I have especially seen the need for “know WHY” training when companies start including operators in inspections and other maintenance work. Often, we do the training for operators, but suggest that maintenance craftspeople attend so they can become the future instructors. It is very common that the craftspeople themselves then discover that they also need “know WHY” training!

When you think about the productivity of your workforce, a number of questions come into play. Are you meeting your daily goals? Have you correctly set benchmarks? Have the proper safety procedures been established and well-communicated with your team?

The phrase “It’s just common sense” is used quite often to describe conclusions or circumstances that are obvious to most people, at least those within earshot.  However, W. Edwards Deming, a well-respected management guru and quality expert, famously said ‘There’s no such thing as common sense.  If there were, it would be common.’  So, I suppose we have our answer to the title question, at least from Deming’s perspective. That said, let’s explore this further, and perhaps try to begin to understand why he said this, and why so often we see instances where “common sense” is not applied. Maybe it’s just not as common as it should be.

Most maintenance managers feel the pressure of lowering maintenance costs and at the same time improving reliability. As you know, annual maintenance costs have a strong correlation to how well basic work processes such as planning, scheduling, and preventive maintenance are executed in our mills, mines and factories. But, another factor that heavily influences maintenance costs is your existing “maintenance debt.”

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).

The SMRP Body of Knowledge contains five distinct pillars. How does understanding and using the SMRP Body of Knowledge accelerate your current maintenance and reliability program? To begin with, it is designed to provide a framework and outline of what should be in a good program. It also covers some foundational elements, such as project management, change management, etc. All of which are required to start and sustain the program.

IDCON INC’S CEO & President Torbjörn Idhammar described the difference between a failure and a breakdown. Essentially a failure is when the equipment condition reaches an unacceptable level. Whereas a breakdown means the equipment is going to stop functioning.

Reliability is a journey, rather than a simple goal. It is a cultural mind-set that must permeate every level of an organization to be truly effective. The goal of reliability is not to reach the end, but rather to constantly evolve, always looking for ways to improve organizational processes and assets with the goal of constantly doing better than before.

As anyone with a hand in running a household knows, it’s important to keep a stockpile of key items. You certainly don’t want to find out the hard way that you’re on your last square of toilet paper! But in the case of a facility like a power plant, a missing spare part could be more than just a nuisance, it could be downright expensive.