Noria annual conference sets attendance record

More than 1,200 industry professionals attended Noria Corporation’s 2005 Lubrication Excellence and Reliability World conference and exposition, held April 25-29 at the Henry Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio.

The event marked the first-ever Reliability World conference and the fifth Lubrication Excellence conference. The total number of registrants eclipsed the previous record for the Noria annual conference (850 in 2004).

“The co-location of the two conferences was a resounding success,” says Drew Troyer. “It enabled those responsible for key elements of an advanced, reliability-focused maintenance organization to get together, gain an understanding of one another’s roles in achieving excellence and build team strength. The Reliability World aspect of the conference will gain momentum with the release of Reliable Plant magazine and the addition of a lean manufacturing conference co-located with Lubrication Excellence and Reliability World in 2006.”

(The 2006 conference will take place next May in Columbus, Ohio.)

Highlights of the 2005 event included keynote speeches by:

• Vincent Adorno, the vice president of engineering and maintenance for Alcoa’s Primary Metals division.
• Ron Christensen, a corporate vice president and the chief technology officer for Cargill.
• Jim Boeheim, the head basketball coach at Syracuse University.

Adorno underscored the tenor of the Reliability World conference, explaining to the attendees that maintenance leaders need to speak the language of corporate management (“show them the money”), make reliability part of the foundation of overall company improvement and achieve a reliability partnership with operations/production.

Christensen, a key leader at one of the world’s most reliability-focused companies, examined how a defined strategy in this area is critical to successful plant operations. And, Boeheim, a 2005 inductee into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, pinpointed hard work, dedication and a will to win as the components of a successful team.

Fifty-eight case studies and white papers were presented at the Reliability World portion of the conference. Presenters represented many of North America’s leading manufacturing companies: Alcoa, Cargill, ChevronTexaco, Coors Brewing Company, Dofasco, General Motors, Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation and Weyerhaeuser.

Sixty case studies and white papers were presented at the Lubrication Excellence portion of the conference. Presenters represented manufacturers, suppliers and service providers. Noria representatives presented 12 papers.

Pre-conference workshops centered on topics such as: root cause analysis and bearing failure prevention; how to boost maintenance productivity through planning and scheduling; an introduction to infrared thermography; how to maximize reliability with waveform analysis; how to prevent hydraulic failures; and, how to implement a physical asset management program. Post-conference workshops included: preventive maintenance for operations and maintenance; how to write a lube PM procedure; oil sampling fundamentals; and, total equipment management.

More than a dozen attendees also took the Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals’ Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional examination during the conference.

Vroom-vroom

Virgil Rexwinkle, an oil and vibration analyst from Coffeyville Resources Refining and Marketing in Coffeyville, Kan., won a 2005 Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle at the event. All attendees received an entry card upon registering. They then had to obtain special stamps on that card from a list of more than 30 exhibitors in order to be eligible for the prize drawing. Rexwinkle’s card was randomly pulled out of the mound of completed cards.

Lubrication Award Winners

Kennecott Energy Company and Clopay Plastic Products Company received honors from the International Council for Machinery Lubrication at the event. Kennecott Energy received the 2005 Augustus H. Gill Award for demonstrating excellence in the application of used oil analysis for the achievement of improved machine reliability and overall quality in maintenance. Clopay received the inaugural John R. Battle Award for achieving machine reliability and maintenance quality through development, implementation and management of a best-in-class machinery lubrication program. For more information on these award programs, visit the ICML Web site at www.lubecouncil.org.