September 22, 2005 Pre-Conference Workshop at IMC-2005
Mark Your Calendar!
The 20th International Maintenance Conference™
December 6-9, 2005
Tampa Florida
Best Practices Maintenance Management
by Terry Wireman, CMRP, CPMM
Maintenance is a unique business process. To be successfully managed, it requires an approach different from other business processes.
The Benchmarking Best Practices in Maintenance Management workshop at IMC-2005 provides a framework for managing maintenance with options that allow decision makers to select the most successful ways to manage maintenance.
Workshop attendees get a hardcover copy of Benchmarking Best Practices in Maintenance Management as part of the one day course.
Choose this or any other pre-conference workshop at IMC-2005. But a 3 day pass and save $100 - buy a 4 day pass and save $300.
To register or learn more please call toll free (888) 575-1245 or…
September 22, 2005 Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Tip
SHALLOW CAUSE ANALYSIS:
Is your facility conducting Root Cause Analyses (RCA) or Shallow Cause Analyses? The following are the essential elements of a Root Cause Analysis process, regardless of the brand being used. Take a minute and see if how your effort rates:
A. Are the “real” problems properly identified, defined or simply the symptoms?
B. Is evidence always collected regarding the undesirable outcome?
C. Is the RCA Team balanced in terms of perspective to remove any dominating bias?
D. Is the RCA leader an unbiased facilitator [as opposed to a participator which can be biased]?
E. Is a tightly coupled cause-and-effect process used to show the linkages that lined up for the undesirable outcome to occur?
F. Is the cause-and-effect sequences supported by evidence [as opposed to hearsay flying as fact]?
G. Are recommendations acted on, tracked and monitored for their bottom-line impact on the organization?
H. Are the RCA findings incorporated into educational programs within the organization for others to learn from past experience?
A “NO” to any of these questions could compromise the integrity of an RCA and threaten its results as being labeled a Shallow Cause Analysis. While RCA is not warranted on every failure that crops up, when it is warranted it has to be right!
Tip provided by the Reliability Center Inc.
http://www.reliability.com
Tel: 804-458-0645
September 22, 2005 13th Annual SMRP Conference
The Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals will host its 13th Annual Conference October 23 – 26, 2005, at The Millennium Hotel, in St. Louis, MO.
The theme this year is “Passage to the Future”.
SMRP goals include providing members with maps, guides, equipment and support for being successful in your career.
There is an exciting line up of papers organized around the 5 pillars that comprise the CMRP Body of Knowledge including:
* Business & Management
* Manufacturing Process Reliability
* Equipment Reliability
* People Skills
* Work Management
These sessions are combined with a series of full day workshops and plant tours that allow you to chart your own path.
To learn more or to register please call 800-950-7354 or…
September 22, 2005 Motor Testing Tip
Limitation of Insulation to Ground Fault Detection
Following electric motor winding failures, only 17% are identified by insulation to ground testing. Insulation to ground tests only detect resistive paths between the stator core and the conductors adjacent the stator core. This area also contains the greatest amount of the insulation with the thinnest insulation boundaries between conductors and coils.
As a result, 83% of winding failures start and end as turn and coil shorts that do not break through the ground-wall insulation, regardless of the root-cause of failure. This requires the ability to detect the conditions leading up to failure including winding contamination, inter-turn insulation degradation, coil movement, rotor damage, overloading, etc. This requires the use of technologies such as motor circuit analysis and electrical signature analysis for early fault condition detection.
Tip provided by ALL TEST Pro
http://www.alltestpro.com
Tel: 800 952-8776 or 860 395-2988
September 22, 2005 Infrared Tip
Focus Twice, Shoot Once
There are three things that make a good infrared image: focus, focus, focus. When going to the effort and expense to conduct a thermal analysis, especially if the analysis involves a shutdown or other special arrangements, be sure to do the basics – properly set the calibration range and focus. It sounds elementary, but often the only IR image characteristics that cannot be changed later are focus and calibration range. Not only is focusing important for a clear, crisp image, but improper focus will also produce inaccurate temperature readings. Using the proper calibration range ensures that the image will not produce saturated temperatures. Other aspects of the image, such as palette, level and span may be altered later in the IR image analysis PC software.
