In September of 2022, poor maintenance procedures led to sailors aboard US Naval ships drinking and showering in contaminated water. They were exposed to e-coli and jet fuel found in the potable water systems on board the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Nimitz. The Navy launched an investigation and recently released official reports which revealed the root cause of the incidents and plants to implement remedial action. 

Following the CHIPS and Science Act, semiconductor manufacturers have announced over $200 billion in investments for manufacturing. The United States currently produces 10% of all chips but hopes to increase production and account for 30% of global chip production by 2030. McKinsey predicts this aspiration will result in a deficit of 300,000 engineers and 90,000 skilled technicians.

The original locks have been in constant use since their completion over one hundred years ago. The Panama Canal has strict maintenance schedules in place to ensure the reliability of the canal as forty ships pass through daily. Nearly every 5 years each chamber is refurbished and every 25-30 years the gates are reconditioned. According to Miguel Lorenzo, the VP of Infrastructure and Engineering for the Canal Authority, their maintenance plan is designed to extend the Panama Canal’s life for another 100 years.

In recent years, there have been many shortages, seemingly random products were in high demand yet missing from store shelves. Russia is becoming all too familiar with the scarcity of one product you would not expect, ball bearings. These rolling element bearings are increasingly hard to come by even though they are in extremely high demand.  

Électricité de France (EDF), a French energy group, is facing a severe maintenance crisis. In 2022, half of their nuclear reactors were down due to maintenance issues and the repairs continue to be pushed back, meaning some plants will remain shutdown well into 2023. 

Japan is known for their high-speed passenger trains, or Shinkansen, the world’s most reliable high-speed train network. The key to maintaining the railways spotless record: Dr. Yellow a bright yellow inspection train that uses highly sophisticated condition monitoring equipment to ensure the trains reliability and safety.

An industrial outbreak of blastomycosis is being investigated at a paper and packaging mill in Escanaba, Michigan. This is the first fungal outbreak of its kind in the history of the United States and the mill has decided to temporarily halt operations to ensure the health and safety of workers.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal on April 5, 2023, that will tighten existing rules to further limit the emissions of mercury produced by coal-fired power plants. Coal plants are the largest source of mercury pollution in the United States. In 2017 alone 8,800 pounds of mercury emissions were released.

The Eco Edison is a service operation vessel being constructed in Louisiana. It will be the first wind farm SOV to be compliant with the Jones Act and upon completion in 2024, will allow wind farm technicians to maintain and repair three wind farms in the Northeast that are expected to power over a million homes.