Your Reliability Engineering Professional Development Site
A listing in reverse chronological order of these article series:
Data is the most valuable commodity in today’s world, and it is no different in reliability engineering. As one of the emerging trends in maintenance space, data plays a critical role in implementing an effective RCM strategy. It is powered by an organization’s ability to integrate multiple data sources into one seamless platform designed to disseminate actionable insights from that data to its decision-makers at the right time.
Recently, I’ve been looking back over my career and trying to understand why so many companies struggle with their reliability programs. The processes, the technologies, the tools have all been around for a long time and yet we don’t succeed.
The reason we don’t succeed is poor leadership. [Read more…]
Usually, this newsletter comes out first thing on Monday mornings. Today, it’s late. It’s late because I didn’t get it done last week. It’s late because I stayed off my laptop all weekend. [Read more…]
I am convinced that our egos often get the better of us. We suffer as a result and so too do those around us. Believing that we have the answers to all of our problems reflects just how much we fool ourselves. Maintenance managers burn out because of it.
Let’s say you are a plant general manager in a facility that is under-performing or not quite achieving the performance improvements you want. Often that can occur because of machinery and system failures that half output, sometimes for long periods before they can be repaired. Once those are corrected you breathe a sigh of relief, thank your maintenance manager for the repair achievement, and ride your production or operations manager to “catch up” on whatever output was lost. [Read more…]
Recently, I’ve been talking about how being vulnerable is the only way to create connection with people and open ourselves up to the lives we want. I was asked the question:“Rob, how do leaders create an environment for our teams to be vulnerable?”
At first, my answer was that leaders need to lead by example and be vulnerable first.
This is true, but we need to take it a step further.
On this podcast, Brene Brown, a leading expert in vulnerability, talks with Pete Carroll & Steve Kerr about creating spaces for vulnerability. There are 2 key points:
This is the first in a long series of blogs about common myths I have encountered and continue to encounter in my work with various customers. None of these “myths” are universal either – some people believe them, others are not sure, others do not. Which are you? [Read more…]
I wish I had a strong message for you today but I don’t. I’ve been having a rough time lately and I’ve been battling with myself so I can show up for you. I’m not perfect and I’m learning to give myself compassion and love instead of cracking the whip. I’ll leave it at that.
[Read more…]
Cloud computing is increasingly becoming critical to business, especially as digital technologies like IIoT become widespread. Gartner predicts that in the next year, the cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) market will grow 85%, five times faster than traditional software. For industrial companies who want to use the IIoT for predictive maintenance, cloud-based SaaS solutions offer tremendous opportunities that have the potential to disrupt the equipment maintenance world. [Read more…]
Maintain equipment, minimize downtime, meet production demands, manage inventory levels, monitor staff productivity, comply with regulatory standards, etc. etc. The list of maintenance demands in a manufacturing plant is nearly impossible to meet without the help of computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS). Manufacturing CMMS software automates the process of maintaining assets to help simplify operations, maximize uptime and control costs.
Many manufacturing plants are relying on outdated systems or maintenance spreadsheets to keep tabs on their equipment and other important aspects of production. In doing so, they run the risk of premature equipment failure, production lags, increased downtime and, ultimately, the loss of business. Consequently, competitors utilizing modern manufacturing CMMS software are more successful.
As the owner or maintenance manager at a busy organization, one of your priorities will be to monitor the efficiency of your maintenance team to sustain that level of efficiency (if it’s satisfactory), or improving it (if it’s below an acceptable level). Doing this will require that, among other things, you understand what’s really going on while staff are on the job and then identify any areas for improvement.
On this week’s webinar, an audience member, who works at a university, asked how they could teach their students the skills that make us good reliability engineers. My answer was pretty typical, the technical skills are easy to teach & learn, but what makes the great reliability engineers is their ability to build a culture. I continued to say that it takes relationship building and lots of donuts.
But why do we always talk about culture when it’s connecting with the individual?
We are often asked about the impact of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) on equipment maintenance for industrial companies. When it comes to repairs, we don’t anticipate that much will change because of the IIoT, except in identifying when repairs are needed. Making systems safe after they’ve suffered failures and taking things apart and replacing components will always require human intervention. In the area of proactive maintenance however, we see a big impact and huge potential benefits. [Read more…]
I spoke to my doctor yesterday and she mentioned that we’ll be in this lock-down period for at least a few more months. She sees the front lines more than I do but she doesn’t even know how long it’s going to be. However, it’s safe to say:
We’re going to be here a while. [Read more…]
One can read thousands of books on leadership and maybe even train and practice enough to gain skills that help them influence others or manage people but does that make them a leader? Classes I’ve taken, books I’ve read, and approaches I failed at have all served me well in gaining understanding but to say doing these things can “make” a leader is something else entirely. Many of the folks who lead others are neither in leadership roles or qualified, whatever that means. They are people who think and act genuinely without hesitation because it’s simply who they are at the core. [Read more…]
Despite its well-documented successes, Reliability Centered Maintenance has always drawn a lot of discussion and controversy. Much of it is because of a lack of understanding and ‘myths’ generated to discredit RCM as a viable business solution. Here I will fill in some of those gaps in understanding and debunk some of the myths. [Read more…]