This tip provided by Infrared Solutions, Inc.
Manufacturer of IR FlexCam Pro
1-800-760-4523
http://www.infraredsolutions.com
September 22, 2005 Turbo-Machinery Balancing
LORD’s high-speed turbo-machinery balancers are elegantly simple in operation. Counterweighted rotor assemblies mount permanently at balance planes on the shaft. A smart controller senses vibration and determines the best counterweight position. Rotor assemblies move electro-magnetically to their appointed places, minimizing vibration in seconds.
Features & Benefits
• Balances-corrects multiple planes in seconds while your equipment is running
• Dramatically reduces equipment startup time
• Balances automatically or manually
• Reduces equipment wear and tear, downtime and maintenance costs
• Diagnoses equipment vibration response
• Makes different corrections above and below critical speeds
• Retrofits in coupling planes where field trim balancing often takes place
• Accesses vibration inputs from existing monitoring equipment, e.g. Bently Nevada
• Records all corrections automatically
• Protects bearings, seals and other components during ramp-up
Call LORD +1 877 ASK LORD (275 5673) or..
September 22, 2005 Condition Monitoring Tip
Collecting Good Data Part 6 – Create a Vibration Test Guide
Archived at
http://maintenancetalk.com/blog.php/tipsblog
One of the most important requirements of a good vibration analysis or predictive maintenance program is good, repeatable data. Another important requirement is good program management. Both of these can be enhanced by creating small handheld vibration test guides for those who collect data. A guide should contain the following information: A simple schematic of the machine with test points identified, instructions for testing the machine (especially if loads, speeds or configurations must be manipulated or verified) and name plate information.
Poor results and wasted resources are often the result of testing the machine under the wrong conditions or missing some test points. If sensor mounting pads are used, the data collection technician may replace missing pads as per the guide. Another common problem is that machines get moved or replaced without the vibration technicians’ knowledge. A quick check of nameplate information or a visual comparison of the machine against the drawing may avert ample frustration. Some digital data collectors have the capacity to create and display these guides electronically. The guides are also useful for data analysis.
Tip provided by DLI Engineering
http://www.dliengineering.com
Tel: 206-842-7656
September 22, 2005 Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) Tip
How to Perform RCM on Your Own
While many see Reliability Centered Maintenance as a complex reliability tool that should only be performed by a certified professional, the process itself is quite simple in that is structured to proceed in a set order and simply requires some time and discipline to learn.
I like to tell my customers that if you like fish, I can sell you fish every day for the rest of your life or I can teach you to fish and you will then have fish for the rest of your life. Learning how to do RCM is no different than learning how to fish. It simply takes a plan, some time and discipline. Below I have listed some tips on what it takes to learn to become a RCM facilitator.
1. Start out by reading a book on RCM, I would recommend Anthony Smith’s “Gateway to Word Class Maintenance”. There are also some fantastic articles about RCM on Reliabilityweb.com
2.Contact a provider of RCM training services and get the following information:
• The courses they offer to be trained as a facilitator
• The cost for these courses on-site on in a public offering
• A list of references who have taken their course and have successful efforts
3. Set up a plan to be mentored through your first few RCM analyses by a certified RCM Facilitator.
4. Use Reliability Measures to selects your assets for analysis and plan to perform RCM analyses on equipment where you are not considered an expert. This will force you as a facilitator to pay closer attention to the process order of RCM.
The most successful RCM efforts are those that are self sufficient and self sustaining!
Tip provided by Doug Plucknette
Reliability Solutions
Tel: 585-349-7245
http://www.reliabilitysolution.com
