Introducing Reliable Plant

To the more than 50,000 industrial professionals who are reading this, welcome to the very first issue of Reliable Plant magazine. This publication is the direct result of the comments and requests that you have provided to Noria Corporation.

I’m Paul V. Arnold, the editor of your magazine and your guide to a world of information and education resources. If my name and picture ring a bell, you may remember me from any of the following:

1. MRO Today – I was the editor and associate publisher of that magazine from 1998 through February 2005 and built a tradition of excellence (more than a dozen major editorial awards) during those seven years.
2. Conferences – I created and directed a series of national events which outlined the best practices of world-class manufacturers.
3. The Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals and the Association for Manufacturing Excellence – I am an active member of these outstanding professional organizations and annually attend their conferences.
4. The University of Wisconsin Executive Education program – I’ve been a guest speaker at several of UW’s maintenance-related seminars over the years.

Enough about me. Let’s get to the magazine. Reliable Plant’s mission is to inform and educate maintenance and reliability managers, plant engineering managers, maintenance and reliability technicians, production and operations managers, and plant managers – people like you who count on the health, productivity and performance of your company’s mechanical assets.

The editorial in this magazine will focus on ways that you can increase uptime and overall equipment effectiveness, reduce waste and inefficiency through the use of lean and related techniques, increase organizational and planning skills, promote empowerment and cross-functional cooperation, and increase reliability’s role and importance in your plant and corporate structure.

Reliable Plant articles will provide road maps to success by:

1. Chronicling the best practices of leading companies: As a very visible example, read our cover story on maintenance and reliability excellence at Whirlpool’s plant in Findlay, Ohio.
2. Offering the insight and expertise of some of the industry’s best and brightest: Examine our editorial advisory board, found in the box at right. These industry leaders will formally review our product and progress and serve as a sounding board on issues related to the magazine’s structure and content. This board includes plant leaders from companies such as Cargill, Ford, Boeing, Intel, General Mills, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Tenneco, Whirlpool, Nordson, Dunlop, Dreyer’s, Rockwell and JEA. Also, check out our Advisors section. Here, some of industry’s most knowledgeable and experienced resources share their real-world insights on topics critical to the success of your department, plant and company. The advisors include Tor Idhammar, the vice president of IDCON; Dr. Jay Lee, the director of the Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems at the University of Cincinnati; John Ha, the president of Reliability Careers; and Richard “Doc” Palmer, the principal at Richard Palmer and Associates.

I hope you enjoy the inaugural issue of Reliable Plant. Contact me any time you wish (parnold@noria.com) to provide your thoughts, ideas and suggestions for making your magazine the best it can be.

Paul V. Arnold, your editor