This one day workshop is aimed at assisting attendees to start up new predictive maintenance programs and improve, update or expand existing ones. Attendees should already be familiar with application of one or more predictive technologies such as Vibration Analysis, Infrared Thermography, Lubricant and Wear Particle Analysis, Electric Motor Testing, and/or Ultrasonic Detection and Analysis.

It provides information on the following subjects for supervisors, senior (lead) technicians and “champions” involved with or considering a predictive maintenance and condition monitoring program and its expansion and improvement:
• Predictive Maintenance Philosophy, Goals and Objectives

• Functions of a Predictive Maintenance and/or Condition Monitoring in the Overall Strategy and Processes of a Maintenance and Reliability Program

• Predictive Maintenance Program Alternatives and Cost Benefits

• Planning for Implementation, Expansion and Integration of a PdM Program

• Commonly Used Predictive Analysis Methods
o Trend Analysis
o Pattern Recognition
o Tests Against Limits or Ranges
o Relative Comparison
o Statistical Process Analysis
o Correlation Analysis

• Cost Justifying and Budgeting for a PdM Program

• Recruiting and Training Personnel for PdM Positions

• 15 Ways of Strengthening a PdM Program and Assuring Its Continuation

This one day workshop provides case studies from some of the most successful predictive maintenance programs and practitioners in the world. The workshop leader uses many graphic and photo images for ease of understanding.
Attendees will receive the latest edition of the text Predictive Maintenance Management by Jack R. Nicholas, Jr., P.E., CMRP and co-author R. Keith Young. The text is indexed for future use by attendees as a workplace reference. Each attendee will also receive a workshop attendance certificate. This classroom event stresses management, supervisory and interpersonal relationship aspects unique to the high tech world of Predictive Maintenance and Condition Monitoring in manufacturing; transportation systems and vehicles; military and government civil applications, medical and academic and public service facilities and utilities.

Join Jack and 30 other presenters, workshop leaders and learning lab directors at PdM-2005.

To learn more call toll free (888) 575-1245 or…

Visit the PdM-2005 Web Site to learn more

LAGGING INDICATORS – The Number 1 Reason why NOT to manage by them

Lagging Indicators have caused many companies to make the wrong decision when managing their maintenance operation. Lagging Indicators are typically the result of multiple actions that have occurred and thus cannot be influenced quickly. Most reactive organizations manage strictly by Lagging Indicators.

One of my favorite Lagging Indicators is the “maintenance budget”. Some of the actions that influence your maintenance budget are:

• The Performance of your Preventive Maintenance Program (Does your PM program stop breakdowns?)
• The amount of your maintenance personnel’s time that is truly planned and scheduled (and applied to direct work)
• Understanding and managing the average time between failure of your assets (MTBF-Mean Time Between Failure)
• Making repairs professionally that do not repeat themselves

There are other items that influence your maintenance budget but these were just a few. Many companies that are reactive and see their maintenance budget out of control try to solve the problem by ordering a halt to spending money or overtime. Most of the time when you try to stop a budget problem by cutting cost you will not see the affect of your immediate actions until the following month (two months later). By this time an organization has made another change to affect the budget and it causes even more reactionary problems. Managing by Lagging Indicators is like forecasting a Hurricane by watching the sky from your front porch.

Tip provided by Ricky Smith, CMRP
http://www.Maxzor.com

View Ricky’s I-Presentation “The 6 Steps to Developing Leading and Lagging Indicators”

Maintenance has often been regarded as a “necessary evil” or expense to the organization. One problem with managing the maintenance function effectively is that there are seldom the proper measurement and control systems in place. In order to effectively manage maintenance, a manager needs an effective method for capturing the impact of the maintenance function on the bottom line.

Now you can get a self guided course narrated by maintenance expert and noted author Terry Wireman, that will show you how Key Performance Indicators are used in comparison to industry standards, internal or historical data to establish how the maintenance function is performing. Properly used, they will highlight areas where there is room for improvement.

Get a KPI Course Preview

Trouble Shooting Industrial Accelerometer Installations

Accelerometer based monitoring systems can be tested to verify proper installation and operation, ensure data integrity, and identify most problems. Troubleshooting techniques are simple and can be performed with most monitoring systems and data collectors or simple test equipment.

Bias Output Voltage
• If the BOV is within manufacturer limits the sensor is most likely operating properly.
• The time waveform and FFT spectrum will verify fault diagnosis or proper operation.

Truncated Time Waveform: Sensor Overload
• Flattened time waveforms indicate that clipping is causing the amplifier to overload (from severe pump cavitation, steam release, impacts from loose or reciprocating parts and even gearmesh).
• Reduce clipping with a higher power supply voltage, ensure that the BOV is centered between supply voltage and ground voltage.
• Sensor overload may also produce a ski-slope spectrum, indicating low frequency noise (washover distortion).
• Caused by the circuits used to integrate acceleration signals to velocity or displacement, and high amplitude vibration from other machines.

