Every failure is part of a puzzle. The equipment we are maintaining is trying to communicate with use with 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.

Something was hidden. [Read more…]

by Mike Sondalini Leave a Comment

Set-up Tank Agitator Gearboxes for a Long Life at Low Cost

What you will learn from this article.

The types of forces developed in a turning agitator.
Gearbox position and configuration for long-life.
Bearing arrangements to minimise gearbox loading.
Simple, strong agitator support arrangements.
Vapour seals are needed to stop fumes escaping.
Lots of low maintenance selection and design tips.

Agitated vessels and tanks are common throughout the process and chemical industries. A properly sized agitator with correct proportions to suit the tank will deliver well-mixed product. A correctly sized gearbox with well-chosen bearings and bearing arrangements will need only regular lubrication while giving years of trouble free service. [Read more…]

by James Kovacevic 1 Comment

Using the Maintenance Data You Already Have

Leverage the existing data in your CMMS to make sustainable improvements to your maintenance program

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…]

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Control Loops — Masters of Automatic Control

What you will learn from this article.

Control loops automatically correct unwanted changes in a process.
A control loop consists of components to detect and adjust the process.
Control loop complexity reflects the accuracy and speed of control.
Explanation of ‘open loop’, ‘closed loop’, ‘feed back’, ‘feed forward’.

The sole purpose of using process control in, say, the making of beer, is to detect what is happening during manufacture and to decide if something needs to be changed to insure the beer meets the necessary specification. The key words are ‘to detect’, ‘to decide’, ‘to change’ and ‘to meet specification’. A control loop can do all these things automatically. [Read more…]

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Stop Wasting My Time! The War on N-VAN!

Some incredible things seem to happen as you get older. When I was in my early twenties I had very little patience for small children. They were always making noise making a mess and demanding attention. I had all kinds of patience for work related things, if we were having a meeting on what caused our chemical reaction times to drift more than a full standard deviation outside the control limits, you had 100% of my attention. [Read more…]

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How to Sustain the Culture Change

The key to keeping a culture change from going back

One of the reasons that culture changes fail to change and stay that way is because there is nothing put in place to sustain it. When there is no plan to sustain the change, it will be a flavor of the week and revert back to the old ways. This is the final installment of a series on culture change and if you haven’t already, please go to the first post and start there. [Read more…]

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Root Cause Analysis Answers Your Problems

What you will learn from this article.

An explanation of root causes analysis (RCA)
An overview of how it is applied at your work place.
See the result of a sample RCA.

Root Cause Analysis is a step by step method that leads to the discovery of a fault’s first or root cause. Every equipment failure happens for a number of reasons. There is a definite progression of actions and consequences that lead to a failure. An RCA investigation traces the cause and effect trail from the end failure back to the root cause. Much like a detective solving a crime. [Read more…]

by Doug Plucknette Leave a Comment

Wrecking a Mature PdM Program

The phone conversation starts with the words “Doug, I’ve got a big problem and I’m hoping you’ll be able to give me some insight as to how to resolve it.”

The call comes from a long-time client and someone I consider a friend. We not only worked together to start RCM effort at his company, we’ve hunted, golfed and attended a few sporting events together. Someone who if I’m working in his part of the country or just driving through I make a point to make a call so we can get together to and catch up on our lives. [Read more…]

by James Kovacevic Leave a Comment

The Actions To Accelerate Your Culture Change

Hit the ground running and embed the culture change to achieve maximum results

Your culture change has a plan, it has the right people in place, and you are ready to roll it out. Your change stands a better chance of success than most change programs as you have a plan with the right people. Sometimes changes fail because the change is not embedded quickly, people lose interest and go back to their old ways. If you haven’t already, please start at the beginning of the series with the warning signs that you need a culture change. [Read more…]

by Mike Sondalini 1 Comment

Cyclone Separators — an overview

What you will learn from this article.

How cyclones and hydrocyclones work.
Where cyclones are used.
Design features that affect cyclones.
How to get long life from cyclones.

A tornado can lift cars from the ground and hurl them hundreds of meters away. Chickens and ducks can be hurled kilometers away. The story of fish falling from the sky is explained by the power of a tornado to lift materials kilometers into the sky. The spinning vortex of air separates and segregates heavy and light objects. The heavy objects drop out sooner and the light objects are carried further. Cyclone separators and hydrocyclones work the same way. [Read more…]

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Measure twice, cut once

Measure twice, cut once. This is what the sign read in our Apprentice Training shop at Eastman Kodak. Anyone who has worked for a living in the trades understands the true meaning behind this phrase. The intent is to help your company save time and money by doing things right the first time.

The sign really could be posted on the wall of every shop, every office and every conference room in every manufacturing plant around the world. It applies to more than the skilled trades. The sign in fact applies to every person and every job.

Do it right the first time! [Read more…]

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Getting the Right People on the Bus and In the Right Seats

A guide to ensuring your department will support your reliability culture

People are the heart of any maintenance reliability program and they have the ability to make the program succeed or fail. This is why managing the change to reliability culture is critical. We covered a few of the key pieces to change management in the previous post. But sometimes, not matter what change management technique(s) you use, the change may not be successful. [Read more…]

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Spread Forces Throughout Equipment and Reduce Breakdowns

What you will learn from this article.

How forces are distributed through an object.
Force diagrams are used to represent forces on an object.
Position and direction of a force determines the type of stress.
How to redistribute force in a structure.

Why don’t you fall to the ground when you sit in a chair? Why doesn’t the roof fall in on top of you? We don’t expect these sorts of things to happen. But at times chairs fail and people fall to the ground and at times roofs fall on people. When structures are put under sufficient stress they will fail. [Read more…]

by Doug Plucknette 1 Comment

Quality, Reliability & Useful Life

The Impact of Precision Installation & Maintenance

Over the last several years I have been working on and off with customers to among other things build a maintenance strategy for their equipment that will insure the designed reliability of their assets.

A while back I was asked by one of these customers to come in perform several RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance) analyses on some new equipment that was struggling to deliver the expected/promised production rates. As the team worked its way through the process of identifying failure modes I continued to ask the following questions: [Read more…]

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Building a Reliability Culture

Laying The Groundwork for a Successful Change.

It turns out that you have been deploying the right reliability tools and maintenance practices, but the organization’s culture was preventing or hampering the results. This is a common scene played out in many organizations, but there is hope. The culture change will be a long road, as cultures are not changed overnight. [Read more…]