully you must set-up and run your condition monitoring program correctly all the time—predictive maintenance is a never ending strategy that if not done right at every step will still lead to plant and equipment failures. Learn about the many ways your predictive maintenance program will fail and you won’t even know about it! 

Keywords: predictive maintenance, condition monitoring, Con Mon

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Management Tips for AI-based Reliability Projects – Part 1

Management Tips for AI-based Reliability Projects – Part 1

There’s a quote one of my previous managers had in his cubicle: “Being a manager is easy, it’s like riding a bike. Except that the bike is on fire, you’re on fire, and everything is on fire”. I chuckle every time I read it and then reflect upon the reality of dealing with project deadlines, deliverables, and performance. Reliability Engineering & Asset Maintenance initiatives have a project management aspect to them.

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From Simple Metrics to IoT: Mining’s Big (and difficult) Shift

From Simple Metrics to IoT: Mining’s Big (and difficult) Shift

It’s no surprise that the majority of Australia Mining companies don’t leverage the full use of their data to manage their (expensive) assets better. Industry seems to think this is just an adoption issue, where the term “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” comes to mind. But the reality is that there are far more underlying issues we need to consider why Mining is lagging behind other major industries such as Oil and Gas, Aviation and Power Generation, and yes.. what we do with all our data plays a big part.

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Producing Zero Operational Risk

Producing Zero Operational Risk

The likelihood of component failure reflects the operational risk present. By reducing the likelihood of component failure to zero, zero operational risk is achieved.

Operational Risk is a mathematical formula, with variables that can be manipulated and controlled to reach the desired outcome. Below are three equations related to operational risk that you can use to change your future.

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Workplace Risk Assessments Need to be Visual

Workplace Risk Assessments Need to be Visual

Now SFAIRP is the Criterion to Judge If You have Sufficiently Controlled Your Workplace Hazards

Risk Assessment Used to be Based on ALARP to Decide if Workplace Hazards were Sufficiently Controlled, But Today You Need to Use SFAIRP

The original OHS risk assessment process, procedures and techniques identified hazards; assessed risk; established risk controls; reduced and managed risks to ‘as low as reasonably practicable’ (ALARP), but safety laws are now changing to ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’ (SFAIRP) [Read more…]

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Process Flowcharts for Better Business Performance

Process Flowcharts for Better Business Performance

You will find example process diagram layouts with the most effective flowchart templates to use, what to include in them so that the flow chart drives business results and personal performance (and you will be surprised at how easy they are to create). With the right layout and the inclusion of ACE 3T (Target-Tolerance-Test) quality assurance standards your process flowcharts and procedures will drive business and workplace performance. First it is necessary to layout your flowcharts so it is totally clear what must happen in a process or procedure, who is responsible to make it happen, and how their performance will be measured. 

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1896 – Keep the Mill in Repair

1896 – Keep the Mill in Repair

R. James Abernathy was a writer who specialized in flour and grain mills in the late 1800s. In 1880, he authored Practical Hints on Mill Building. Early in this 350-page technical manual, he wrote that millwright skill was declining. He thought the reason was that the millwrights were assembling mills from pre-fabricated components, instead of having to manufacture parts by hand. The manual was published in the United States and England, and remained an authority for several decades. It remains a reference for assessing mills for their historic value, such as applications for national historic registers.

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