The new group solves two problems plaguing manufacturers today, according to Allied partner John Schultz.
"Now we can assure our clients that their preventive and predictive maintenance processes are properly engineered," he said. "By using failure modes and effects analysis and other advanced reliability techniques, we can make sure their PM and PdM inspections are targeted at the right failure modes."
The financial impact is substantial, according to Schultz, because most maintenance organizations have too much waste and inefficiency built into the system.
The group's other major focus is helping manufacturers with specific assets that are causing excessive downtime, maintenance costs, environmental releases and quality problems.
"Through a combination of understanding the defects in the asset, its performance history, and applying advanced reliability techniques, we can help solve some of the biggest problems impacting our customer's profitability," says Schultz.
Allied partner John Langhorne says the group provides two things most reliability programs lack: Time and expertise.
"This really helps companies accelerate their reliability processes," says Langhorne. "We've done an impressive number of failure mode analyses and linked them to individual PdM technologies and PM inspection tasks. Bringing these tools to the table can reduce implementation time significantly."
The new group complements the existing Allied Services Group, which performs PdM services at over 200 plants and facilities in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Latin America.
Says Schultz, "With Allied Services Group, we are better positioned than anyone else in the marketplace to implement the action plans that come from these reliability engineering analyses. It's a hand-in-glove fit."
The new group includes some well-known industry experts.
David Andrews brings strengths in RCM, especially in linking failure modes to condition monitoring technologies. His background also includes being part of the Dofasco Steel success story.
Chris Colson focuses in areas frequently overlooked in today' reliability programs: power distribution, power quality and control systems.
Bob Guthrie holds Level II or Level III certifications in six PdM technologies and is considered to be one of the top PdM experts in North America. He also brings FMEA and RCM expertise.
Bill Keeter is a classical, purist, reliability engineer who is known for being very practical. Keeter is skilled in Weibull analysis, the Monte Carlo simulation and detailed life-cycle cost analysis.
Tom Moriarty is a registered professional engineer with an extensive background developing reliability programs and turning legacy programs into a competitive advantage. He also brings leadership and business management skills to the team.
Rich Overman is a noted author and speaker in the area of reliability-centered maintenance, and has linked RCM with Lean, TPM and Six Sigma in a process dubbed "Versatile Asset Management."
"These guys can flat solve problems and put them into economic context for a client," says Schultz. "We hand-picked them to join our team - and in some cases they hand-picked us."
Says Moriarty, "We are all extremely excited to add more of the very best talent in the industry to our team. Stepping up in this particular area was the right thing to do for our clients, partners and employees."