Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail

Though new leadership models are constantly coming in and out of fashion, when it comes to leadership of continuous improvement it is important to look behind the latest book or trend, deeply reflect on the true roots of CI Leadership and ask yourself “Am I prepared for the challenges of CI leadership in 2024 and beyond?” 

A shift is occurring in maintenance of equipment and systems called prognostics and health management. Although it uses similar predictive maintenance (PdM) diagnostic tools such as infrared, vibration monitoring, and oil analysis to deliver the current condition of components, it differs in that it does not correlate and trend the measured parameters. When it comes to prognostics in compressed air systems, knowing what parameters should be measured and how they should be analyzed help to form good practices in condition-based maintenance (CBM).

What makes the difference between success and failure in meeting maintenance task deadlines? How can equipment reliability and maintenance task completion times be improved? These and other maintenance related questions can be answered by the UCC International's Skills Assessment and Multi-skilling approach to maintenance training. Certified Trades and Technical staff at the University College of the Cariboo have developed a process by which maintenance supervisors and decision makers can adequately address maintenance skills weaknesses within their organization.

So, if you’ve had this discussion, which you will have at some point in your career, and if you haven’t heard it a hundred times already, you need to reduce maintenance costs. Have this discussion – how do we do this? What happens in most places is that maintenance cost X this year, last year it  was X minus 5%. Why do we do that? Well, this year we have this big rebuilding of boilers…

Excessive heat in a manufacturing or warehouse environment has negative effects on workers, production levels and even the quality of produced or stored goods. This is a growing concern because today's North American industries are being pressed hard to match offshore production options. Fortunately there are plant cooling solutions that can solve this problem.

Why are organizations leaving money on the table by not investigating failures that cost them money? One would venture to say that all manufacturing companies have failures each year that cut into their profit. The prevailing question is: What do you do when that failure occurs? Do you simply fix the equipment, get back up and running, and return to whatever you were working on at the time? Or, do you stop what you are doing and diligently try to understand why the failure occurred and put measures in place to prevent recurrence?

Christer Idhammar is recognized as a maintenance guru across the world in the maintenance and reliability community. As the founder of IDCON INC and recipient of numerous awards and speaking invitations, he has established himself in his field through engaging and often hands on demonstrations. Christer sits down with Greg Mecomber to discuss his experiences over the years and his appreciation for the field.