What do you think of when you hear the term “wrench time”? For most maintenance managers at American manufacturing plants, it’s not pleasant, and for good reason. It is a fact that – even...
Early in my career – as a young guy fresh out of graduate school – I was giving a seminar to plant mechanics on the virtues of proactive maintenance to extend machine life and reduce the rate of...
Do you want to be good, or do you want to be great? Good is the second-string quarterback, the concert’s opening act, the partner in the Mel Gibson action flick. Good has merits, but it...
Increasing pressure to show a return on capital investments, coupled with the need to do more with less, is forcing companies of all sizes to look at their maintenance strategy as an area of...
Proactively treating threaded pipes and fasteners with thread treatment products is critical to efficient and cost-effective manufacturing. A major cause of industrial equipment failure, threaded...
In the Reliability Forum department of Reliable Plant magazine, suppliers provide their insights to a question posed by editor Paul V. Arnold. This issue, the call went out to a select number of...
Photo 1. The huge motor in question at the Eastman Chemical plant So much of our emphasis in reliability organizations is placed on the application of technologies and the savings...
What’s life like inside a rolling element bearing? Let’s say you are a dollop of grease and you’ve just been pushed by a grease gun into the dark recesses of a bearing cavity. You are now in a...
Maintenance is a business within the manufacturing business. In many cases, maintenance costs are among the three largest expenses for a manufacturer. All of the fundamental systems involved in...
In Part 1 of this series on maintenance leadership, I explored two points: Maintenance leaders need to know what to lead toward in order to become effective leaders. The leadership role...
What is the value of planning and scheduling maintenance work? It depends on who is asking the question. Are you a technician, a crew supervisor, a plant manager or a...
Have you ever gone to a car dealership looking to purchase a specific vehicle but then drove away in something else? Maybe you originally wanted it black but the salesman talked you into red...
Every day it seems more and more manufacturers are discovering the enormous power of investing in reliability. Truthfully, where else can you get returns of 10:1, 20:1, 50:1 or more? But,...
In 2008, manufacturers worldwide will begin to experience the effects of the initial wave of baby boomer retirements. These retirements will affect many segments of the global economy, but no...
Your employees are busy working when one notices smoke billowing from behind a machine. As he gets closer, he sees flames. He grabs the nearest fire extinguisher and starts to spray. Within...