Installation and mounting errors are responsible for 27% of all bearing failures, second only to lubrication problems. Most installation errors can be avoided through proper training, correct procedures and selection of products with design features that are compatible with operating conditions of the application.

Gear pumps use toothed gears turning inside a close tolerance housing to draw-in liquid and then squeezing it out ahead of them. Paddle steamers used the same principle of operation. These pumps are positive displacement pumps and anything drawn into them will be forced out. As a consequence they can generate very high discharge pressures. Materials of construction vary from metals of various types and hardness through to plastics of various types and hardness.

Many process systems operate by the storage, transfer, metering, and disposal of liquid materials. The pumps that move the liquid materials represent a point where maintenance failure can halt all other processes. Extending the service life of these critical process components can significantly reduce process as well as maintenance costs.

Some of the characteristics that made us a strongly competitive and productive nation are in serious need of repair. Moreover, what is going largely unnoticed is that the maintenance skills shortage— which, very recently, was just a forecast of a perfect storm—has come down on us with a vengeance. Are you ready?

I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been able to benchmark M&R improvement processes within and outside Cargill for the past decade. These visits have included trips all over the world. In a recent trip to one of our factories in Pennsylvania, I was introduced to a family of cultural change resistors that I’d like to share with you.

Over the years, our quest for lower production costs through technology has drastically changed the role the operator in our mills. Once an operator spent the majority of his day “on the floor.” This provided a hands-on knowledge of how equipment worked and what are the signs of it starting to fail. In today’s world, most operators are running the mill via computer-controlled systems.  

From my experience, it is more common than not to find that the working relationship between operations and maintenance is one of adversity instead of a relationship of close and productive cooperation. Operations often sees itself as the customer of maintenance, and, consequently, maintenance is viewed as a service provider. In such a relationship, it should be obvious that operations is responsible for the cost of the maintenance work it requests and gets delivered. However, in a bad relationship, this is not the case.