Mounting Resonance Spectrum
• Mounting resonance can give false indication of high frequency machinery faults.
• The problem is most evident when using probe tips and magnets. Mounting sensor on thin plates such as machine guards can lower the mounting resonance.

Line Frequency Harmonics in Spectrum
• Harmonics of AC line power frequency usually indicate interference from motors, power lines and other emissive equipment.
• Ensure that the sensor shield is grounded. Avoid running the cable along side high voltage power lines and only cross power lines at right angles.

For more information on Bias Output Voltage, read Wilcoxon’s Technical Note 14: “Troubleshooting Industrial Accelerometer Installations.” This Tech Note from Wilcoxon’s extensive online Knowledge Desk explains BOV, gives examples of sensor readings and the faults they indicate, and includes a Trouble shooting chart for sensors.

Troubleshooting Industrial Accelerometer Installations

For projects, use your CMMS work order numbering system to create an intelligent numbering system to assist with control and management of the work. Open and assign the next work order in the system for the overhaul of, for example, the large frame-milling machine. Establish this as your primary project control number, such as 01225. With the work order setup utility in your CMMS, configure the next number to be 01225-01 (or 001 if you need more than 99 work orders) so the system will automatically generate subset numbers for the individual tasks to be accomplished under this main project work order. For example, the task of removing way covers will be work order 01225-01, sending way covers for refurbishment work order 01225-02, remove ball screw work order 01225-03, and so on. Create work orders following the project job sequence; don’t number tasks such as removals and re-installations together. After all of the work orders have been generated reset the work order numbering and create a work order summary for this project. As the work orders are completed, close them out and check them off of the project work order summary. Ensure that the work orders are signed off and turned in as they are completed. If a work order isn’t signed off in order that raises a flag and needs to be investigated. Work orders that are placed in hold can be placed in the tickler file to coincide with the date that they have been scheduled for reissuing.
When all project work orders are closed, close the primary project work order.

Reader tip provided by our frequent contributor Mike LeCompte
Maintenance Consultant
Maintenance Systems Development, LLC
http://www.maintsysdev.com
Tel: 843-761-8069

More Maintenance Planner/Scheduler Resources

Commitment on the part of senior leadership is vital for any organization to implement and sustain a world-class Reliability Program.

Senior leadership must drive the change; it’s unrealistic to expect middle management to effectively change the organization. They must authorize expending resources for the initiative. They must evaluate the impact of competing initiatives and allocate resources appropriately.

To gain commitment, four things are needed:
• An honest assessment of the current state
• A clear vision of the future state
• A viable plan to go from here to there
• A clear and compelling business case with a Return on Investment calculation, presented in language that senior leaders understand

Tip provided by Life Cycle Engineering
http://www.lce.com
Tel: 843.744.7110 x267

Learn More About Reliability Excellence for Managers (RxM)

Outdoor Infrared Survey Practices

Conducting thermal surveys of outdoor equipment. (Part 2) Archived at http://maintenancetalk.com/blog.php/tipsblog

Wind has a great effect on object temperatures. During windy conditions convective heat transfer is taking place, moving energy from the hot object to the air. The rate of convective heat transfer will depend upon the velocity of the wind, temperature differential between object and wind, and surface properties of the object.

Infrared cameras can not measure air temperature and therefore have no way of compensating for the cooling effect of wind and thermographers should not attempt to make a calculated guess about object temperature. Instead they should:

1. Wait until wind stops

2. Temporarily shield target from wind

3. Measure downwind side of target provided that object is sufficiently large

4. Always allow sufficient time for target to return to normal temperature once wind has diminished. If it is not possible to avoid wind, one should report wind velocity and direction when recording image data.

Tip provided by Electrophysics Corp.
Phone: (973) 882 - 0211
http://www.electrophysics.com

Watch the new HotShot demo and enter to win a new Harley! 

Considerations when setting up measurements (Part 2 of 4) Archived at
http://maintenancetalk.com/blog.php/tipsblog

Last week, when setting up a measurement to measure vibration, we discussed what type of equipment was to be monitored..

Next we need to ask, is the machine constant speed or variable speed?

Constant speed machines are fairly straightforward: identify the frequencies of interest and determine a maximum frequency range. Variable speed machines can be a bit tricky. How to ensure that you always capture the needed frequencies without taking excessive amounts of data each time?

The answer is order-based collection. We determine how many orders of data are sufficient and collection parameters are adjusted based on the inputted speed.

What are the primary frequencies of interest? See our next week’s tip.

Tip provided by LUDECA, INC.
ALIGNMENT * VIBRATION * BALANCING
http://www.ludeca.com
Tel: 305-591-8935

iPresentation Invitation: The process of spectrum acquisition